By Michael D. Wynne
This columnist continues to be amazed with all of the talent, knowledge and abilities that the good people of central Louisiana have. I don’t know why I should be so amazed though; each and every one of the people of central Louisiana who I have met so far are truly the best people that I have ever known in my life. This month’s author profile is clearly no exception.
The time that I have spent with Adam Lord was a great learning experience for this “old guy” (the columnist). His dedication to his work for LSUA and the community and his wealth of knowledge about the world that we live in was quite overwhelming to me.
Adam is a native of West Monroe, but, as he describes, his family moved around “quite a bit.” Adam spent his formative years in Alexandria and was a graduate of Bolton High. He attended La. Tech in the fields of history and literature, followed later by a Masters in European History at the Citadel. He is a certified public educator of the highest rank.
After 12 years of teaching high school in New Orleans and Mansura, he ended his teaching high school career here at Bolton and ASH. At ASH, he was a full-time teacher as well as the director of the school’s media. He there learned and promoted the importance of branding and marketing. Schools then, and now, compete with each other to try to get the best quality teachers and students.
During his journey in high school teaching, he experienced the problems of getting students to “buy&” into the studies. “I had
to continually change my teaching methods to better help the students, (often with) classes of students who were just not interested in college.”
Adam credits 2 teachers in particular at Bolton, Nancy Monroe and Charlene Johnson, in pushing him to find what he needed, what he didn’t know, to become a better teacher.
Writing for himself soon came to him. ” loved writing,” he says, “it was a challenge that I wanted and needed. It helped me to become the best teacher that I wanted to become.” He partially credits his college friends who told Adam that he was a good storyteller. “I had a knack for taking in information, processing that information and being able to explain it to my students. I felt that history and English were “married” in the liberal arts and were inextricably linked together.”
Adam completed his graduate thesis on Ukrainian nationalism. Back in 2004, he was watching the Ukrainian election going on and watched intently the “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine, a revolt named from the color the political party protesters wore. It was relatively peaceful. His fascination lead him to questioning why Russia wanted so desperately to keep control of the Ukraine and why there was such an outcry for democracy in this former-soviet country. All of this eventually lead to his formalizing a theory that the origins of what happens in Ukraine goes back 1,000 years and the whole story is much more complicated and interesting that what may first appear to the casual observer.
All of Adam’s interest and ongoing research has lead to what is now considered an internationally-important book, “Forging A Nation; A History of the Ukrainian Nationalism and Russia’s Territorial Claims In Eastern Europe.” Although Adam has properly avoided the current war between Russia and the Ukraine, his well-researched book takes the reader on a trip deep into the convoluted history of Eastern Europe and Russia.
Aside from his remarkable book, Adam is the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communication at LSUA and serves as the PR man for LSUA. Adam is married to the well-known and respected Megan Lord (who was also featured in my column in the January 2019 issue.)
Adam Lord has a bright future as a leader in education and in the central Louisiana community and as an author.
