Nicole Etcheson joined the Department of History in the Fall 2005 as the Alexander M. Bracken Professor of History.   She is the author of The Emerging Midwest: Upland Southerners and the Political Culture of the Old Northwest, 1787-1861 (Indiana University Press, 1996). Etcheson's most recent book on pre-Civil War history entitled, Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era (University Press of Kansas, 2004), was a History Book Club selection. Etcheson received a National Endowment for the Humanities summer stipend in 2004 to begin research on her new book project, The Union Home Front: Putnam County Indiana, in the Civil War Era. In addition to her books, Etcheson is also the author of numerous articles in professional journals as well as a frequent presenter at historical conferences. She is a member of the American Historical Association, Kansas State Historical Society, Organization of American Historians, Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, Southern Historical Association, and the Texas State Historical Association. Etcheson comes to Ball State University with twelve years organizing for National History Day at the local and state level, as well as fourteen years of experience in teaching.  She received her M.A. and Ph.D. from Indiana University, Bloomington.