James A. Ramage, Regents Professor of History

James A. Ramage, a native of Paducah, earned his Ph.D. in History at the University of Kentucky under Holman Hamilton. He came to Northern Kentucky University in 1972 as administrative assistant to President W. Frank Steely and became a full-time faculty member in 1976. In 1988, he was awarded Outstanding Professor of the Year and was named Regents Professor in 1994. As faculty advisor of Phi Alpha Theta national history honor society, he won NKU's Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award in 1999. He won the Flame Award in 2003 and won the 2003 Acorn Award from Kentucky Advocates for Higher Education. He is the author of John Wesley Hunt: Pioneer Merchant, Manufacturer and Financier and Rebel Raider, the Life of General John Hunt Morgan, and Gray Ghost: The Life of Col. John Singleton Mosby.

For twenty years Ramage was faculty advisor of NKU’s Alpha Beta Phi Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta and faculty advisor of the chapter’s journal, Perspectives in History.  At the Phi Alpha Theta national convention in Philadelphia, January 4-6, 2006, he was elected national vice president (2006-2007) and president elect (2008-2009).

 In 2004 Ramage received a University-Community Partnership Grant through NKU’s Scripps Howard Center for Civil Engagement for the Battery Hooper Project.  The goal was to partner with the City of Fort Wright in involving students and the public in preserving, researching, and opening Civil War Battery Hooper to the public.  City Administrator Larry Klein represented the city and NKU Adjunct Professor Jeannine Kreinbrink was Archaeology Project Manager.  On June 30, 2005, the project culminated with the opening of a museum on the site.  Mayor Gene Weaver and the City Council named the museum in honor of Ramage’s work.  As of September 1, 2006, over 5,000 people had visited the James A. Ramage Civil War Museum.