Austin Peay’s Dr. John W. Steinberg named visiting professor at West Point
By: Ellie Forrest October 13, 2026
Dr. John W. Steinberg’s West Point headshot. | Contributed photo
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — Dr. John W. Steinberg, a professor of history and philosophy at Austin Peay State University, is spending the year teaching cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point as the Charles Boal Ewing Chair in Military History.
Steinberg, one of the world’s leading authorities on 19th- and 20th-century Russian military history, is serving in the role from July 1, 2026 through May 31, 2027. His path to West Point began with a simple request: library access for a book he was working on.
“I was explaining this to [Dr. Greta Bucher], with whom I went to graduate school at Ohio State University in the 1980s, and who is the Russian historian at West Point,” Steinberg said. “I said, ‘Greta, can you set it up so I gain access to your military studies library for a couple of months?’ The next thing I knew, I got a call from the deputy chair of the Department of History and War Studies at West Point asking me if I was interested in applying to the position.”
At West Point, Steinberg uses his knowledge of military history to train cadets and future officers for the U.S. Army. He applies lessons from history to decision-making models, creating a framework that these students will use in the field after they are commissioned as officers in the U.S. Army.
“We don't teach them that history repeats itself; we teach them [that] history offers lessons that might be used on that day when they have to decide who’s going to live and who’s going to die,” he said.
Steinberg’s West Point experience has introduced him to a new learning environment and new types of students, but his Austin Peay background has prepared him well for the role.
“I like teaching in any environment,” he said. “You always look for that sweet spot, which is where you sense that you've reached the edge of the student's knowledge, and then you push. I did it at Austin Peay, I've done it elsewhere and I'm doing it here.”
Although he has not had much time to work on his book since his arrival at West Point, Steinberg has gained valuable research and teaching experience, which he hopes to bring back to Austin Peay.
“My research has always focused on the education and training of Russian military elites,” he said. “So, the longer I've been a historian, the more of a comparison I have made on the way military leaders are educated and trained. We don't think about this often enough, but military officers are some very smart people ... I just have tremendous respect for what they're trying to do. So, this deepens my knowledge, and it adds to the nuance of my research and conclusions.”
Steinberg also anticipates that his West Point experience will make him a better guide on the annual study-abroad trip to Poland that he has led at Austin Peay for the past decade. This two-week journey allows students to visit several museums and historic sites in Krakow, Zamosc, Lublin and Warsaw while learning about Polish culture along the way.
“They took us on a staff ride of the Battle of Gettysburg, and they were taking us spot by spot of where important encounters happened in that battle,” he said. “The tricks I learned and the things that I did that day will forever have a direct impact on the tours that I give in Poland.”
Through his time as a visiting professor, Steinberg hopes to return to his roots in Russian military history and bring that focus back to Austin Peay.
“I've always sought to return to my roots as a military historian … and in a left-handed kind of way, this opportunity presented itself,” he said. "So, I'm going to bring back my expertise that will be more finely tuned as a result of this experience, and the Austin Peay students will benefit from that."
Students interested in joining Dr. Steinberg on the history study-abroad program to Poland this summer can contact Dr. Dan Shea at shead@apsu.edu or visit the APSU study abroad program page.