Service and Symbols: America’s Cincinnatus and the American Revolution

Denver Brunsman

Denver Brunsman, the Chair of the History Department at George Washington University, writes on the politics and social history of the American Revolution, early American republic, and British Atlantic world. His courses include “George Washington and His World,” taught annually at Washington’s Mount Vernon estate. His honors include the Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Prize for Teaching Excellence and induction into the George Washington University Academy of Distinguished Teachers, as well as selection to the College Board AP U.S. History Development Committee (2018-23; Higher Ed Chair, 2021-23). He is co-director of the Albert H. Small Normandy Institute at GW and frequently leads K-12 professional development programs for organizations such as Humanities Texas, the George Washington Teacher Institute at Mount Vernon, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, with whom he has twice partnered to lead the NEH Summer Institute “The Making of America: Colonial Era to Reconstruction.”

Rob Schulte

Rob Schulte is an educator, curriculum writer, professional development presenter and historian.  He earned his Undergraduate Degree in History and Secondary Education from Rider University and Masters in American History from Pace University.  He has spent over 20 years as a teacher at the secondary level, and spent 12 years as a National Park Ranger at Independence National Historical Park.   He has served as an advisor for Harvard University's Declaration of Independence Resource Project, the Federal Judiciary and Department of Education, and serves as a facilitator and presenter for the American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati.  He has attended the George Washington Teacher Institute at Mount Vernon and written curriculum for the Library of Congress, and the New York Historical Society, among others.  In 2019 he published Federalism in New Jersey: The Response to Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal and published “Femme Fatale,” a review about Peggy Shippen's role in the defection of Benedict Arnold in the winter 2022 James Madison Notes.  He most recently published Most Enterprising and Dangerous a Review of God Save Benedict Arnold: The True Story of America’s Most Hated Man by Jack Kelly in The Winter 2024 James Madison Review of Books and Framing the Revolution a review of Glorious Lessons: John Trumbull, Painter of the American Revolution by Richard Brookhiser.  He recently presented From Revolution to Reform: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the Enduring Struggle for American Equality at the Philadelphia Historical Association Conference and on Civic Education at the National Council for Social Studies

In 2018 he was the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance Teacher of the Year, was named New Jersey's James Madison Fellow in 2019, and the New Jersey Council for Social Studies Fred Cotterell Educator of the Year in 2020.  In 2022 he was the Reverend John Witherspoon American History Teacher of the Year from the New Jersey Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and was awarded the 2023 Dr. Tom & Betty Lawrence American History Teacher of the Year Award from The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.  In 2025 he was named the American Civic Education Teacher Award winner, and was the Gilder-Lehrman New Jersey Teacher of the Year as well as being named a National Finalist. 

Raymond Hamilton

Allison Wickens

K. Allison Wickens, Vice President for Education, joined George Washington’s Mount Vernon in the summer of 2014. She currently leads the Education and Guest Services division and oversees the learning goals for the institution for onsite, offsite, and digital outreach programs.  She represents Mount Vernon in national discussions about museums, historic sites and how they relate to history and civics education today.  

Before arriving at Mount Vernon, she had been at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum, serving as their Director or Education and Visitor Services. She received her Master’s Degree in History at the University of Colorado, Boulder where she got a certificate in Museum Studies. Between her undergraduate work at Grinnell College and graduate school, she lived and worked in Washington D.C. at a wide variety of Smithsonian museums and offices.

Stacia Smith

Stacia Smith is the Director of Education of the American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati. Stacia began her work with the Society in 2017 after a twenty-three-year career serving the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a public educator and town administrator. As a classroom teacher she worked extensively with the education departments at Mount Vernon and the Massachusetts Historical Society, was a research fellow at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, and wrote lessons for the American Studies Institute co-hosted by the University of Massachusetts and the JFK Library. Stacia’s lesson plans were twice honored by the History Channel, in 2008 and 2013. Her undergraduate degree is from Grove City College and her master’s degree is from the University of Connecticut.