Stephen Douglas Carls is the chair of the history department at Union University

Union University

Union University is a private, evangelical Christian, liberal arts university located in Jackson, Tennessee, with additional campuses in Germantown, Tennessee, and Hendersonville, Tennessee...

 in Jackson, Tennessee

Jackson, Tennessee

Jackson is a city in Madison County, Tennessee, United States. The total population was 65,211 at the 2010 census. Jackson is the primary city of the Jackson, Tennessee metropolitan area, which is included in the Jackson-Humboldt, Tennessee Combined Statistical Area...

. Carls began teaching at Union University in 1983 and prior to that taught at Sterling College

Sterling College

Sterling College may refer to:*Sterling College *Sterling College...

 in Sterling, Kansas

Sterling, Kansas

Sterling is a city in Rice County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 2,328. Sterling is home to Sterling College.- History :...

 for twelve years. He is an expert in 20th-Century France, World War I, and Europe between the two world wars.

Carls also serves as the faculty advisor of the Lambda Chi Alpha

Lambda Chi Alpha

Lambda Chi Alpha is one of the largest men's secret general fraternities in North America, having initiated more than 280,000 members and held chapters at more than 300 universities. It is a member of the North-American Interfraternity Conference and was founded by Warren A. Cole, while he was a...

 fraternity and the Delta-Psi chapter of Phi Alpha Theta

Phi Alpha Theta

Phi Alpha Theta is an American honor society for undergraduate and graduate students and professors of history.The society is a charter member of the Association of College Honor Societies and has over 350,000 members, with about 9,500 new members joining each year through 860 local chapters.-...

. He is a member of the American Historical Association

American Historical Association

The American Historical Association is the oldest and largest society of historians and professors of history in the United States. Founded in 1884, the association promotes historical studies, the teaching of history, and the preservation of and access to historical materials...

 and the Society for French Historical Studies

Society for French Historical Studies

The Society for French Historical Studies is, along with the Western Society for French History , one of the two primary historical societies devoted to the study of French history headquartered in the United States....

.

Biographical information

Stephen was born to Ernest and Eleanor Carls and is married to Alice-Catherine Maire. They have three children Philip, Elizabeth and Paul.

Scholarship

Carls wrote the preeminent book on the life of Louis Loucheur

Louis Loucheur

Louis Loucheur was a French politician in the Third Republic, at first a member of the conservative Republican Federation, then of the Democratic Republican Alliance and of the Independent Radicals.-Life:Coming from a background in the arms industry, Loucheur became Minister of Munitions in...

. Stephen Schuker of the University of Virginia called it "a superb biography of one of the most fascinating and forward-looking leaders of the Third Republic." "[Carls] offers a highly original and important contribution to the study of modernization in twentieth-century France." In this book called Louis Loucheur

Louis Loucheur

Louis Loucheur was a French politician in the Third Republic, at first a member of the conservative Republican Federation, then of the Democratic Republican Alliance and of the Independent Radicals.-Life:Coming from a background in the arms industry, Loucheur became Minister of Munitions in...

 and the Shaping of Modern France Carls proposes that Loucheur, a weapon's manufacturer, was a major part of France's industrializtion and modernization.

Education

• B.A. from Wheaton College
  Wheaton College (Illinois)
  Wheaton College is a private, evangelical Protestant liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago in the United States...
  
   (1966)
• M.A. (1968) and Ph.D. (1982) from the University of Minnesota
  University of Minnesota
  The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
  
  .

Selected works

• Louis Loucheur and the Shaping of Modern France 1916-1931, Louisiana State University Press (1993-06).