Associate Professor of History 

Chair, History Department

Ph.D. Public History and United States History

Loyola University Chicago

Email: dhunte2@uis.edu

Phone: (217) 206-7432

Office: UHB 3056

Teaching Concentration: Public History, Urban History, Twentieth Century United States History

CV upon request

Devin Hunter is a public historian and scholar who focuses on issues of community identity, social equity, redevelopment and cultural heritage tourism. He arrived in academia after several years working in the archives and museum fields in Washington, DC, and Chicago. His first book, A Cosmos in the City: Postwar Politics, Culture, and Diversity in Chicago’s Uptown, is under contract with the University of Illinois Press. Dr. Hunter’s next project traces the history of the commemoration and interpretation of race riots and massacres in Springfield (1908), Chicago (1919), and Tulsa (1921). His past and current board and committee memberships include: the Illinois State Historical Society, the Illinois Historical Sites Advisory Committee, and the Vachel Lindsay Association, among many others.

Recent Publications:

“Urban/Rural Frictions in the Midwest: The Chicago-Downstate Battle for Legislative Reapportionment in Illinois, 1953-1965,” in The Conservative Heartland: The Rise of Conservatism in the Midwest, 1946-2016, edited by Jon Lauck and Catherine McNickol Stock. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2020.

“Interpreting Lincoln Today and Tomorrow: A Round Table Discussion on the State of Lincoln Public History,” convener and editor, Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Winter 2019).

Review of The Small-Town Midwest: Resilience and Hope in the Twenty-First Century, by Julianne Crouch. Illinois Geographer, Vol. 60, Issue 1 (Fall 2018).

“Uptown: The Roots of Diversity in the Twentieth-Century ‘City within a City,” in Illinois Heritage, May/June 2015.

Review of 1950s“Rocketman” TV Series and Their Fans: Cadets, Rangers, and Junior Space Men, edited by Cynthia Miller and A. Bowdoin Van Riper. Journal of Popular Culture, Volume 47, Issue 1 (February 2014), 198-201.

Awards and Grants:

Illinois Innovation Network Social Innovation Seed Grant" ($30,000), "Journeys to Justice: Reckoning with Illinois' History and Legacy of Anti-Black Terror," co-director with Lesa Johnson (UIS SOA), Peter Cole (Western Illinois University), and Tandra Taylor (Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, 2024-2025.

UIS Faculty Engagement Award, 2024.

University of Illinois Presidential Initiative to Celebrate the Impact of the Arts and Humanities ($180,000), “I-Heritage as Public Engagement and Economic and Social Development,” co-principal investigator with Helaine Silverman, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2019-2025.

University of Illinois Presidential Initiative to Celebrate the Impact of the Arts and Humanities ($150,000), “The Humanities Innovating New Knowledge (THINK),” co-investigator with Jennifer Brier, University of Illinois at Chicago (co-principal investigator); Barbara Ransby, University of Illinois Chicago (co-principal investigator); and Kathryn Oberdeck (co-investigator), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2019-2025.

2020 Mid-America Emmy Award for Short Format Program, “Face to Face.” Chris Costello, Director and Editor; Devin V. Hunter, Producer; Josh Hester, Executive Producer; featuring Dr. Wesley Robinson-McNeese.