Dr. Mark Ellis

Biography

Welcome! I am Dr. Mark Ellis, and I have been at UNK since Fall 2000. I earned BA and MA degrees in history at California State University at Northridge. In 1994, I left the sun and surf of my native Southern California to pursue a PhD at the University of Nebraska where I had the opportunity to study under renowned Great Plains scholars Dr. John Wunder and Dr. David Wishart. I am a nineteenth-century US historian who specializes in legal history/legal culture, the territorial expansion of the United States, and the migrations and interactions of people in frontier America. I also have research and teaching interests in sports history, history & film, and Latin America (particularly the Mexican occupation of what is now California and the Southwest). In 2018, I took a hiatus from my faculty position and served as the Dean of Graduate Studies until Summer 2025. I also served terms as the department chair and graduate program chair.

I am a first-generation college graduate who has a passion for sharing my love of history with students and the community. I have taught over thirty different courses at UNK (and a few at UNL). One of my points of pride is the creation of UNK’s online MA degree in History. More than 450 students have completed this program since it was launched in 2010. I have a particular interest and passion for mentoring students. I have authored two books with students, mentored dozens of undergraduate research projects, and advised over 60 MA theses. My former students are now teachers, college professors, administrators, professional editors, and working historians. Many of my former students have published books and peer-reviewed articles. I welcome all students and community members who want to study with me in any of my research and teaching areas. Stop by the office and say hi!

My publications have largely focused on legal culture and how people implemented law and legal institutions in the nineteenth-century Western United States. My book, Law and Order in Buffalo Bill’s Country, explored how nineteenth-century Americans introduced law and order in frontier Nebraska. I have also published articles on Native Americans and the law, World War Two homefront, and pedagogy in the classroom.

My hobbies revolve around physical exercise, exploring the outdoors, and athletic competitions. In college, I ran cross-country and suffered miserably on the track while running distance events such as the steeplechase and 10K. I was a competitive triathlete as a young man in the 1980s before an injury ended my shot at a professional career. I returned to triathlon competitions in 2023 and have completed over twenty races. My goal is to complete a full Ironman race in 2026. I have also set a goal to hike all the Colorado and California peaks over 14,000 feet (commonly known as 14ers). I have a long way to go.

Education

PhD, History, University of Nebraska (1999)

MA, History, California State University at Northridge (1993)

BA, History, California State University at Northridge (1990)

Teaching and Research Specializations

• Nineteenth-Century United States
• Legal and Constitutional History
• Territorial Expansion
• Civil War & Reconstruction
• Community Conflicts and Compromises
• Sports History
• Popular Culture (Film, Music, and Sports)
• Latin America / Mexico

Courses Taught

Undergraduate Courses

• HIST 215: Latin America
• HIST 250: American History I
• HIST 251: American History II
• HIST 327: World War I
• HIST 328: World War II
• HIST 405: Plains Indians
• HIST 406: History and Film
• HIST 479: Nebraska and the Great Plains
• HIST 482: American West
• HIST 485: US Since 1945
• HIST 495: Sports History
• HIST 496: Frontier Law and Order
• HIST 496: People of the Plains

Graduate Courses

• HIST 800: New Perspectives in History
• HIST 801: America Interpreted
• HIST 803: Historical Methods
• HIST 841: Seminar: History of the American West
• HIST 848: American West
• HIST 848: Great Plains
• HIST 848: Native American
• HIST 848: Plains Indians
• HIST 848: Frontier Law and Order
• HIST 848: Pacific West
• HIST 848: Modern West
• HIST 848: World War II
• HIST 848: War, Film, and Memory
• HIST 848: Reconstruction
• HIST 848: HIST 848: Sports History
• HIST 848: Recent Research in American History
• HIST 894: Introduction to Thesis
• HIST 899: History of Baseball
• HIST 899: The American Experience on D-Day
• HIST 899: First-Hand Accounts of the American West
• HIST 899: Lakota Chiefs

Scholarship

In Progress

“The Cowboy Menace: Conflict and Community on the Central Great Plains (1867-1890)”

“Protecting the Rails: The Union Pacific and Law Enforcement in the West (1866-1910)”

“That Little Scotsman: Charley Johnston and the Origins of Golf in Nebraska (1886-1925)”

