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Patrick Leech
College of Arts and Sciences
College of Arts and Sciences
Assistant Professor of History
pleech@andersonuniversity.edu
Watkins 123
Academic Background
Dr. Patrick Leech is Assistant Professor of History teaching global perspectives on history of the world around us. His research focuses on Hungary and Hungarians within the context of a global Cold War. Additionally, he draws upon digital methodologies that allow him to fuse a previous career in information technology with his teaching and research.
BA in History, Abilene Christian University
MA in History, Texas A&M University-Central Texas
Ph.D. in History, Baylor University
Fast Facts
My classes are skills-focused aiming to help students regardless of major or interests to understand the value of historical knowledge and to understand historical thinking as a transferrable skill. As such, classes are discussion-oriented based on a combination of outside and in-class reading.
History is not just names, dates, and places that serve as fodder for trivia contests. Rather historical thinking is a practical skill based on critical thinking, analysis, and communication; skills which are in increasing demand in our computer-enabled age. It is by understanding historical thinking that we can explore and understand the past.
Recognition for Excellence in Teaching, Baylor University, Graduate School, Spring 2025
Outstanding Alumni Award in History, TAMUCT, 2025
Fulbright US Student Program, Research, Hungary, 2023-2024
Wilson Center, Cold War Archival Research (CWAR) Institute Fellow, 2023-2024
Global Cold War; Hungary; Diaspora; Refugees and Humanitarian Aid
Patrick C. Leech, “The Unhappiest Barrack in the Soviet Bloc: Suicide, Well-Being, and Church-State Relations in Socialist Hungary.” In Freedom of Conscience in (Post)Soviet Space: Legacies of Michael Bourdeaux and the Keston Archive, edited by Julie K. deGraffenried, Michael Long, and Xenia Dennen, with Michael Bourdeaux. Northern Illinois University Press, an imprint of Cornell University Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501782749-014.