Alumni

Jonathan Abel received his Bachelor of Arts from Midwestern State University in 2008, where he majored in History and English and received the President’s Medal in his graduating class. He came to UNT to study at the Military History Center, working under Dr. Michael V. Leggiere for his Masters (2011) and Doctorate (2014) in European and Military History. He studied French military theory and practice, especially the transition from the Old Regime to Revolutionary and Napoleonic armies.

Abel defended his dissertation, entitled “Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte, comte de Guibert: Father of Napoleon’s Grande Armée,” in 2014. It received Honorable Mention for the Edward M. Coffman Prize, given by the Society for Military History, and was published in October 2016 by the University of Oklahoma Press under the title Guibert: Father of Napoleon’s Grande Armée. Abel also contributed a chapter entitled “The Prophet Guibert” to Napoleon and the Operational Art of War: Essays in Honor of Donald D. Horward, published by Brill in February 2016. He is currently working on a manuscript on French army reform between 1763 and 1789 as well as projects on the Military Enlightenment.

Dr. Abel is an Assistant Professor of Military History at the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He lives in Missouri and continues to research, publish, and present on the French army of the mid-eighteenth century through the Napoleonic period. He enjoys traveling, reading and writing, and playing history-based games like Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis.

Lieutenant Colonel Wilson C. Blythe Jr., is a strategist with the U.S. Army. His service includes deployments to Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and Inherent Resolve. He was the lead author and editor of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Russian New Generation Warfare Study and the Mosul Study Group Report. Additionally, Lt. Col. Blythe was one of the historians on the Chief of Staff of the Army's Operation Iraqi Freedom Study Group. He currently leads the Battlefield Development Plan branch at the U.S. Army Futures and Concepts Center, Fort Eustis, Virginia. His many accomplishments include: revitalized and leads the Army’s Battlefield Development Plan initiative; Lead author and editor of TRADOC’s Russian New Generation Warfare study and the Mosul Study Group report; being named one off nine officers from throughout the Army selected to serve on the Chief of Staff of the Army’s writing team for the U.S. Army’s official history of the war in Iraq; authored analytic products that were requested by the Secretary of Defense, National Security Advisor, and the Chief of Staff of the Army; developed and taught courses on U.S. Army doctrine, leadership, operational planning, and military history

Lt. Col. Blythe graduated from the University of Mississippi with a bachelor's degree in history. He holds a master's degree in history from Eastern Michigan University, where his thesis was on the development of the U.S. Army's Air Land Battle doctrine. Under Dr. Wawro’s supervision, he completed his dissertation at the University of North Texas on the application of the operational art during III Corps Iraq surge campaign.

Lt. Col. Blythe has published articles and presented papers on a number of topics related to U.S. and European military history and military theory. He is a recipient of the Army Historical Foundation's Distinguished Writing Award (2013) and was a finalist in 2018.

Cody Carlson earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in history (2005) and his Master of Arts degree in Modern European and American History (2009) from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Cody successfully defended his dissertation, "'THE MARSHALL SYSTEM' IN WORLD WAR II, MYTH AND REALITY: SIX AMERICAN COMMANDERS WHO FAILED,“ on 28 May 2020.

Cody’s undergraduate work focused equally on American and European history, primarily in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Cody continued to look at American and European History for his graduate work at the University of Utah, although his primary research and interests focused on Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Second World War in Europe. As an undergraduate and again as a graduate student in 2005 and 2009 respectively, Cody studied at the Freie Universität in Berlin, Germany. While in Berlin he studied the European Union, the Cold War, and Nazi Germany.

