Vitz joined the NKU faculty in 1972, following short teaching stints at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Purdue University at West Lafayette. A native of Minnesota, he grew up in Cincinnati, received a B.A. degree from DePauw University (1960), a M.A. in history from Miami University (1967), and the Ph.D. in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1971).
Besides teaching both halves of the U.S. history survey (HIS 102/103), he offers
upper division courses in American cultural and intellectual history (HIS 421/422),
American urban history (HIS 427), History through Biography (HIS 442), and the
history methods course (HIS 385). In the spring 2004 semester he will be teaching
a course, cross-listed with the Honors Program, which will explore how painting
and sculpture reflect specific themes in American history (HIS 499). He also
coordinates the department's history internship program (HIS 496) and edits
the department newsletter. His research interests include 19th century American
artistic development, particularly art and music, and he has focused on the
role of Cincinnati in this development. He has published numerous articles in
professional journals; written one book, The Queen and the Arts: Cultural Life
in Nineteenth-Century Cincinnati (1989); and served as a consultant for the
recently opened Cincinnati Wing of the Cincinnati Art Museum. He is currently
a member of both the History Advisory Board of the Cincinnati Museum Center
and the Board of Directors of Historic Southwest Ohio.
Personal interests include reading (particularly biographies, histories, and mysteries), gardening, walking (a few 5K races), environmental issues, and birding with his oldest son, Andrew, a wildlife biologist. He continues to play for the Cincinnati Buckeyes, an 1869 vintage baseball team that plays its home games at Heritage Village Museum in Sharon Woods Park (see link below). He enjoys listening to classical music, blues, and occasionally bluegrass; travels extensively in the United States and on five occasions have driven to the west coast and back; and loves watching Riley, his three year-old granddaughter grow up.
Local:
Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati Museum Center
Historic Southwest Ohio, Inc.
1869 Red Stockings/Buckeyes
Cincinnati Bird ListAmerican History:
Smithsonian Institution
Primary Source Media Collection
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
Social Studies web pages
Research LinksAmerican Art:
Whitney Museum of American Art
Archives of American Art
National Gallery of ArtEnvironmental:
Audubon Society
National Wildlife Refuges
Nature Conservancy