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James Leiker PhD

Professor, history

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Jim Leiker teaches courses in United States History, African American studies, Local and State History, and the American West. He is the author of numerous books and articles on Western History, among them “Racial Borders: Black Soldiers along the Rio Grande,” (Texas A&M Press, 2002) and “The Northern Cheyenne Exodus in History and Memory” (Oklahoma, 2011), which was named a Kansas Notable Book and won the Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize.

In 2009, he founded JCCC’s Kansas Studies Institute, a program he directed for five years. Jim serves on the board of the Kansas Business Hall of Fame and on the editorial board of the journal Kansas History, and is a four-time winner of the Distinguished Service award. He currently serves as president of the JCCC Faculty Association. Jim earned his B.S. and M.A. degrees from Fort Hays State University and his PhD from the University of Kansas.