
Stephen Webre is the McGinty Chair in History and Interim Associate Dean for the College of Liberal Arts. He has been a member of the faculty since 1982 after earning his PhD in Latin American History from Tulane University in 1980. He also earned a MS in History from Tulane and a bachelors degree from the University of Southwestern Louisiana.
Stephen is a specialist in Latin American history, with an emphasis on Central America and the Caribbean. He has studied social and political history in Colonial Latin America focusing on the elites and politics of local communities within the Spanish empire with an emphasis on Central America (especially Guatemala). He also has interests in modern Latin America, focusing on 20th -century political movements and inter-American relations with an emphasis on Central America and the Caribbean.

Stephen has been very active in his profession as a former president of the Louisiana Historical Association and of the Southwest Historical Association, and the current honorary international president of the Asociación para el Fomento de los Estudios Históricos en Centroamérica. Stephen is contributing editor for Central American history for the Handbook of Latin American Studies, and also serves as editor of the Noticiero Centroamericanista. In 2004, Stephen was installed as a corresponding member of the Guatemalan Academy of Geography and History.

Stephen recently received news that his book, cited below, was published in Spanish. The book has a cast of thousands and was eleven years in the making. Stephen coordinated the efforts of two editors and nine authors, wrote the concluding chapter, travelled to Guatemala twice to work with the publisher, and took the cover photograph as well.
- Herrera, Robinson A., and Stephen Webre, eds. La época colonial en Guatemala: estudios de historia cultural y social. Guatemala: Editorial Universitaria, 2014. 397 pp. ISBN 992955632-X

Closer to home, Stephen recently received the 2014 Individual Achievement in the Humanities Award presented by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. The presentation took place at the LEH’s annual awards luncheon in March at the Audubon Tea Room in New Orleans. District Attorney Bob Levy, a member of the LEH board, made the presentation. Rosemary Ewing, another LEH board member, and her husband, former state senator Randy Ewing, were also in attendance.
Stephen was cited for his “impact on public awareness and appreciation of the humanities in Louisiana.” The LEH press release said that “as a discussion leader in the LEH’s Readings in Literature and Culture (RELIC) adult reading series, Stephen is a driving force for humanities programs in Ruston, Homer, Haynesville, Ringgold, and Arcadia, with additional contributions made in Bossier City and Shreveport.”
Stephen’s recognitions are major achievements in a lifetime dedicated to teaching, research, and service at Louisiana Tech. He is an exceptional scholar and an excellent administrator. He is one of the longest continuously serving faculty members at Louisiana Tech, and has demonstrated over that period of time a strong sense of professionalism and commitment to our students.
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