The United States Naval Academy has appointed Dr. John McManus, Curators’ Distinguished Professor of history, for a visiting professorship. He will serve as the Dr. Leo A. Shifrin Chair for a 10-month period during the 2018-19 academic term.

Holders of the Shifrin Chair are distinguished naval and military historians of any branch or time period who teach and pursue research while in residence in Naval Academy’s history department. Duties include teaching two sections of any naval- or military-themed course each semester and one presentation of the candidate’s research for the department. McManus will take a one-year sabbatical from S&T to serve this appointment.

McManus is one of America’s leading experts on the history of modern American soldiers in combat and he has written several books on the subject. He frequently serves as a speaker and expert commentator and has appeared on Cnn.com, Fox News, C-Span, the Military Channel, the Discovery Channel, the Smithsonian Network, the History Channel and PBS. His most recent book is a new version of Deadly Sky: The American Combat Airmen in World War II.