Zane Elward

My name is Zane Elward. I am a scholar who is passionate about learning and exploring our world and the vastness of human experience. I’ve never encountered a topic I was not curious about, and I am motivated by helping others gain the skills and knowledge to pursue what they are passionate about.


I am a historian of Italy and the US with expertise in cultural and political studies. I teach at Marian University, where I am an Assistant Professor in the School of Global and Cultural Studies, the Chair of the Department of History and Global Studies, and the Director of Undergraduate Research.

About Me

After completing my undergraduate degree at the University of Illinois, Chicago, I spent a year in Budapest, Hungary where I earned a Master’s Degree in history at the Central European University. I then returned to my hometown outside of Peoria, IL and worked in the Teaching and Learning Center at Illinois Central College where I also taught. I completed my PhD in history at Indiana University, Bloomington in 2022 and I am now teaching at Marian University in Indianapolis. My research examines political ideas in Italian popular comics during the Fascist era and the early post-WWII years.

Research

My research focuses on the interplay between politics, ideology, and popular culture. In Comic Fascism, published by OSU Press, I examined six popular Italian illustrated periodicals from the 1920s through the late 1940s, many of which heavily incorporated comics from the US. The study is a cultural and political history of how various sociopolitical positions became entangled with the Fascist project.

Teaching

I have taught numerous classes at Illinois Central College, Indiana University in Bloomington, and Marian University in Indianapolis. I teach a mixture of classes on global history, European history, and cultural studies. Although I have always strove to impart knowledge of the course content to my students, I have tended to prioritize the skills students can take from the study of history to help them succeed in college and their future careers, namely effectively communicating an evidenced-based argument.

Undergraduate Research

In addition to my teaching, I work in my role as Director of Undergraduate Research to support and expand opportunities for students to learn research methodologies and collaborate or lead projects during their time at Marian. In this capacity, I oversee a Showcase of Scholarship each semester and a Summer Scholars Program. My aim is to prepare students to think critically about subjects, see themselves as active scholars in the production of knowledge, and gain essential career readiness skills.

Instructional Technology

While working at the Teaching and Learning Center at Illinois Central College, I collaborated with my coworkers to coach faculty members in the construction and maintenance of their online course shells, for which we used the Learning Management System Blackboard. We also ran a blog on tech tools for teaching. I later worked again in instructional technology at Ivy Tech Community College in Bloomington, IN, this time tutoring students in navigating Canvas in addition to advising faculty members. As a part of my job, I also led a number of orientations for new students on educational technology and facilitated the creation of statewide standardized online courses. Due to my experience with instructional technology, I have provided assistance for online learning to professors of the History Department at Indiana University over the past year during the shift to online learning as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. My work has led me to learn about a variety of instructional technology tools and online teaching methods, and I have assisted in or directly created dozens of courses.

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