Cody’s Master’s thesis is titled “Hitler & Stalin: Military Command Relationships and the Course of World War II on the Eastern Front.” The thesis examined the relationships between the dictators and their generals, the armies as political institutions, and how events on the battlefield effected these processes. Dr. Ronald Smelser and Dr. Edward J. Davies II served on Cody’s Master’s committee. Cody also taught as an adjunct professor of history at Salt Lake Community College for six years, and was nominated for a Teaching Excellence Award in 2011 and again in 2013. Cody’s research focuses on the US Army and generalship in the Second World War. Specifically, he is examining the circumstances surrounding American military disasters in the war, and the decisions to relieve or not to relieve the responsible generals. This work will consider events at the Kasserine Pass in 1943, the Falaise Pocket in 1944, and more. Cody’s doctoral advisor is Dr. Geoffrey Wawro. Dr. Michael V. Leggiere, Dr. Graham Cox, and Dr. Randolph B. Campbell also serve on Cody’s committee, and he hopes to graduate with his PhD in 2020.

Cody is originally from Midvale, Utah. He was a member of Salt Lake City’s Laughing Stock improvisational comedy troupe at the Off Broadway Theater for over twenty years, and performed in over 70 productions on many other stages as well, including Hale Centre Theatre in West Valley City, Utah. He recently founded the improvisational comedy troupe The Implazables in Cleburne, Texas. Cody is also quite passionate about board gaming, and it was playing the board game Axis & Allies that first piqued his interest in history and the Second World War as a teenager. He has reviewed board games on YouTube as The Discriminating Gamer since 2014.

Tiffany holds a BA and MA in history from Texas Woman’s University and earned her PhD in history from the University of North Texas in 2019. She has taught at Texas Woman’s University, the University of North Texas, Grayson College, and currently is a Professor of History at Tarrant County College. Smith Chamberlain’s research focuses on Selective Service conscription and manpower usage during the World Wars. 

Bruce Cohen received his M.S. in History in August 2011. Bruce's advisor was Dr. Geoffrey Wawro and his thesis was "Campaigns Replete with Instruction": Garnet Wolseley's Civil War Observations and Their Effect on British Senior Staff College Training Prior to the Great War. Bruce has returned to the practice of law, and is Senior Legal Director, Sales/Antitrust, for PepsiCo Frito-Lay in Plano, Texas. In addition, he is pursuing an M.A. in European Union Competition Law at King's College London School of Law.

Bruce is a Distinguished Graduate with Honors of the Virginia Military Institute, and served as a United States Army field artillery officer in the 1980s. He then attended the University of Georgia School of Law, where he received his J.D. summa cum laude, was an editor of the Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. Bruce has practiced law as a federal judicial law clerk, a commercial litigator, and an in-house attorney for a multinational telecommunications provider, and has appeared in trial, appellate and regulatory proceedings in over thirty states. He has published articles and made presentations on both history and legal topics, and has led battlefield tours in Europe and the United States. Bruce, his wife Dr. Elisabeth Tucker Cohen, and their two ridiculously cute children live in Lewisville.

Jordan Hayworth earned his Bachelor of Arts from High Point University in 2010. He majored in History and minored in Political Science. Having developed a passion for the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era while at High Point, he came to UNT to study that period under Dr. Michael V. Leggiere.

Jordan defended his dissertation, "Conquering the Natural Frontier: French Expansion to the Rhine River in the War of the First Coalition, 1792-1797," on 20 October 2015 and proceeded to graduate with the PhD on 15 December 2015. His dissertation won the 2016 Edward M. Coffman Prize/Society for Military History First Manuscript Award and was published in 2019 by Cambridge University Press under the title: Revolutionary France's War of Conquest in the Rhineland, Conquering the Natural Frontier, 1792-1797. He will also publish his MA thesis tentatively titled: "The Battle that Ended the Terror: The 1794 Fleurus Campaign and the French Revolutionary Wars." Dr. Hayworth also contributed a chapter, "The French Way of War" to Napoleon and the Operational Art of War: Essays in Honor of Donald D. Horward, edited by Michael V. Leggiere and published by Brill in 2016. His article: “Evolution or Revolution on the Battlefield? The Army of the Sambre and Meuse in 1794,” appeared in War in History 21, no. 2 (2014).

