History

Richard Filipink

Dr. Richard M. Filipink, Professor

College Faculty Mentoring Award Winner -- WIU "HOPE Certificate of Excellence" in Teaching

Professor Richard Filipink (Ph.D., SUNY Buffalo 2004) specializes in post-1945 United States History, with particular interest in the Cold War. Prof. Filipink's experience and passion for teaching history have added to Western's commitment to academic achievement. His course offerings include America's Vietnam War [History 306], U.S. History since 1945 [History 355], Great Power Diplomacy [History 329], The Great War [HIST 380], World War Two [HIST 381], and graduate seminars [History 510, 511, 512, and 513] on Cold War foreign policy, Watergate, the 1960s, and the presidency, as well as both of the undergraduate U.S. survey courses [History 105 & 106]. He joined the History Department in 2006.

Dr. Filipink's research focuses on American diplomatic and political history during the Cold War. His first book, Dwight Eisenhower and American Foreign Policy during the 1960s: An American Lion in Winter (Lexington, 2015; paperback, 2016) examines the impact of Dwight Eisenhower on 1960s foreign policy and how both Kennedy and Johnson adjusted their policies accordingly.

Dr. Filipink has won numerous grants, awards, and fellowships, including several Abilene Travel Grants from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Foundation, several Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation Moody Grants, a Kennedy Library Research Grant, and the JFK Foundation's Marjorie Kovler Fellowship. He has also been awarded a WIU Honoring Our Professors of Excellence (HOPE) Certificate of Excellence in Teaching, WIU University Research Council Grants, a WIU College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Mentoring Award, and a WIU Faculty Summer Research Stipend. Dr. Filipink also gave the 2019 Hallwas Lecture, "It Depends Who Writes the History, Henry." View the lecture on YouTube.