Biography
A Miami native, Dr. King holds degrees in History and Political Science from Emory University and Vanderbilt University, including a Ph.D. in History, with an emphasis on Chilean history and U.S.-Latin American Relations. Dr. King taught at Vanderbilt University as a teaching fellow and instructor, and served as a history professor at Belmont University, before coming to Ransom in 1999. He is a member of the adjunct faculties at Barry University and Florida International University, teaching courses on modern America, the History of Florida, and the Contemporary World. Since 1998 Dr. King has served the College Board as a Reader and Table Leader for the Advanced Placement U.S. History Examination. Dr. King also was asked to be a "Content Expert" in both World History and United States History for the American Board for Teacher Certification Excellence, an organization funded by No Child Left Behind to create national certification tests in the various content areas for teachers. Dr. King has been nominated by his students on several occasions, including the most recent edition, to be included in the Who's Who Among America's Teachers. In the Spring of 2008, Dr. King was awarded the Student Government Faculty Spirit Award by the student body of Ransom Everglades.
Teaching and other stuff @ RE
At RE, Dr. King is currently Director of Studies at Ransom Everglades. He also teaches AP US History, AP World History, Latin American Studies Honors, and Philosophy Honors (which he prefers to call "An Introduction to What and Why"). He has also taught AP Human Geography and Radicalism and American Social Justice Movements. Dr. King is also the Senior Class Sponsor, and faculty sponsor of the National Honor Society, and has served on several committees, including the Technology Committee. Before taking on the duties of Director of Studies, Dr. King was the Academic Dean for the Senior Class and Associate Director of College Counseling. Dr. King coordinated Ransom's "Exeter Humanities Institute at Ransom Everglades" a series of professional development summer workshops and follow-up meetings for faculty, emphasizing a student centered pedagogy focused on discussion-based learning. Although academic obligations have taken him away from the athletic fields and courts, Dr. King has coached several sports, has worked with the music program in several capacities, and has been the director of the annual "senior slide show" for many years running.
Dr. King is the author of The President's Position: Debating the Issues, published by the Greenwood Press in 2006. The book looks at the major issues in the administrations of Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson, and the opposition they faced in dealing with these concerns. Dr. King also authored the "General American History" chapter, for The History HIghway 4.0: A 21st Century Guide to Internet Resources, from M.E. Sharpe Publishers. The volume is essentially an annotated index of websites reviewed by historians and deemed to be useful for teachers, students, and researchers of history.
In addition to periodic book reviews for various publications including "World History Connected," Dr. King has contributed to several historical encyclopedias. His articles on "the presidency," "the republican party," "music television," and "relations with Central America" are in the Post-War America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Poltical, Cultural, and Economic History, and several entries he wrote for the Encyclopedia of Conflicts Since World War II, include "anti-Chavistas," "Haiti," and "Colombia." Both works appeared in print in the Fall of 2006. More substantially, he wrote entries on each of the "Maya," the "Chimu," the "Inca," and "Mali" for World Empires: An Encyclopedia, to be published by Facts on File sometime in 2008.
Most recently, Dr. King completed a set of contributions to the Encyclopedia of the Modern World, under the general editorship of one of today's leading world historians, Professor Peter Stearns. Dr. King's writing for this volume includes the topics of land reform and the Alliance for Progress. This work was released by Oxford University Press in 2008. Dr. King also recently submitted a piece solicited by the editor of Teaching History: A Journal of Methods reflecting on his "New York Times Assignment" which encourages students to make connections between their study of history and the present day.
Dr. King is also proud of the publication of the research of some of his students. Rosie Sugrue's essay on the education of early American politicians was published in the Fall 2005 volume of The Concord Review. Several other of Dr. King's students have submitted essays for review with that journal for publication as well, and some continue to revise their essays to prepare them for publication.
Dr. King enjoys racquetball and scuba diving, although he manages to find little time for either; he'll take a jog on the beach when he can get it. He is also an avid sports fan, supporting all of Miami's professional sports franchises. He also plays a variety of musical instruments, including the saxophone, the mandolin, and the piano. For years Dr. King played summer gigs locally with some of his friends in "The World's Most Annual Band." More recently, he joins RE faculty members Jon Hamm, Mike Crudele, and Chris Dreeson in "Teachers w/o Class." They have performed at several charity events including their own series of Hurricane Katrina relief concerts, Rock 4 Relief, and the American Cancer Society's "Relay for Life."
You can email Dr. King at jking@ransomeverglades.org.
CV & Teaching Philosophy (both updated 7/08)
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