The Civil War Institute is enormously grateful to Prof. Ian Isherwood for his leadership over the past year, and his commitment to CWI's staff, students, and conference attendees. As the next academic year approaches, Prof. Isherwood has stepped down as Director of CWI to resume his full-time faculty responsibilities. Jill Ogline Titus, who has long served as Associate Director of the CWI, has resumed the role of Interim Director and will serve in that capacity for the next two years.
As many CWI friends are aware, Dr. Titus is a historian of Civil War memory, civil rights, and public history, her numerous publications include the prize-winning Gettysburg 1963: Civil Rights, Cold War Politics, and Historical Memory in America's Most Famous Small Town (University of North Carolina Press, 2021). She has served in CWI leadership for more than a decade, previously stepping in as Interim Director in 2024. Her scholarship, strong relationships with CWI students and staff, and deep connections to the Civil War Era Studies community and to Gettysburg make her exceptionally well prepared to guide the Institute in the years ahead.
Thankfully, Prof. Isherwood’s connection to CWI, which began in 2012, will continue in a new capacity. Given his deep institutional knowledge of CWI, his strong working relationships with students and staff, and his continuing roles as Chair of Civil War Era Studies (CWES) and Co-Chair of Public History, Isherwood has agreed to serve as a CWI Faculty Affiliate. In this role, he will advise CWI staff on strategic planning, programming, and curricular development, and will serve as a liaison between CWI and the faculty. The CWI team looks forward to continuing to work together in new ways in this next chapter.