Biography

My name is Vance Martin and I'm a TA in the Community College Teaching and Learning (CCTL) Program and a GA in the RECRUIT program. I was born and raised near Springfield, Illinois. I received a Bachelor's Degree from Illinois College in Economics and Modern Languages. After earning my bachelor's, I worked several years in the business world before going back to school to study my real interest, history. I received my Master's Degree from the University of Illinois at Springfield in Public History. While there I was an intern at the Illinois State Library and the Illinois State Archives. I began work on a PhD in history at Loyola University and completed my course work. Currently, I am working on a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction at the U of I.  My areas of research are history education, online education, and videogames in education. I have been teaching for about 6 years, for 4 years at Parkland College in Champaign. I am married, have three dogs and two cats. My hobbies are weightlifting, carpentry, reading, and working outdoors.