写 by Chrystal Houston '03
Some say 他的tory is written by the victors. Those around the York University campus 知道更好.
历史 is written by Dr. Tim McNeese ’73.
The prolific author has penned more than 130 volumes on people, places, and events 具有历史意义的——从世界领导人，到史诗般的战斗，再到 他的tory of 他的 own alma mater. 麦克尼斯研究并记录了人类历史上的大量故事， but there is one story he hasn’t widely told.
他自己的.
Before he was Dr. 麦克尼斯教授、作家，偶尔还在电视上看历史 just Tim from Springfield, Mo. His father knew 戴尔·拉森他当时是约克学院的校长，并强烈认为他的儿子将受益于这项计划 York Experience. 虽然蒂姆的父亲自己只上过八年级 他心里难道没有想到他的儿子要上大学吗.
The summer before 他的 senior year in high school, Tim met 贝芙erly Doty when they were counselors at Happy Hollow Bible Camp. Each had attended the camp for years, but their paths hadn’t crossed before.
火花四溅，点燃的篝火浪漫还在继续燃烧. 贝芙 enrolled at York College as 好吧, after having attended a year at Oklahoma Christian.
提姆本想主修法律预科，但上了历史课. Robert Scott changed 他的 mind--and the course of 他的 life. “There are moments in life where you zig instead of zag,” 他说. 当你的计划靠边站的时候，新的冒险开始了 before you like a roadmap. “One person can make all the difference. You will never know the number of people you’ve impacted.” Dr. Scott, who taught at YC from 1961 to 1977, was one of those people for young Tim.
沿着这条新的道路，蒂姆和贝弗结了婚，完成了他们的合伙人 在前往南方之前，他获得了约克学院(York College)(当时是一所两年制学校)的学位. 蒂姆完成 他的 bachelor’s degree at Harding University in '75.
这对夫妇去年庆祝了结婚50周年.
Having passed the half century mark, they may have more silver hair and fine lines
than when they were Bible camp sweethearts, but they also have something incredibly
rare: a friendship that has endured the test of time. Through joys and sorrows, poverty
and prosperity, health crises and professional accomplishments, kids and grandkids,
and tens of thousands of miles logged on cross-country car trips, they remain devoted
给彼此. 直到贝福 retired in 2018 after 20 years of teaching English at York College, you rarely saw one without the
另一些则是在校园里——尤其是因为他们在胡利特大厅(Hullitt Hall)有相邻的办公室.
But that’s jumping ahead in the story.
McNeese的 YC Yearbook Photo
从哈丁毕业后，蒂姆在密苏里州的公立学校教书16年. 这对夫妇 was blessed 有两个孩子，诺亚和萨默(两个孩子后来都上了约克学院). 而 teaching English, 他的tory, social studies, and journalism, Tim also pursued a master’s degree at Missouri State University. He was beginning to dream of a writing career 1992年，约克学院的工作开始空缺. It turned out to be a perfect 适合. 大学教授的时间安排比较灵活，他可以腾出时间 写作. His first book was published in 1993.
从那以后，他开始了一份双重职业，教三天的全部课程 这一周剩下的时间都用来写作. His books are mostly for middle school and high school audiences, but he has also written for adults, including 他的 最新作品 William Henry Jackson’s Lens: How Yellowstone’s Famous Photographer Captured the American 西, which was published in 2023.
McNeese Teaching at RoundUp
In 2022, he won the Nebraska Book Award for nonfiction biography for 他的 book Time in the Wilderness: The Formative Years of John “Black Jack” Pershing in the American
西 published through the University of Nebraska Press.
In addition to 教室 instruction and writing about 他的tory, McNeese has also appeared in various TV episodes from “America: Fact vs Fiction” on the American Heroes Channel 到历史频道的“冒险者，历史创造者”. In 2017, he collaborated 与内布拉斯加州公共媒体的一位电影制作人合作拍摄了这部全长纪录片 Pershing: Love and War, which aired on PBS. 最近，他出现在好奇流系列节目中， American Icons.
