Barton Myers Named Class of 1960 Professor of Ethics and History Myers will hold the position for a three-year period.

Colin Whitmore '20
July 11, 2019

Barton Myers, associate professor of history at Washington and Lee University, will succeed Sam Calhoun of the Washington and Lee University School of Law as the Class of 1960 Professor of Ethics and History. Myers will hold the position for a three-year period.

“Barton is a dynamite teacher — students flock to his classes — and his knowledge of the Civil War is amazing,” said Marc Conner, W&L provost. “A deep and careful thinker about military history, about the relations between historical events and place/landscape, and about ways in which past historical events continue to hold meaning and significance in the present day, Barton is a superb successor.”

The Class of 1960 professorship seeks to honor and recognize a W&L faculty member whose teaching and scholarship include ethics, honor, integrity, honesty, and applications of ethical reasoning in addressing contemporary issues. Myers teaches a multitude of courses at W&L related to the American Civil War, Southern history and military history.

This fall, Myers will be a featured historian in the new History Channel multi-part documentary on the life of President and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, based on the bestselling Ron Chernow biography “Grant.”

The professorship, which the Class of 1960 established at its 50th reunion, stems from the Institute for Honor, which the class inaugurated for its 40th reunion. The chair includes serving on the Institute for Honor Advisory Board, taking a leading role in conceiving and organizing Institute for Honor symposia, and planning and executing a number of additional programs and projects in honor and ethics for the duration of the professorship.

“I consider it both an important honor and a vital trust to assume the duties of the direction of the W&L Institute for Honor,” said Myers. “The life of the mind and liberal arts experience at W&L is rooted in these concepts as central features, and I will enjoy exploring them further with our students and alumni in the coming years.”

Myers joined the W&L faculty in 2013. He previously served as a historian with the National Park Service at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, where he led tours at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania Courthouse battlefields. Myers translated his experience as a tour guide to the classroom and now leads a popular Spring Term course that tours the major battlefields of the Civil War. Myers has also written and edited three books and published multiple articles.