Bryan Giemza, an alumnus of the College of Arts and Sciences, has been named the new director of the Southern Historical Collection in the Wilson Special Collections Library at UNC.
Giemza will provide vision and leadership for the Southern Historical Collection (SHC) and ensure its continued preeminence as the leading repository of unique materials related to the American South. He will pursue an active collecting program that supports existing and emerging areas of strength, including the ethnic south, antebellum plantation life, slavery, the American Civil War, the Long Civil Rights Movement, and social and political change.
In coordination with Library staff, he will promote and set priorities for the preservation of and access to SHC holdings, and he will direct an active program of exhibits and physical and online presentations of holdings. As a member of the Wilson Library management group, he will help plan and implement special collections goals and priorities, and will promote expanded use of special collections at UNC.
Prior to this appointment, Giemza served as associate professor of American literature at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia.
He holds a B.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, and a J.D., M.A., and Ph.D. in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Giemza was a recipient of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia’s Rising Star Award in 2012. The award recognizes superior accomplishments in teaching, research, and public service among early-career faculty.
