Mailing Address
P. O. Box 5130
Pittsburgh, PA 15206-0130
Phone:
Home: (412) 441-7881
Cell: (412) 979-9102
Email: vckeller@comcast.net
Educational History:
Ph.D., History & Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 2005
Dissertation: "Forgotten Brownfields:
Rural Industrial Districts in Pennsylvania, 1870 - 1930" ABSTRACT
Committee: Joel Tarr (advisor), CMU; John Soluri, CMU; David Hounshell, CMU
Doctoral Qualifying Fields: Environmental History, History of Technology, U.S. Urban History, and U.S. Business History View Reading Lists
M.S., Information Management, Marymount University, Arlington, VA, 1993
Honor Graduate, United States Army Command and General Staff School, Ft. Leavenworth, KS, 1993
B.S., Civil Engineering, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, VA, Distinguished Military Graduate, 1978
Academic Employment:
Visiting Assistant Professor of History, Fall 2005 - present, Carnegie Mellon
Adjunct Instructor, Spring 2004 - Spring 2005, Penn State-New Kensington Campus
Technology and Society in American History
U.S. History to 1877
U.S. History Since 1877
Instructor, 2000 - 2004, CMU
"Natural" Disasters in American History
History of Modern Warfare
Research Assistant, 1997 - 2001, The Brownfields Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.
Adjunct Instructor, Spring 1996, Frostburg State University, Frostburg, MD
Geography of Transportation
Department Chair and Professor of Military Science, 1995 - 1996, Frostburg State University, Frostburg, MD
Publications:
Underground Coal Mining in Western Maryland, 1876 - 1977: A Reference Guide (Frostburgh, MD: Frostburg State University, 2007).
"Capitalism, Politics, and Railroads in Jacksonian New England," review of Michael J. Connelly, Capitalism, Politics, and Railroads in Jacksonian New England, in Business History Review, Autumn 2004 (78:3).
"Uncle Sam's Locomotives: The USRA and the Nation's Railroads," review of Eugene L. Huddleston, Uncle Sam's Locomotives: The USRA and the Nation's Railroads, in Business History Review, Summer 2003 (77:2).
"Lesson Plan: Analyzing Change and Continuity in Women's Experience as Wage Earners, 1840 - 1940," Organization of American Historians Magazine of History (Fall 2000), 32 - 40.
Conference Papers:
American Society for Environmental History, March 2006. Paper to be Presented: "Chemical Forest: The Environmental Legacy of Hardwood Distillation and Leather Tanning in the Upper Allegheny Valley," as part of panel "Conservation-based Public Policies and Productive Forest Uses Across the Twentieth Century"
Carnegie Mellon University Town Hall Meeting, "Race and Katrina," October 19, 2005. Panelist. Presented Paper: "Katrina in Historical Context With Other 'Natural' Disasters"
Carnegie Mellon University Graduate Research Forum, December 14, 2004. Panel Commentator: Community, Ethnicity, and Markets
Pennsylvania Historical Association, October 2000, "Rural Rustbelt: Juniata Iron in the Industrial Age, 1870 - 1930"
The Lexington Group in Transportation History, September 1997, "Records, Resources and Ruins: Researching & Preserving the East Broad Top Railroad"
Grants and Awards:
2005: Goldman Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching, awarded by the faculty of the Department of History, Carnegie Mellon University, $1000
2002: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Scholar in Residence. Research topic: Community Responses to Environmental Degradation in Rural Industrial Districts, 1870 - 1930, $3000
Professional Organizations:
American Historical Association
American Society for Environmental History
Society for the History of Technology
The Lexington Group in Transportation History
Consultation:
Current:
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Karl Mason Research ProjectMaryland Bureau of Mines/Frostburg State University, History of Coal Mining in Western Maryland
Dayton Aerospace, Inc., General Historical Services
1999 - 2002:
Historical consultant and expert witness on technologies and environmental effects of iron and steel manufacturing in the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman, LLP, Washington, DC.Project Historian, Great Allegheny Passage Cumberland-to-Pittsburgh Rails-to-Trails Project, Allegheny Trail Alliance, Greensburg, PA
Non-Profit Affiliation:
1997 - present: Friends of the East Broad Top RR, Inc., Assistant Vice President, Museum Operations, in charge of coordinating volunteer staff and developing interpretive exhibits at the society's museum in the restored railroad station in Robertsdale, PA.
Prior Career:
Commissioned Officer, United States Army. Retired Major, Armor.
1995 - 1996: Professor of Military Science, Frostburg State University
1993 - 1995: Republic of Korea, Second Infantry Division Support Command, Operations, Plans, Training, and Security Officer; and United Nations Command, Commander-in-Chief's Initiatives Group Information Management Officer
1990 - 1993: Washington, D.C., Pentagon, Army General Staff, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Foreign Armor and Anti-Armor Science and Technology Officer
1987 - 1990: Federal Republic of Germany, Third Armored Division, Assistant Operations, Plans, and Training Officer, 2d Brigade; and Armor Unit Training Officer, Division Staff
1983 - 1986: Fort Hood, TX, Army Training and Doctrine Command Combined Arms Testing Activity, Operations Officer; and Second Armored Division, Commander, "C" Company (M1 "Abrams"), 3d Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment
1979 - 1982: Federal Republic of Germany, Third Armored Division, Platoon Leader and Company Executive Officer
Military Awards and Decorations:
Meritorious Service Medal (Five Awards)
Army Commendation Medal (Three Awards)
Army Achievement Medal (Two Awards)
National Defense Service Medal
Reserve Forces Service Medal
Army Service Ribbon
Overseas Service Ribbon (Three Awards)
Army Superior Unit Award (The Army Staff, Desert Shield/Desert Storm)
The Army Staff Badge
United States Armor Association Order of Saint George, Bronze Medallion