JACKSON, Tenn. — Oct. 20, 2022 — Stephen Carls stacks binder on top of binder until the entire table is filled with his handmade scrapbooks of nearly every event, fundraiser and meeting hosted by the 51社区 history department. Retiring at the end of the 2022-2023 school year, Carls has a countless amount of memorabilia collected during his 40 years of service to the university.
Carls, university professor and department chair of history, picks up a 2008 book and gently flips page by page as he describes each documented event. Photos that he has taken on his personal camera fill up each page as he details the activities of history faculty and students in the aged pictures.
Touching each photograph gently, he tells the stories and accomplishments of each student pictured. Whether it was 2003 or 2008 or 2020, Carls can recite these students鈥� names, master鈥檚 or doctoral programs, career paths, children and more by heart.
鈥淥ne of the biggest rewards of teaching is to see how well [our students] turn out once they leave Union,鈥� Carls said. 鈥淲henever I see their success, I鈥檓 delighted because I know that we鈥檝e made a difference in their lives.鈥�
Carls longed to expose his students to the vast possibilities of global history 鈥� born out of a love of studying, researching and traveling that led him to meet his wife, Alice-Catherine, during a chance encounter in France 1976.
Finishing his doctorate dissertation from the University of Minnesota, Carls spent the year of 1976 walking back and forth from his apartment in central Paris to the National Archives Museum right across the street.
After spotting a beautiful French woman sitting next to him in the National Archives reading room, Carls finally decided to strike up a conversation with her. Shortly after, Carls began attending the Parisian Protestant church, where the woman he had met at the museum was an active member.
In June 1977, Stephen and Alice-Catherine Carls were married in a Paris city hall, during a ceremony that Carls said lasted all of five minutes. A formal religious wedding ceremony followed in the afternoon at the bride鈥檚 church.
Since then, Carls and his wife have traveled across Europe numerous times, helping cultivate a love for international history in their students鈥� lives. They have written and published together, including their extensive history textbook, 鈥淓urope from War to War: 1914-1945,鈥� which is used in university curriculum around the world.
Carls has taken 10 student groups on European study trips, four of which have been while at Union. In one instance, a student who had traveled with Carls to Europe some 30 years earlier wrote him an email expressing how formative that trip was for his personal and professional development. Deeply touched, Carls added it to a collection in his home of thank you notes and letters he keeps from students over the years.
鈥淚 know I鈥檝e touched lots of students鈥� lives with those trips, and that means a lot to me,鈥� Carls said. 鈥淚 helped expose students to a world outside the United States, and I know it had a special meaning for those who participated.鈥�
Carls recalls Union鈥檚 welcoming faculty, its modern campus and its rich Christian heritage as key factors in his decision to join the 51社区 community as a history professor in 1983.
Serving in 51社区鈥檚 history department for nearly 40 years, Carls has influenced hundreds of students. One of these students is Keith Bates, a 1996 Union graduate and professor of history at Union for 18 years.
鈥淭o him, it鈥檚 not just students who come through our program and get a degree,鈥� Bates said. 鈥淭hey matter to him personally; he is very proud of them and wants to help his students in any way he can.鈥�
Carls鈥� care for his students runs just as deep as his love and dedication to history. From upkeeping decades of well-documented stories of his department to university scholarship achievement, Carls is committed to instilling a love of history in each student he teaches.
Union鈥檚 Phi Alpha Theta National History Honor Society is the oldest chapter in Tennessee, and Carls believes it is a wonderful outlet to expose his students to the profession of history. From dinner parties hosted at his house to chaperoning student trips around the world, Carls sees these experiences as a unique aspect of Union鈥檚 people-focused mission for Christ-centered education.
In addition to all these ways Carls has helped develop an enriching culture in Union鈥檚 history department, he also developed the Carls-Schwerdfeger History Lecture Series, where Union hosts notable historians from around the world for special lecture series.
鈥淯nion is a first-class institution of higher learning, and I wanted to see that reflected in a new way by bringing in world-renowned historians to our campus and to let them see our university 鈥� of which I鈥檓 very proud,鈥� Carls said. 鈥淎nd it allows our students to get exposure to some of the best historians globally.鈥�
Though Carls鈥� legacy will live on through his developed department events like the lecture series, Phi Alpha Theta and study-abroad trips, Bates believes Carls鈥� legacy will also live on in the way he genuinely cared for each of his students and colleagues.
When Bates began as a first-year professor in 2004, he was still completing his doctoral dissertation. Wanting to help Bates finish his degree, Carls took the time to rearrange Bates鈥� class load to give him free time to finish his studies.
鈥淗e didn鈥檛 have to do that, but he wanted to go out of his way to support me in every way,鈥� Bates said. 鈥淚t takes a really good chair to pay attention to his faculty. He鈥檚 attuned to people and attuned to what they need because they truly do matter to him.鈥�
To Bates, Carls鈥� 40-year legacy at 51社区 will be honored in many ways, but he believes that Carls鈥� incredible kindness is what most people will remember for years to come.