“Cabrini College is a million miles away from where I thought I would be – at a large state school, where you barely connect with your colleagues and students – but every time I step on campus it feels like home,” Darryl Mace, Ph.D., says.
Mace was introduced to Cabrini by James Hedtke, Ph.D., then chair of the History and Political Science Department. Mace and his wife, Nikki, befriended Hedtke’s youngest daughter, Lori, in 2001, when the three worked at the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Geriatric Psychiatry.
When Lori introduced her friends to her family, Mace and Hedtke discovered a common interest in history and politics, and kept in touch over the years.
In 2004, a faculty position in Cabrini’s History and Political Science Department became available, and Mace joined the department in 2005 as an instructor. A year later, after a national search, Mace joined the faculty at the assistant professor level.
In his years at Cabrini, Mace has created classes in which students analyze their values and beliefs in ways that help them to strengthen their sense of self. One of the unique traits of a Cabrini education is the way in which students are encouraged to expand their knowledge and perceptions through self-examination and classroom learning. Mace believes this helps students to better understand themselves and what roles they may play in society.
“Cabrini helps students to consider how they can contribute to their vision of the common good of all humankind,” Mace says.
To keep students engaged in the classroom, Mace uses art, music, poetry, and fiction to show the humanity of his subject matter. Yet he realizes the potential for students to get lost in the breadth of historical facts.
He takes his teaching cues from his own past educators, remembering a particular teacher who described in great detail how his family, who lived through the Depression, World War II, and the assassinations of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., coped with tragic historical moments. Since that struck a chord with him, Mace makes a point to add a human angle to all of his lessons.
“If students can see the historical actors or even place themselves inside the narrative, they are more open, more anxious, and more able to learn,” Mace says.
“Similarly, we need to acknowledge the biases of the historian making the interpretation. If students understand the subjective nature of historical analysis, they will be more conscious of the fact that their arguments, although subjective, are stronger if they base them upon solid facts."
Mace earned bachelor's degrees in history and speech communications from Pennsylvania State University, and a graduate certificate in women's studies and a doctoral degree from Temple University.
He has presented his work at many conferences, including:
- The American Historical Association Annual Meeting
- The Murder of Emmett Till and the Struggle for Civil Rights Conference
- The National Faith, Justice, and Civil Engagement Conference
- The Council of Independent Colleges Performance Task Conference
- The Annual James A. Barnes Conference
He also has presented locally for various societies and religious organizations, and he recently served as the scholar-in-residence at The Academy of Our Lady of Mercy, Lauralton Hall in Milford, Conn.
Mace has received research grants from several organizations, including the Southeastern Pennsylvania Consortium for Higher Education, the Hamilton Family Foundation, and the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation.
A former bibliographer for the Pennsylvania Historical Association, Mace has published several scholarly works, including review articles in the Journal of African American History, a chapter in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life in America, and, along with Nicholas Rademacher, Ph.D., and Nancy Watterson, Ph.D., “Foregrounding Relationships: Using Deliberative Dialogue and Engaged Justice in a Living and Learning Community” in the Journal of College and Character (May 2012).
When Mace is not teaching or researching history, he volunteers with the Marshallton Triathlon and serves as vice president of the Timberlane Homeowners Association. Mace is married with two sons, and lives in Valley Township, Pa.
Contact Information:
Darryl Mace, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Chair, History and Political Science
Grace Hall, Room 258
610-902-8182
dcm722@cabrini.edu