Dr. Jim Day is professor of History at the University of Montevallo and was the 2014-2015 University Scholar. Dr. Day currently holds the program’s first endowed professorship–the Michael J. Grainger Professorship in Modern History.
A 1975 graduate of Montevallo High School, he holds a B.S. in engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, a M.A. in history from the University of Georgia, and a Ph.D. in history from Auburn University. Day’s book, “Diamonds in the Rough”: A History of Alabama’s Cahaba Coal Field, combines technological and social history to examine the industrial development of Central Alabama.
Since retiring from the Army in 1995, Jim has taught history at Marion Military Institute, Judson College, Auburn University Montgomery, and the University of Montevallo. He teaches courses in Colonial America, Revolutionary America, Jeffersonian and Jacksonian America, the Gilded Age, U.S. History since 1945, the Korean and Vietnam wars, and the History of Alabama’s Constitutions. He also has developed staff ride/terrain walk courses on the Civil War battles of Shiloh and Chickamauga. Dr. Day is the 2019 recipient of the University of Montevallo’s National Alumni Association Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award.