Dr. Hayworth is Assistant Professor of Military and Security Studies, Air Command and Staff College, Air University, Maxwell AFB. Hayworth moved to Alabama in 2016 with his wife, Brittany. He is a devoted fan of the Atlanta Braves and enjoys listening to and performing country music.

Nathaniel Jarrett received a Bachelor of Arts in History as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics with a minor in Computer Science from High Point University in 2011. Pursuing his passion for history, Nathaniel moved to Texas to study the French Revolution and Napoleonic Era with Dr. Michael V. Leggiere. At UNT, he earned his MA in History in 2013 and completed his Ph.D. in 2017.

Nathaniel's Dissertation, titled "Collective Security and Coalition: British Grand Strategy, 1783-1797," examines the intent and execution of the foreign policy of British prime minister William Pitt the Younger from the end of the American War of Independence to the end of the War of the First Coalition against Revolutionary France. It demonstrates that Pitt's ambition of creating a broad collective security system encompassing all of Europe governed Britain's foreign policy in peace and its strategy in war. Nathaniel has also published an article titled "False Start: Britain and Coalition Warfare in 1794" in War in History. In addition to British military and diplomatic history, Nathaniel is interested in the Holy Roman Empire and the Middle East in the Early Modern Era, as well as the history of International Relations Theory.

Nathaniel currently lives in Texas with his wife, Kambria, and their son, James. Beyond academic pursuits and family activities, Nathaniel indulges in a wide variety of digital and tabletop strategy games.

Christopher Menking earned his Bachelor of Arts in History (2010) from Texas A&M University and his Master of Arts in History (2013) from the University of North Texas. Christopher successfully defended his dissertation: "Catalyst for Change in the Borderlands: U.S. Army Logistics during the U.S.-Mexican War and the Post-War Period, 1846-1860," written under the supervision of Dr. Richard McCaslin, in Fall 2019.

While at College Station, Chris’s undergraduate interest was primarily in American military history and Russian revolutionary history. Chris studied abroad in France, Germany, and Russia as part of his education in these fields. Chris’s interest in Military History began at an early age. Both of his grandfathers served in the Second World War, one in the European theater and one in the Pacific theater. This interest, combined with growing up in South Texas, helped focus his later academic work on the U.S.-Mexico War. His Master’s Thesis, titled Remembering the Forgotten D-Day: The Amphibious Landing at Collado Beach during the Mexican War, examined both the logistical feat that managed to put ashore 10,000 U.S. soldiers in five hours as well as the joint-operational doctrine that was used during the landing itself.

Chris’s main field of study is logistics during the U.S.-Mexican War and the influence of the U.S. Army in the interwar period, 1846-1860. He focuses primarily on South Texas, investigating the influence of the supply depots, trade networks, and the Quartermaster Department on the region during and after the war. By integrating the two fields of military history and the newer borderlands history, he seeks to analyze the conflict and its results in a way that will illuminate how events during this period left lasting influences on this border region today. Chris’s doctoral advisor is Dr. Richard McCaslin. He also works closely with Dr. Andrew Torget, Dr. Alexander Mendoza, and Dr. Mendiola-Garcia. Chris is originally from Alice, Texas and is married to Erin. When he is not teaching or researching, he enjoys trying new restaurants around Dallas/Fort Worth and woodworking.

Brian R. Price, PhD UNT 2011, is the author of seven books on topics related to medieval knighthood and historical swordsmanship. His in-progress dissertation seeks to demonstrate the systematic approach to martial arts in surviving medieval fighting treatises from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries.

His previous books include Techniques of Medieval Armour Reproduction, the Sword in Two Hands, Teaching and Interpreting Historical Swordsmanship, the Book of the Tournament, and Ramon Lull's Book of Knighthood and Chivalry. From 1992-99 he was editor for Chronique: TheJournal of Chivalry and founder of the Company of Saint George, a medieval tournament company.

