About

Connor S. Kenaston is an Assistant Professor of History at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia. He is a historian of the modern United States, and his scholarship focuses on how so-called “mainline” American Protestants shaped public life in the twentieth century. His current book project, “Spirit of Power: Radio, Religion, and the Sound of the American Century,” is a religious history of radio broadcasting in the United States. His article, “Step by Step: American Interracialism and the Origins of Talk-First Activism,” was published in Modern American History in 2022, and his article “Coloring Sacred Sounds: Broadcasting Racial and Religious Outsiders in Radio’s Network Era” has been accepted for publication in Religion and American Culture. His scholarship has also appeared in Hybrid Pedagogy, Methodist Review, Journal of American History, Yale Historical Review, Christian Century, and Reviews in Digital Humanities. Kenaston’s work has been supported by organizations including the American Historical Association, the American Jewish Historical Society, the American Society of Church History, and the Renate Voris Fellowship Foundation.

Kenaston is also a committed teacher. He has taught a wide range of courses in US and Atlantic history and culture. Kenaston’s classes are marked by his “History Lab” approach that emphasizes teaching students to assess evidence and make arguments. His classes balance encouragement with rigor, ensuring that students feel both supported and challenged. His methods have proven effective. His senior capstone advisees, for instance, won Randolph’s Best Senior Paper Award in two of his first three years at the college.

Kenaston earned his PhD in History from the University of Virginia in 2022. He also holds an M.A. in History with a graduate certificate in American Studies from the University of Virginia and a B.A. in History from Yale University. His undergraduate senior thesis about a key event in the history of his home state, “‘If the Men Don’t Fight, the Women Will’: Women and Gender Roles in the West Virginia Mine Wars,” won Yale’s Andrew D. White Senior Essay Prize and the NY Labor History Association’s Barbara Wertheimer Award.

Outside the classroom, Kenaston enjoys hiking with his wife, Maria, their little one, and their dog, Franklin. He also loves singing, going to the theatre, playing soccer and tennis, and cheering on Manchester United. In the summertime, he can often be found kayaking on the Greenbrier River back in West Virginia – or wishing he was there!

Connor S. Kenaston
ckenaston[at]randolphcollege.edu
@connorkenaston
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4999-7177