McNeese的 mother passed away in 1993 and 他的 father followed her into eternity the 年复一年. “我唯一的遗憾是，他们没能看到我所取得的成就. I know they would have been proud,” 他说.
He may be an award-winning author and TV personality, but McNeese is best known on campus as the 他的tory professor with an amazing recall of information and dramatic 无论话题如何，讲故事的天赋都能吸引听众. 他画了 他的 students in with sensory detail as 好吧 as a focus on the intimate human moments in large scale 他的torical events. After one of 他的 lectures, students don’t simply 记住葛底斯堡战役发生在1863年联邦军 was victorious--they also remember what it might have felt like to stand on the battlefield amid the chaos of war. 不管他教的是吉萨金字塔还是生命 马丁·路德，他的演讲变得生动，并与相关的涟漪.
In 他的 more than 30 years of teaching at York University, McNeese has touched countless 学生们的生命，传递着博士的祝福. Scott once gave to him.
One such student was Benj Clark ’02. Today, Clark is the curator of the Charles M. 加州圣罗莎的舒尔茨博物馆和研究中心., and the author of an Eisner Award-winning book on the 花生 漫画家. 克拉克从小就是一个历史爱好者，他说他多年前就知道了 he would major in 他的tory at York, but wasn’t sure how he would be able to translate that passion into a paycheck. “An ongoing influence was being able to see somebody do 他的tory as a career,” 他说 of McNeese. “That was helpful to me to see somebody not just teaching, but publishing for both the academic press as 好吧 as the popular 市场.”
麦克尼斯为克拉克提供了自己探索历史的工具，并教他如何去做 hone 他的 writing craft. “他给了我一些第一次做新研究的机会 in 他的tory, to dig into things that haven’t been dug into before…which is what I’ve built my whole career on,” 他说.
Sisters and fellow 他的tory majors Jessica (Agler ’06) Addo and Rebecca (Agler ’14) 布兰德对麦克尼兹的课也有着同样美好的回忆.
“我不能说在他之前我有很多伟大的历史老师. McNeese,” said Addo, 谁是堪萨斯城公共图书馆10个分馆的采购经理. In “他们大多是教练，其次是历史老师.” She was impressed by McNeese’s ability to weave together 他的tory and faith, whether he was providing 他的torical context during a communion table talk on Sunday morning at East Hill Church of Christ, or providing a spiritual dimension to a 他的tory lesson; he was a Christian and an academic in all parts of 他的 life.
夫人. Lones, Rebecca (Agler) Bland, McNeese和Jessica (Agler) Addo
More than that, he was a trusted advisor. McNeese cheered her on as she completed two internships in D.C. 也是她申请工作和研究生院的推荐信.
阿多说:“我觉得他既是一位受人尊敬的老师，也是一位朋友。.
Bland, a youth services librarian with Omaha Public Libraries, remembers McNeese’s dynamic teaching style. 她回忆起围坐在麦克尼塞最喜欢的餐桌旁的情景 在Hulitt地下室的会议室里，听他讲课. “He was speaking from the depth of 他的 knowledge and 他的 own understanding, and it was pretty exciting 听. He made 他的tory come alive. He taught from stories,” 她说. 这 is something Bland has brought into her own work, as she brings programs to the library, such as Lakota elders teaching tribal stories. “You can’t have a library without 他的tory,” 她说.
Bland and Clark both recalled how much they appreciated McNeese’s chapel presentations. For Bland, a memorable talk was McNeese presenting on Sir Ernest Shackleton, the courageous arctic explorer and sea captain. That presentation inspired her to want to be a better leader, and is a topic she has revisited as she manages her staff.
Clark remembered one chapel where the scheduled speaker canceled at the last minute and McNeese was asked to fill in. He gave an impromptu talk about American presidents and fielded questions from the audience on the fly, demonstrating confidence as 好吧 as subject mastery as he kept the audience engaged and entertained through the program.