“Walking on Water: California’s Golden Age of Surfing”

Books

Law and Order in Buffalo Bill’s Country: Legal Culture and Community in Lincoln County, Nebraska, 1868-1910 (University of Nebraska Press, November 2007)

• Finalist, Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize, Center for Great Plains Studies (2007)
• Scribes Book Award, 2^nd Place (2007)

A Century of Sports at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, with Jordan Kuck (Arcadia Press, September 2007) 

Kearney, with Heather Stauffer (Arcadia Publishing, 2006)

Articles / Book Chapters

“Casualties of War: Buffalo County, Nebraska and its World War II Dead,” Nebraska History 101 (Fall 2020)

“Forward,” in Jake Eberlein, Wilderness Cathedral: The Story of Idaho’s Oldest Building (Mediatrix Press: Post Falls, ID, 2017). 

“Civic Engagement and Task Force Teaching: Integrating the Veterans History Project into the University Classroom,” with Roger Davis and Linda Van Ingen, The History Teacher 42 (May 2009)

“The Legal and Judicial Career of Francis “Frank” Hamer:  Pioneer Lawyer, District Court Judge, and Nebraska Supreme Court Justice,” in The History of Nebraska Law, edited by Alan Gless (Ohio University Press. 2008)

“Legal Culture and Community on the Great Plains: State of Nebraska v. John Burley,” Western Historical Quarterly 36 (Summer 2005)

* Nominated for 2006 Spur Award, “Best Western Short Nonfiction,” Western Writers of America
* Nominated for 2006 Law and Society Association Article Prize.
* Nominated for the 2006 Michael Malone Prize, Western History Association

“Nebraska,” Dictionary of United States History (New Library Press)

“Hanging Out the Shingle: Nineteenth-Century Lawyers in Nebraska’s Platte Valley,” Nebraska History 85 (Spring 2004)

“The State of Nebraska,” in The Uniting States: The Story of Statehood for the 50 United States of America, edited by Benjamin F. Shearer (Greenwood Press, June 2004)

“For the Honor and Dignity of the Profession: The Nebraska State Bar Association, 1900-2000,” Part I, The Nebraska Lawyer (Winter 2000): 4-12; Part II, (Spring 2000)

“Reservation Akicitas: The Pine Ridge Indian Police, 1879-85,” South Dakota History 29 (1999)

* Herbert S. Schell Award (2000), “Most Outstanding Article in South Dakota History.”
* Finalist, Spur Award (2000), “Best Western Short Nonfiction,” Western Writers of America.

“Poor Man’s Justice: Vicente García and the Nineteenth Century California Justice System,” Ventura County Historical Society Quarterly, 39 (Fall 1994)

Selected Invited Publications

“Duke Kahanamoku,” in Great Lives from History: Asian and Pacific Islander Americans (Salem Press, 2012). 

“Ben Kuroki,” in Great Lives from History: Asian and Pacific Islander Americans (Salem Press, 2012).

“Elk v. Wilkins,” in Encyclopedia of U.S. Indian Policy and Law (Congressional Quarterly Press, 2008)

 “Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851),” in Encyclopedia of U.S. Indian Policy and Law (Congressional Quarterly Press, 2008)

“Standing Bear,” Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture (University of Oklahoma Press, Spring 2008)

“Small Town Law and Order,” The Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia (Indiana University Press, 2007)

“George Norris,” The Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia (Indiana University Press, 2007).

“Surfing and Beach Culture,” Encyclopedia of the 1950s (Pasadena: Salem Press, 2005)

“National Congress of American Indians,” Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004).

 “Miguel Antonio Otero,” Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004).

“North Dakota’s Anti-Garb Law,” Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004).

“Louisiana Purchase,” Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004).

“Great Plains,” in Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century (New York:

Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2001).

“Trails to the West,” in Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2001).

“Emiliano Zapata,” in Magill’s Guide to Military History (Pasadena: Salem Press, 2001).

“Simon Bolivar,” in Magill’s Guide to Military History (Pasadena: Salem Press, 2001).

“Westward Expansion and Migration,” in The Encyclopedia of North American History (New York: Marshal Cavendish, 1999)

 “Francis Drake’s California Explorations,” in The Encyclopedia of North American History (New York: Marshal Cavendish, 1999)

HIstory Faculty Research Directory