Dr. Gardiner became a member of the faculty at Columbus State University in 2009. He is the program director for History Education. He teaches methods courses, educational diversity, and educational foundations courses, as well as Freshman Learning Communities. Dr. Gardiner holds a public high school teaching license in the State of Wisconsin. Since first teaching at Montgomery High School in New Jersey, Dr. Gardiner taught for nine more years at the middle and high school levels. He taught social studies for five years at the University Lake School in Hartland, Wisconsin, where he was chairman of the social studies department. Upon his appointment at CSU, Dr. Gardiner produced 30 educational podcasts for Muscogee County School District and was instrumental in the establishment of the Ivey Center for the Cultural Approach to History at CSU. Dr. Gardiner earned an Associates degree with honors in Secondary Education from Montgomery College. He earned a Bachelor's degree, Magna Cum Laude, in Philosophy and History at the University of Maryland (College Park). He then earned state teaching credentials at Princeton University. He completed a Master's Degree at Princeton Theological Seminary. He earned a Ph.D. in History at Marquette University in Milwaukee. He also engaged in Ph.D. coursework at Penn State. Since that time he has completed post-doctoral education coursework at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, St. Mary's University and Columbus State University.
Cities and towns across America have for more than a century claimed to be the holiday’s birthplace, but here's the authentic story of how this holiday came into being.
