Institute Faculty
David A. Graff, Associate Professor of History
Dr. Graff specializes in military history and Chinese and Japanese history.
Among his publications are "The Battle of Huo-I" for the journal Asia Major, and "The Sword and the Brush: Military Specialization and Career Patterns in Tang China, 618-907" for the journal War and Society. His book Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900 was published by Routledge.
Professor Graff joined Kansas State University in 1998 and earned his doctorate from Princeton University. His current projects include a general work on medieval Chinese warfare and a book on the founding of the Tang dynasty.
Don Mrozek, Professor of History
Don Mrozek, a professor of history at KSU since 1972, is a specialist in American military history, with particular interests in civil-military relations, the interplay between societal development and military institutions, American notions about the nature of war and aspects of American military aviation. He also studies the 20th century in general and American cultural history, with an emphasis on the history of sport and the mergence of mass popular culture.
His extensive writings include serving as co-editor of A Guide to the Sources of U.S. Military History, and supplements in 1980, 1986, 1993, and 1998; Air Power and the Ground War in Vietnam; Sport and American Mentality, 1880-1910, which was written with help from the National Endowment for the Humanities; "Historical Perspectives on Reform of the American Military," Military History, Vol 1990.6, and co-editor of "Sports Periodicals."
Among his current projects is a study on international air power since 1945.
His many honors include the honorary rank of visiting professor at South Central College for Nationalities and at Central China Normal University, both in Wuhan in the People's Republic of China. He served as a visiting research fellow at the Airpower Research Institute at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama from 1982-1984; and received a Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award from K-State in 1994. He also is a member of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and the Harry S. Truman Library Institute.
Dr. Mrozek, who served as chair of the K-State Department of History from 1991-1999, received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University.
Michael Ramsay, Associate Professor of History
Professor Ramsay specializes in 19th and 20th century British military history and European diplomacy since 1815. His work includes "Giving a Lead in the Right Direction: Sir Robert Vansittart and the Defense Requirements Sub-Committee" with Charles Morrisey in the journal Diplomacy and Statecraft. Dr. Ramsay's is the author of Command and Cohesion: Minor Tactics in the British Army 1870-1918.
Dr. Ramsay is also preparing a collection of essays by several authors on the relationship between the British Army and the armies of the Empire from 1900 to 1945, and a monograph on the evolution of combat psychology in the British Army, as well as a translation of a 1906 French Army tactical manual by Maj. Louis de Grandmaison.
Professor Ramsay earned his Ph.D. from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and joined the Kansas State University Department of History in 1998.
Professor Parillo specializes in military history, particularly the history of warfare in the industrial age. He is the author of The Japanese Merchant Marine in World War II and has written the chapter " Burma and Southeast Asia, 1941-1945" in World War II in Asia and the Pacific and the War's Aftermath, with General Themes: A Handbook of Literature and Research. Dr. Parillo's latest book, We Were the Big One, is an edited collection of letters, diaries, and other documents about the experiences of Americans in the World War II years. Dr. Parillo is currently working on monographs about the Burma Road and a comparative study of U.S., Japanese and British use of railroads in World War II.
Professor Parillo also served for nearly a decade as the chief editor of H-War, the principal Internet discussion group for military history linking scholars, librarians, archivists, military professionals and academic historians from around the world. He is the chair and newsletter editor of the World War Two Studies Association. Other service roles include the conference organizer for the 73 rd annual meeting of the Society for Military History in 2006 and a Presidential counselor for the National World War II Museum.
Dr. Parillo joined Kansas State University in 1992 after earning his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University.