At UNT his major fields of study revolve around medieval and early Renaissance chivalric culture and his paleographical, medieval and Renaissance studies are directed by Dr. Laura Stern, renowned medievalist and expert on Renaissance Florence. His other related areas of focus correspond with the Italian condottieri, medieval arms and armour, the medieval tournament, and the Hundred Years War. He maintains a membership with the De Re Militari Society as well as with the Society for Military History and often delivers papers at the International Congress of Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Mr. Price is also known for his interest in the experience of the American military. He worked with Dr. Adrian Lewis prior to Dr. Lewis' relocation to the University of Kansas on the Gulf War, Korea, Vietnam and World War II. Dr. Geoffrey Wawro has served as his director for Mr. Price's studies into the theory of warfare from classical Greece through the modern day. Mr. Price has in progress an ongoing publication project relating to General Bill Creech, USAF with Dr. Alfred Hurley and he studies with Dr. Robert B. Citino on World War I. Other interests include the Cold War; the relationship between technology, war and society; aviation; operational doctrine; Soviet-era history and US-Soviet relations; and the tension between the state and the individual as expressed in American and world politics.

Brian R. Price has accepted a position with the Department of the Army's Human Terrain System, which serves deployed U.S. Army Brigade Combat Teams by providing socio-cultural information and injecting it into the staff decision-making process. He will be deployed to Afghanistan during 2011 and part of 2012. His current area of study is in the Afghan conflict since 2001, including counter-insurgency operations, theory, the inter-relationships of technology and war, and the Army's Brigade Combat System implemented as part of the 2005 DoD overhaul.

His previous research focused on the combat systems of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance, and his books include, "The Martial Arts of Medieval Europe (Forthcoming)," "The Sword in Two Hands," and "Techniques of Medieval Armour Reproduction." He is the founder of the Schola Saint George, an international school of medieval martial arts.

Mervyn Roberts completed his PhD in 2016 under the guidance of Dr. Robert Citino, focusing his research on Psychological Operations during the Vietnam War. In 2018 the University Press of Kansas published his dissertation as The Psychological War for Vietnam, 1960-1968, which has been well reviewed. This book examines the efforts of the North Vietnamese, South Vietnamese and United States’ forces psychological operations during the period covered. Dr. Roberts currently teaches History at Central Texas College in Killeen. Additionally, he teaches classes on Russian Propaganda at the Joint Special Operations University in Tampa, FL. His dissertation included work using Geographic Information’s System (GIS) software to analyze intelligence data from the Vietnam War. He recently joined with a team at the University of New South Wales, Australia to collaborate this analysis and other data, and to create a website to make the data universally accessible.

Dr. Roberts began studies at UNT in 2004 between deployments to Afghanistan, where he operated in Helmand province and Eastern Afghanistan as PSYOP Team leader assigned to the Combined-Joint Special Operation Task Force. He has published widely on the topic of Special Warfare and also published Villages of the Moon: PSYOP in Southern Afghanistan, based on a journal he kept in 2002/03. Recent publications include a book chapter: “The Demise of PSYWAR Against North Vietnam” in Indochina in the Year of the Pig, and “Operation COUNTENANCE: The 1941 Invasion of Iran and the Clash of Propaganda Narratives” in the March 2019 issue of Iranian Studies. Dr. Roberts holds a BA in History from the University of Hawaii. He also is a graduate of the Special Operations Language Course in Farsi and was one of the older fellows to make it through Airborne School.

Luke Truxal received his Bachelor of Arts in History from Abilene Christian University in May 2009. In August of that year, Truxal enrolled at the University of North Texas to study American air power in the European Theater of Operations during the Second World War. He completed a master’s degree under the guidance of Dr. Robert Citino in 2011.

