Bruce Brasington, Ph.D.

Professor of History

Office: Old Main, Room 403C
Email: bbrasington@wtamu.edu
Phone: 806-651-2426

Professional Profile

Dr. Brasington is from Stillwater, Okla. and received his B.A. in history with a minor in German from Oklahoma State University. While in college, he also attended a Goethe Institute in Germany where he received a Certificate of German as a Foreign Language. He received his M.A. at Southern Methodist University. His thesis was on hagiography and the writing of History at Rheims from the ninth to the 11th centuries. He then received a second M.A. and, subsequently, a Ph.D. at UCLA. His dissertation was on ecclesiastical jurisprudence in the late 11th century.

Teaching and Related Service

Dr. Brasington was a teaching assistant for three years at UCLA and received one of 10 university-wide teaching awards in 1985. Since 1990, he's been at WTAMU, where he's taught a variety of courses from introductory American history to graduate seminars in medieval and early-modern history. He has also offered Latin tutorials for a number of years. In recent years, he's felt fortunate to be a visiting professor at the University of Dresden. There he has taught both undergraduate and graduate seminars in medieval law, theology and paleography/codicology.

Research and Creative Activity

At present, Dr. Brasington has published over 30 scholarly articles and two books. Currently, he's engaged in several research projects, notably papers on medieval customary law, marriage law and legal iconography, which will be presented this summer at conferences in Denmark, England and Hungary. He's also beginning a book at the invitation of Harvard University. This will offer the first translation and commentary on the Summa of Paucapalea, the first commentary on Gratian's Decretum, the standard medieval textbook of canon law.

Personal Sketch

When not teaching and doing research, he enjoys, above all, spending time with his wife, Darlene. He says it's wonderful when she is able to join him on his overseas trips. He enjoys cooking and entertaining. He also plays a highly eccentric form of golf. No less unusual is his fly-fishing, which sadly, he rarely gets to do. In the past, he co-hosted a classic rock show on the campus radio station, KWTS, with his colleague, Dr. Kuhlman and at some point, would like to do that again. His musical tastes run from disco to jazz. Finally, he has a pathological, obsessive love for the teams of his alma mater, Oklahoma State.