History majors at Texas A&M have gone on to incredible professional success, from working in the Pentagon to winning a Pulitzer Prize. Many history majors enter careers in law, business, the military, government service, journalism, teaching, and museum work.
Meet some of our distinguished alumni!
Hon. John Sherman, Chief Information Officer, Department of Defense, class of 1992
“My history degree from Texas A&M gave me the foundation for every position I have held in DoD and the IC. It gave me a deep appreciation for the sacrifices leaders have made for their country, but also the power of technology and innovation. Major societal change is often driven by parallel advances in technology. This seems to be true whether you are looking at the change in civil society driven by the industrial revolution or the change in military strategy driven by the development of space based communications and positioning systems. We have to embrace change and can’t ever stop thinking about what innovative technologies might mean to our nation. History taught me change never stops and shouldn’t be feared.”
Honorable John Sherman graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History from Texas A&M University in 1992. Active in sports, extracurriculars and the Corps, he capped off this time in Bryan-College Station by serving as the Commander of the Corps of Cadets. Hon. Sherman was commissioned as an Air Defense officer in the 24th Infantry Division, US Army. After serving in a variety of leadership roles at the company and battalion level, in 1997, he took on a new challenge and transitioned to civilian service in the intelligence community (IC). Beginning as a CIA imagery analyst assigned to the former National Imagery and Mapping Agency, now known as NGA, his IC career included service in the White House Situation Room on 9/11 and duty as the Deputy Director of CIA’s Open Source Enterprise, beginning the IC’s transition to cloud computing. In 2017, he was appointed by the President to serve as the IC Chief Information Officer (CIO). Driving IT modernization across 17 agencies, he led major advancements to the IC’s cloud computing, cybersecurity, and interoperability capabilities. In 2020 Hon. Sherman returned to serve in the DoD and, in 2021, he was appointed by the President as the DoD CIO. In this role he is the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense for Information Management, IT, and Information Assurance, as well as non-intelligence space systems; critical satellite communications, navigation, and timing programs; spectrum; and telecommunications matters. Over his 30-year career, Hon. Sherman held leadership positions throughout the IC, Defense, and uniformed service advancing technology and playing a key role in national security.
Brigadier General Patrick R. Michaelis, class of 1993
“I’ve always been intrigued with the lessons and re-interpretations of the past and how they can inform the challenges of today and tomorrow. Historical context matters. Studying history helped me prepare for the history created by those I served with in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.”
General Patrick R. Michaelis currently serves as the Commandant of the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University. After graduating from Texas A&M, he commissioned into the Army and had a decorated military career. Among his many posts, he was the Deputy Commanding General (Operations) for the U.S. Army Recruiting command at Fort Knox; Deputy Commanding Officer (Maneuver) for the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley; the Executive Officer to the Under Secretary of the Army and Chief of Staff to the Commander of the Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command in Iraq for Operation Inherent Resolve. He also commanded operations in Kandahar City, Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, and served in leadership roles in Operations Iraqi Freedom II and Iraqi Freedom 06-08. General Michaelis also earned a master’s degree in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a master’s in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College. His other former positions include assistant professor at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, and special assistant to the Vice Chief of Staff, Army. Before returning to Texas A&M in 2022 to take the position of Commandant, he served as Commanding General, U.S. Army Training Center & Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
Dr. W. Caleb McDaniel, Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of Humanities & Professor of History, Rice University, class of 2000
“The History Department at Texas A&M University set me on the path to becoming a historian. From my very first semester on campus to the last, the mentorship of faculty members and the rigorous classes equipped me with the tools to study the past. Today, I still refer back to lessons I learned in College Station as I teach my own students.”
Dr. W. Caleb McDaniel is a historian of the United States, focusing in his research and teaching on the nineteenth century, the Civil War Era, and the struggle over slavery. His most recent book, Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America, published by Oxford University Press in 2019, was awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in History and the Civil War and Reconstruction book prize from the Organization of American Historians. It tells the story of Henrietta Wood, a formerly enslaved woman who, in the twilight of Reconstruction, won the largest known sum ever awarded by a U.S. court in restitution for slavery. Dr. McDaniel’s first book, The Problem of Democracy in the Age of Slavery: Garrisonian Abolitionism and Transatlantic Reform, was published in 2013 and won the Merle Curti award from the Organization of American Historians and the James L. Broussard Prize from the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic. His scholarly articles have appeared in the Journal of the Civil War Era, the Journal of the Early Republic, American Quarterly, and elsewhere, and he has published essays in the New York Times, Smithsonian, The Atlantic, and other outlets.
Victoria “Tori” Clark, Attorney at the Institute for Justice, class of 2015
“As a civil rights lawyer, I constantly rely on historical arguments to advocate for stronger constitutional safeguards. My training as a history major gave me the skills I need to dig into the historical evidence myself, rather than relying on others’ say-so, which makes me a much more effective advocate.”
Victoria “Tori” Clark ‘15 is a native Texan, citizen of the Muscogee Nation, and second-generation Aggie thanks to her dad, William Eric Easton ‘84. During her time at A&M, Tori received her B.A., with highest honors, in History and Philosophy and was selected to be a Udall Scholar for tribal public policy. She then received her J.D., with high honors, from the University of Texas.
After law school, Tori had the privilege of clerking for the Honorable Thomas Ambro of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the Honorable Gray Miller of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, and the Honorable John Devine of the Supreme Court of Texas.
Tori is currently an attorney with the Institute for Justice (IJ), a national, nonprofit civil rights law firm. In her first role with IJ, she litigated governmental immunity, free speech, illegal search and seizure, and economic freedom cases in both state and federal court. She now serves as intake coordinator for IJ’s governmental immunity and illegal search and seizure projects. In that role, she helps establish the projects’ high-level doctrinal strategies and seek out cases that serve those strategies.
Tori and her husband, Jacob Clark ‘15, live in Austin, Texas. They recently welcomed their first child, Judah Clark ’46, and look forward to taking him to his first Aggie football game.