Dr. Thomas Arnold

Dr. Thomas Arnold is an Assistant Professor of History at the Indiana Academy. He has taught at the Academy since 2004, and continues to teach well known classes such as Foundations of the American Experience and American History.

Before the Academy
After graduating with a Bachelor's degree from Oberlin College in 1985, Dr. Arnold received a Ph.D. in early modern and military history from Ohio State University in 1993.

Upon receiving his degree, Dr. Arnold held a post-doctoral position at Yale, where he received a full time position in 1994. He worked there until 2001, primarily doing research work. During this time, he published The Renaissance at War for the Smithsonian History of Warfare series. It is available on Amazon.

In 2001 Dr. Arnold was promoted to be the Program Manager of Teaching at the Alliance for Lifelong Learning. This was a consortium created that year by Oxford, Stanford, and Yale, and was intended to provide quality online education courses to their combined alumni. Unfortunately, there were several problems with the program, and it was highly unprofitable. The institution was shut down several years later, and Dr. Arnold left their employment. After the institution was shut down, Dr. Arnold and his wife moved to Muncie to be closer to their family. After they moved, they had dinner with a family friend, who happened to work at the Academy. Dr. Arnold interviewed and received a job as a history professor.

Activities at the Academy
Since coming to the Academy, Dr. Arnold has taught a great variety of courses. He often teaches courses in the required sequence, including Foundations of the American Experience and both semesters of American History. In addition, Dr. Arnold teaches many elective history courses, most of which relate to his training in early modern history and warfare. Dr. Arnold has taught electives like Man and War, the West in the World, and the Social History of Art & Architecture combined history and fine arts class.

In addition, in almost every year since joining the faculty in 2004, Dr. Arnold has lead History and Hiking trips to various foreign countries around the world. Past destinations have included France, Switzerland, Japan, and Spain.