In Fall 2018, Luke received the Outstanding Dissertation in Military History award from the UNT Department of History for his dissertation "Command Unity and the Air War Against Germany" during the Second World War, directed by Dr. Richard McCaslin. His dissertation examines the evolution of the Allied air command structure during the air war in Europe from 1942-1944. He argues that the effectiveness of the Allied bombing campaign was not only tied to the introduction of the long range escort fighter, the P-51 “Mustang,” but also to improvements made by Allied Supreme Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, in the chain of command. The changes made by Eisenhower enabled the Allies to better coordinate their air offensives against Germany in 1944. Luke also graduated in Fall 2018.

Luke's publications include “Bombing the Romanian Rail Network,” in the Spring 2018 issue of Air Power History. The article highlights the Mediterranean Allied Air Force’s efforts to aid the Soviet advance during the First Iasi-Kishinev Offensive in April and May 1944. He has also written “The Politics of Operational Planning: Ira Eaker and the Combined Bomber Offensive in 1943” for the Journal of Military Aviation History. The article analyzes the political and diplomatic negotiations that affected the planning for the Combined Bomber Offensive. Currently he is an adjunct at Columbia State Community College in Tennessee.

Brittany A. Huner, PhD earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the University of Northern Colorado (2013) and her Master of Arts degree in history from the University of Colorado at Denver (2018). She successfully defended her dissertation, “’Soldier Girls, Minus Frills, Minus Curls:’ Creating the American Military Woman in Media Portrayals and Servicewomen’s Self Representations During World War II” in May 2025 under the guidance of Dr. Vojin Majstorovic.

After graduating from the University of North Texas, Brittany accepted a position as a Research Historian at the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. There she continues her research on servicewomen’s experiences during World War II and other aspects of America’s role in the war.

Brittany currently lives in New Orleans with her cat and spends her free time enjoying the food and music that the city has to offer. 

Col Jeremy Reeves entered the Air Force in 1999, receiving his commission through the AFROTC program at Texas Tech University, Texas. He is a command pilot with over 3,500 hours, primarily flying the KC-10 Extender. Over his twenty-six-year career, he commanded a flying squadron and served on the staff at a major command and a joint combatant command.

Col Reeves earned master’s degrees from the Naval Postgraduate School and the Naval War College before coming to the University of North Texas in 2021. Studying under Professor Geoffrey Wawro, Jeremy specialized in 20th-century American military history. His dissertation focused on the Western Allied operational response to the concentration camps in Europe in 1945.

Col Reeves currently serves as the Chair of the Department of Strategy, Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. The Air War College is the Air Force’s senior professional military education institution, providing post-graduate senior leader development programs focused on joint, multinational, multi-agency warfighting and international security operations, air, space, and cyberspace force strategy development, and national security planning. 

Andrew Huebner earned his Bachelor of Arts in History from Texas A&M University (2016) and his Master of Arts in History from the University of North Texas (2019). His thesis, under Dr. Olga Velikanova, focused on American military veterans as influential actors in the 1921 Russian Famine. He defended his dissertation, “Eagles Over The Baltic: The American Relief Administration and Nation-building, 1918-1920” in July 2025 under the guidance of Dr. Olga Velikanova and Dr. Geoffrey Wawro.

His expertise is on the First World War era and transnational U.S.-Eastern European relations, with an emphasis on humanitarianism. Andrew’s dissertation focused on post-First World War American foreign aid in the Baltic Sea region, showing how humanitarian food programs influenced emerging nation states amid warfare and social upheaval. He argued that U.S. foreign aid to the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) secured conditions for independence while revealing problematic issues with American interventionism.

Andrew’s work has been graciously supported by several institutions including the Clements Center for National Security, Kennan Institute, Boren Awards Program, and the Hoover Institute at Stanford University. Andrew also was an inaugural fellow of the Motwani Jadeja Institute for American Studies at O.P. Jindal Global University in India. Andrew’s publications include a chapter on the 1915 Great Retreat for the Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO) case study series by Army University Press. He is an alumnus of the UNT Military History Center, and a member of the Society for Military History, the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, and the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies.