Jim Whittenburg

Who is Jim Whittenburg?

James Penn Whittenburg is a professor of History at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. He served one term as the chairman of the Lyon G. Tyler Department of History, following Dr. James McCord and succeeded by Dr. Philip Daileader. He received his B.A. from the University of Tennessee, his M.A. in history from Wake Forest University, and his Ph.D. in history from the University of Georgia, where he wrote his thesis on the War of the Regulation. He began teaching at William & Mary in 1977; previously he taught at the University of Missouri.

Whittenburg was awarded the University Chair for Teaching Excellence from 1999-2002. Other awards include: the William and Mary Society of the Alumni Teaching Award, the Thomas Ashley Graves Jr. Award for Sustained Excellence in College Teaching, and the Freshman Advisor of the Year award. In 2007, several former students in association with the Virginia Historical society saluted Whittenburg as the "Greatest History Teacher". Whittenburg also taught actress Kim Basinger.