I was born and raised in Brittany, France, where I also received a good measure of my college education.  I graduated from the Université de Haute-Bretagne with a Master’s Degree in History in 1987. I then attended the University of Kentucky where I earned another Master’s Degree in 1989 and my Ph.D. in 1997.  Sometime along my academic journey, I took time off to fulfill my French military obligations.  I experienced few of the rigors of army life for, after my basic training, I was assigned to the Press Service of the French Prime Minister.  My dissertation, directed by Professor George C. Herring, pertained to what I call France’s Mirage diplomacy, which is the fashion in which France used the sale of military aircraft around the world to promote its foreign policy and maintain its global presence in the age of the Cold War.  This work continues to enthuse and inspire me.  I have presented a number of conference papers on its subject at different scholarly venues and published an article entitled “Mirages over the Andes: Peru, France, the United States, and Military Jet Procurement in the 1960s” in Pacific Historical Review.  I have accumulated more original research since the completion of the dissertation and I am now working on revising the manuscript in the hope of submitting it to publishers over the next two years.  The topic nicely encompasses my academic interests in modern European, diplomatic and military history.

     I joined the full-time faculty of Northern Kentucky University in 1998 when I was hired as a Lecturer.  Since then, I have taught a rather large variety of courses in modern European and U.S. history, some of which I created, such as the History of France since 1815 and the History of Flight.  Feeling welcomed within the Department and integrated into its life, it is without hesitation that I applied for the tenure-track position in Modern European and Military History last year.  It was with great joy that I accepted this position and I now look forward to assuming new responsibilities and to broadening my course offerings by teaching existing classes and designing new ones, all with the intention of sharing my enthusiasm for History to our students.

     Angie and I recently celebrated our twelfth wedding anniversary.  We are the happy and fortunate parents of two wonderful girls, Rachelle, already 8 years old, and Pascalle who will turn two on December 23.  We have made our home in Erlanger where you are welcomed to visit us.

E-MAIL ME
leroy@nku.edu