Kyle G. Volk

Professor of History, University of Montana
Professor Kyle G. Volk's award-winning research and teaching focus on the broad history of the United States, with emphasis on political, intellectual, legal, and social history. He is especially interested in the history of American democracy; the problem and politics of dissent and difference in American society; capitalism, law, and the American state; civil rights, civil liberties, and the contested meaning of freedom in American life.

Volk's research has been supported by the American Society for Legal History, the William Nelson Cromwell Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Antiquarian Society. His first book, Moral Minorities and the Making of American Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2014), explores the pioneering popular struggles over minority rights that developed out of conflicts over religion, race, and alcohol in nineteenth-century America. Moral Minorities received two major honors from the Organization of American Historians (OAH) in 2015: the Merle Curti Award for Best Book in American Intellectual History; and honorable mention for the Frederick Jackson Turner Award for the Best First Book in American History. His current work explores the problem and politics of personal liberty throughout U.S. History. Volk's scholarly excellence was celebrated in 2016 by the University of Montana when he was named the Provost's Distinguished Faculty Lecturer.

Professor Volk's excellence in the classroom has been recognized on several occassions. He was the 2014 recipient of the Helen and Winston Cox Award for Excellence in Teaching, the University of Montana's 2015 nominee for CASE Professor of the Year, and the 2019 winner of the College of Humanities and Sciences' William Reynolds Award for Excellence in Teaching Across the Curriculum. Most recently, Volk garnered the 2022 University Distinguished Teaching Award, the University of Montana's highest teaching honor.

Professor Volk advises the department's chapter of Phi Alpha Theta (the history honor society) and the UM History Society. He founded the department's Lockridge History Workshop and continues to coordinate it each year. Volk is also a Prelaw advisor for history undergraduates and an affiliated faculty member of the African American Studies Program as well as the Department of Public Administration and Policy.