Marc Gilbert PH.D.
College of Liberal Arts - Department of History, Humanities, and International Studies
Emeritus Professor of History
NEH Endowed Chair of World History
Marc Jason Gilbert received a Ph.D in History from UCLA and for many years thereafter was Professor of History and co-Director of programs in South and Southeast Asia in the University System of Georgia, which conferred upon him the title of Distinguished Professor in 1998. During that time, he received American Institute for Indian Studies and Fulbright-supported experiences in India and Tanzania. His early fieldwork in Afghanistan led to his election as a member of the first Executive Council of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies. He was also an external fellow of the Center for International and Strategic Studies and conducted fieldwork on mainland Indochina and Yemen. From 2006 to 2019, he was the holder of the National Endowment for the Humanities-supported Endowed Chair in World History at Hawai’i Pacific University, where he founded the World History Association of Hawaii (2007 to present). He was Editor of the e-journal World History Connected, (2008-2024) published by the George Mason University Press, with the initial editorial offices at Hawaii Pacific University. He was elected President of the World History Association (2012-2014). In 2024, that association conferred upon him its highest honor, that of being a “Pioneer in World History.”
From the outset of his career, Gilbert has sought to bring a global dimension to South and Southeast Asian history in numerous papers, articles, chapters in books, books, and monographs, many of which are part of the cannon in several history sub-disciplines. Major works written while at HPU include South Asia in World History (2017); World Civilizations: The Global Experience, with Peter N. Stearns, Michael Adas and Stuart Schwartz, now in its 8th edition (2021); and Cross-Cultural Encounters in Modern World History, with Jon Davidann (Second edition, 2019). His most recent publication marries his previous writings on the global dimensions of the American War in Indochina (Why the North Won the Vietnam War, The Tet Offensive, The Vietnam War on Campus: Oher Voices, More Distant Drums, “The Global Dimensions of a Brushfire War,”) with Hawaii’s own experience of that conflict, which stimulated the rise of the Hawaiian Sovereignty Movement (“The View from the Hill: Hawaii’s Congressional Delegation and the Struggle for Peace in Vietnam and Equity at Home, 1964-1975,” in Fredrik Logevall and Brian Cuddy (eds), The Vietnam War and the Pacific World (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 2022).
Prior to coming to Hawaii Pacific University, Gilbert shared with others the role of being a “Johnny Appleseed” in terms of spreading research and teaching world history, which began with his conducting the first teaching workshop in world history held at the American Historical Association. He later served as co-leader of the two southern regional National Endowment for the Humanities/College Board teaching workshops designed to assist teachers in preparing for the Advancement Examination in World History, which he regularly served as a “Reader” (examiner), as well as co-authoring its first resource guide.
At Hawaii Pacific University, he wrote and received grants to conduct several teacher-training workshops in world history for Hawaii teachers. These featured speakers he invited from the mainland and were supported by Professor Jon Davidann. Both he and Professor Davidann assisted in two revisions of the Hawaii Department of Education’s world history standards. From 2009 onward, at the invitation of their governments, Gilbert organized international world history conferences in Cambodia, China, and Vietnam, which included teaching workshops for local teachers and faculty, which he supplemented by similar activities in Turkey and Morocco, and at universities and academic meetings in the United States.
Gilbert retired from full time teaching to assist in the creation of a State-to-State relationship between Hawaii and the Indian State of Goa, bordering on the Indian Ocean, which is centered on creating cultural, political, educational, and economic exchange. The two states have powerful common interests, ranging from oceanography to maritime strategic affairs to shared Portuguese influences. This project appealed to HPU, and its initial empowering Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed with Gilbert in attendance. This Spring he met with the Consul General of India to the United States seeking support for that program. He is a member of the Honolulu-based Gandhi International Institute for Peace, through which he supports peace activities and India-related events, and hosting visits of diplomatic and military guests in search of peace in the Pacific.
In 2020, Hawaii Pacific University conferred upon Gilbert the title of Professor Emeritus. He remains active in publishing, organizing, chairing and/or presenting papers at academic conferences. He remains engaged in campus activities, such as occasional adjunct teaching, lending financial support to prizes for student scholarship, giving historic tours of downtown Honolulu for entering students, and playing in the occasional Faculty-Staff basketball contest as half-time entertainment at Varsity games, which, he says, he intends to do, “for as long as his knees will allow.” He can always be reached at mgilbert@hpu.edu.
