While I have been teaching college students since 1988, my
history with Presbyterian College began in 1999, having taught in
New York for a number of years.
My academic career started when I completed a B.A.
at Nyack College, a private Christian liberal arts college. During
the four years of my undergraduate study, I had been inspired
by faculty who modeled excellent instruction in history and genuine
interest in their students. It became a career goal to follow
in their footsteps. So, from Nyack College, I attended Florida
State University where I took both graduate degrees (M.A. and
Ph.D.) in medieval European history. My doctoral dissertation
concerned the lower government officials of the reign of Richard
I Lionheart, the crusader king of England who died in 1199. From
that research I have published a few articles and in 2000 co-authored
with my former professor, Dr. Ralph Turner, a book entitled The
Reign of Richard Lionheart.
Over the course of my career as a professor, I have
taught many different courses, but the fields where I have been
asked to do most of my teaching cover western civilization from
its beginnings to about 1700 A.D. What follows is a list of the
courses that I regularly teach at PC:
• Ancient Western Civilizations
• Early Medieval Europe
• Late Medieval and Renaissance Europe
• Early Modern Europe
• History of England to 1688
• History of Scotland to 1750
• History of Ireland
• Senior Seminar (This course allows the professor to select
a topic and the ones that I have covered include the Crusades,
Inquisition, Rome, and the Byzantines)
I invite you to visit my website at http://web.presby.edu/~rrheiser
to look over some of my syllabi and other items of interest.
