Dr. David Davis, associate professor of history at Millsaps College, has been recognized by the Mississippi Humanities Council with its annual Humanities Teacher Award.
Davis joined the Millsaps faculty in 1988 after four years as a visiting assistant professor at Brown University. He earned a B.A. in history and biblical studies from William Carey University, an M.A. in history from Baylor, and a Ph.D. in African history from Northwestern University. Davis has teamed with gifted colleagues at Millsaps to teach and direct the Heritage program in its various iterations off and on since 1994. He credits this experience with being his real introduction to the humanities in its most powerful, interdisciplinary, and global framing. He also reflects on the lessons he learned at the feet of his colleagues as shaping his own teaching of African and Middle Eastern history.
Dr. Davis has served in a variety of roles at Millsaps, including associate dean of arts & humanities, interim vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College, director for self-designed majors, and in several other administrative capacities.
He is currently working on a manuscript entitled Heroes of Mercy, about the politics of humanitarian efforts in the Nigerian Civil War, a very personal and cathartic journey.
As the recipient of the Humanities Teacher Award, Davis will give a public lecture on Wednesday, February 19, 2020, at 4:00 p.m. in the McMullan Lecture Hall (Room 122) in the Selby and Richard McRae Christian Center entitled, “The Shadow of Death: Southern Baptists and the Politics of Compassion in the Nigeria-Biafra War 1967–70.” The lecture will focus on the stories of heroism, self-sacrifice, and compassion that should be told from the human tragedy that was the Nigerian Civil War. A reception will immediately follow the lecture.