Guenter, Scot M
Professor, Humanities
Preferred: scot.guenter@sjsu.edu
Alternate: sguenter@earthlink.net
Telephone
Preferred: (408) 924-1366
Office Hours
By appointment during Winter session
Scot M. Guenter is a Professor of American Studies and the Coordinator of American Studies at San Jose State University. Classes he has taught recently include Flag of Power, Nature and World Cultures, The American Dream, America in the 1930s, and Popular Culture in America. He is a vexillologist, cultural historian, and fan of classic cinema.
Education
- Doctor of Philosophy, American Studies, Univ Of Maryland College Park, 1986
- Master of Arts, American Studies, Univ Of Maryland College Park, Maryland, United States, 1981
- Bachelor of Arts, Double Major: English & History, Pennsylvania St Univ Main Camp, Pennsylvania, United States, 1978
Bio
Professor Guenter received his Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Maryland in 1986. His book, The American Flag, 1777-1924 (1990) led to consulting work at the Smithsonian Institution. He founded the scholarly journal Raven in 1994 and served as a Senior Fulbright Fellow at the National University of Singapore in 1998. He has also taught at the University of Mainz and the University of Guam.
In 2003, in Stockholm, Sweden, he was named Laureate of the Federation by the International Federation of Vexillological Associations (FIAV), only the fifth laureate in FIAV's 41-year old history. He has lectured at conferences in Buenos Aires, Berlin, and the Czech Republic, Sydney, Bangkok, and Rotterdam, and also co-edited Considering America from Inside and Out: A San Jose/Ostrava Dialogue Sharing Perspectives (2006).
He is the past president of both the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) and the California American Studies Association (CASA). In October 2009 he received the William Driver Award from NAVA a second time for his presentation "Juxtaposing Symbols in Civil Religion: The Flag and the Lady." In August 2011 he was named Honorary Member for Life by the NAVA Executive and that same year also edited the proceedings of the 24th International Congress of Vexillology, held in Washington, DC. More recently, in October 2014, he won the William Driver Award from NAVA an unprecedented third time for his presentation "The Phenomenon of Flag Homes" in New Orleans and also helped bring to campus Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, through his work as Director of the SJSU Campus Reading Program.