Notes from the Workfront: An Interview with Dr. Megan Groninger, Assistant Professor, William Jewell College

I am Megan Groninger, and I defended my dissertation in history in the spring of 2023. I am now an assistant professor of History at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, just outside of Kansas City. The fun thing is –– I also did my undergrad there!

It took me a while to realize that I had always been interested in history, particularly British history.  It wasn’t until my senior year at Jewell that I decided to spend a semester abroad at Harlaxton College in England. When I went, it all fell into place. I thought back to my senior year of high school, when my English teacher focused on British literature as she loved British history so much. And then I searched even further back to my childhood, and I remembered my grandmother reading to me "The Secret Garden," "A Little Princess," "Peter Pan." But it wasn’t until I took my first ever British history class at Harlaxton that it really clicked and I knew – this is what I am interested in. I was already a History major, but at the time my career goal was to teach high school and coach basketball.

Now, I realized that British history was my interest. We went on an excursion to look at a 19th century workhouse for the poor and destitute in Southwell in Nottinghamshire. That is what sparked my interest in the British Poor Laws, which became the subject of my master’s thesis. I was interested in how people in Victorian England lived, especially those that had to struggle to make ends meet. I was equally curious to see how others wrote about the poor. It wasn’t until almost the end of my master’s thesis that my M.A. advisor said, “You should also write a chapter on the bastardy clause.” Initially, my reaction was to say, “I have no experience with gender history,” but then I thought back to some of the reading I had done, and I was able to adapt the methodology from a text on women in Russia to my own work. My advisor told me that this was the best chapter of my thesis. At a regional conference, he introduced me to Dr. Upchurch, and suggested I apply to FSU for my Ph.D.

When I came to work with Dr. Upchurch, I thought I would continue with my investigation into the poor laws. Dr. Upchurch suggested I keep my gender focus and look at the Custody of Infants Act of 1839. It meant working on the history of the Victorian poor but from a different, more gendered angle. And then Covid hit, and it delayed me going on fieldwork to England by a year. I was able to find a digitized journal for British mothers, The Mothers’ Magazine, from the period, and I spent most of my Covid year going through every issue. This became chapter three of my dissertation entitled “‘She Hath Done What She Could’: the Politics of Motherhood in Victorian Britain.”

I am planning on turning the dissertation into a manuscript and a chapter into an article –– but so far, I have not had the time.

I have been able to present my work at a couple of conferences. The Southern Conference on British Studies was in Kansas City last year, which made it easy for me to participate. This year the national organization, the North American Conference on British Studies, is piloting a virtual conference day, and I was accepted for that. This has allowed me to stay in touch with others in my field.

One of the big changes in going from FSU to Jewell was the greater teaching load. I am teaching a 3-3 right now, and this has meant eight new class preparations since I started in Fall 2023. At FSU, I had taught a class on the British Empire and Commonwealth, and I was able to teach that my first semester together with a world history course that I had taught before too. The rest, though, have been all new classes. I taught a course on gender and history, a course on the history of nationalism, a course on women and gender in South Asia. And I have taught our mandatory freshman class The Responsible Self. I am using notes I have from my comps fields and grad classes to create new courses. Nothing goes to waste.

I am glad I got some training in how to design a course while in the grad program. I knew how to come up with a structure, how to fashion different types of assignments, how much to pack into one lecture. Weirdly, it has been easier designing classes on topics I am less intimately acquainted with than British history. I typically teach on a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule and use the other days to prepare and grade. At Jewell, I joined a very small department and that meant jumping right in with the teaching from the beginning. I did not have to be on committees or do any advising until my second year.

It has been interesting returning to Jewell as faculty after having been here in undergrad. I share my own experience with the students; I tell them how it was for me, and how my perspective on certain classes has changed over time. I might have hated a class then but came to realize how helpful it was later. Over 50% of our students are athletes. I was also an athlete, and so I know what it is like to have to travel for a match and also to have to keep up with the academics. I check on the athletes in my classes. I was also in a sorority, and I understand the time commitments of that. I did homecoming and other annual events and know the rhythm of the college. Not many of the professors I had are still at Jewell, which made returning as faculty easier.

Here are two suggestions for recent Ph.D. graduates on the job market: First, take the time to customize your application materials to the different institutions you are applying to. Incorporate information about the mission of the institution or the department or college as you can – and also be prepared to talk about it during your interview.

Second, if you are applying to smaller colleges, you need to emphasize the teaching. I talked about my research during the visit, and it is important to have a research project, but most of the questions I got were about my teaching. In short, know the type of institution you are applying to and make sure you meet their expectations.

The best part of my job is the students. I love getting to know the students. I was a graduation marshal, and while I did not know many seniors, it was a very emotional moment to see them walk across the stage –– and then they walked down the steps and bear hugged me! That was something special. It’s moments like that which make up for all the hard work, writing the dissertation, prepping all those classes. I tell myself that I worked hard to get here, so I need to enjoy what I am doing. Even on a bad day, I tell myself I am living the dream