Dr. Blake Wintory appointed assistant director, facilities manager, at Lakeport Plantation

Aug. 18, 2008 -- Arkansas State University announces the appointment of Dr. Blake Wintory as assistant director and facilities manager at Lakeport Plantation, an Arkansas State University Heritage Site in Lake Village, Ark.

Dr. Wintory is currently director of research and interpretation for the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center in Little Rock, a Department of Arkansas Heritage museum celebrating African American history, culture and community in Arkansas. He has been with the museum since December 2004 and has been involved in working with exhibit designers, as well as research, writing, artifact selection, oral histories, programming, and other aspects of developing the new center, scheduled to open to the public in September.

He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in anthropology, and in 2005 he received a doctorate in environmental dynamics with a specialization in environmental and Southern history, all from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville. While at UAF, he taught courses in anthropology and was named “Influential Instructor” by graduating seniors and the Division of Student Affairs.  He also was the recipient of the Samuel C. Dellinger Award in the Department of Anthropology.

Dr. Wintory replaces Ronnie Walker, who has accepted responsibility for assisting with the restoration of two significant historic log structures in Randolph County.

“With major aspects of the Lakeport house restoration now complete, we are essentially moving into the programming phase,” said Dr. Ruth Hawkins, ASU’s director of Arkansas Heritage SITES (System Initiatives for Technical and Educational Support). “With Blake’s experience in both teaching and museum development, he is the ideal person to take us to this next level.”

Dr. Wintory has published two articles in the Arkansas Historical Quarterly, including a summer 2004 article on William Hines Furbush, an African American legislator and sheriff in Lee County, Ark., and a winter 2006 biographical analysis of Arkansas’s 84 nineteenth-century African American state legislators. He also has entries in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture and the African American National Biography and has conducted research on flood control and levee systems along the Mississippi River, as well as other aspects of the Arkansas Delta environment.

He has presented at a wide range of professional conferences and is a member of the American Anthropological Association, the Arkansas Historical Association, and the Southern Historical Association. 

Dr. Wintory begins his duties at the Lakeport Plantation on Aug. 25.

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