These stories reflect McNeese’s impact on the institution, which goes far beyond the 教室. “我一直在寻找能增加价值的事情，”他说. In 1996, he was part of the transition to the college becoming a four-year school and provided leadership in creating the degree plan for a bachelor’s degree in 他的tory. In 1999 and 2000, he led a group of students to conduct an excavation of Old Main, the campus building that burned down in 1951. It was an opportunity for 他的tory majors 不用离开校园就能在挖掘现场获得实践经验. The artifacts they collected were on 显示 for years in Hulitt Hall.
In the summers, McNeese regularly taught at Round Up, the “golden agers” Bible camp held on campus. 多年来，他一直在锻炼自己的新闻能力来制作这所学校 年鉴，还DET365官方APP下载了学生报纸， The Panther Press, along with 贝芙.
McNeese was a leader in the conceptual design of the Clayton Museum of Ancient 历史 on campus and currently serves on the museum council. He regularly presents museum lectures on various topics, including one in September of t他的 year that he co-presented with 他的儿子诺亚·麦克尼斯中尉是一名历史学家，也是内布拉斯加州人 警. 麦克尼塞的两个孩子都在某种程度上追随了他们的父母:诺亚 majored in 他的tory at York College and later earned a master’s degree in 他的tory as 好吧. 夏天(现在是博士). 狄金森(Dickinson)，曾在大学教授英语，现在任职 在纳什维尔的公立学校系统担任语言专家.
In 2019, McNeese collaborated with Dr. Terry Seufferlein and Dr. Frank Wheeler on 克莱顿博物馆的临时展览《DET365官方APP下载》. McNeese and Seufferlein are currently working on a new exhibit on Ancient Greece, which will 2024年开业.
然而，与他合作最多的校园同事是贝弗. 这对夫妇 was responsible for developing a successful domestic study program that took students 从西南到新英格兰的博物馆、作家之家和历史遗迹 over a 10-year span. 他们为人文学科计划了定期的活动和离家更近的郊游 学生们，从参观博物馆到校园演讲和研讨会. In 2012, they worked together to put on an immersive Titanic event to commemorate 100 years since the sinking 船的. 晚会包括音乐、美食、服装、讲座和小型博物馆 显示. 对于大约一百名客人来说，这是一次难忘的经历. 为 麦克尼斯和他们组织的委员会，花了几个月的准备工作.
2009年度校友奖-蒂姆，贝夫和史蒂夫埃克曼
In 2014, the couple collaborated with fellow faculty member Christi Lones to co-author
a book ahead of York College’s 125th anniversary. “蒂姆·麦克尼斯对大学，对兄弟情谊，还有
individuals like myself is truly incalculable,” said Lones, who taught with McNeese
in the 历史 Department for 15 years. “He served as a mentor, a teacher, an expert,
a sounding board, an archivist, and so much more. The legions of students, faculty,
and staff that he inspired are forever in 他的 debt. I, for one, am grateful for 他的
friendship and collegiality."
而 McNeese’s focus tends to be the past, he is looking ahead to 他的 next chapter. 当他在秋季学期结束后辞去历史教授的职务时， 他将在DET365获得一个新头衔:驻校作家. From 他的 office full of artifacts in Middlebrook Hall, he will continue to write and will also plan 为学生和社区举办的作家工作坊活动. He will miss the 教室, he admits, especially teaching some of 他的 favorite classes like Medieval Renaissance, and 西ern Civilization and the Civil War. However, he is excited about the increased flexibility he will have in the new role, as he and 贝芙 hope to spend more time attending their grandchildren’s events and traveling.
回顾他的职业生涯，McNeese总结得很简单. “I’ve been very blessed,” 他说.
A grateful university echoes that sentiment. 谢谢你，博士. McNeese, for the blessing you have been to t他的 community. Your legacy will be felt on t他的 campus and in the lives of your students for many 未来几年.
(顺便说一下，蒂姆和贝弗每年夏天都在他们认识的圣经夏令营工作.)
Hulitt Conference Room (Pre-Renovation) where McNeese held many classes and now named the "Tim McNeese Conference Room".
麦克尼斯解说合唱团的春季作品 我依旧奋起 in 2022.
McNeese带领学生在99年到00年期间挖掘了Old Main遗址.