VCU news

By Haley Tenore

Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of History didn’t have to look far to find its alumni honoree this year: Sam Ulmschneider works just down the street.

Ulmschneider, who earned his master’s in history at VCU in 2008, has taught at Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School in the nearby Carver neighborhood since 2011. One of his classes, We the People, is a part of a national civics education program that emphasizes simulated congressional hearings, with students testifying before a panel of judges acting as members of Congress.

Ulmschneider has coached three Walker teams to national titles in the annual We the People competition, and he and a recent class were featured in the four-part PBS documentary “Citizen Nation” last year. On April 3 at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Ulmschneider will receive the VCU Department of History’s Graduate Alumni Achievement Award, which recognizes a master’s recipient who has excelled in the field.

VCU News spoke with Ulmschneider to learn more about his path into a successful teaching career.

What initially drew you to VCU – and then to a career in teaching?

I grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, but my family moved to Richmond partway through high school. I’ve always been interested in the humanities because I loved reading and writing about ideas and analyzing phenomena from more than one theoretical angle.

VCU was an attractive graduate institution for my master’s in history for a number of reasons: the scholarship it offered, the opportunity to work as a teaching assistant, the relatively small size of the program and close work with professors, and the way it allowed me to complete a master’s thesis to test the waters for going on to a Ph.D.

The experience of teaching in the MA program was much more engrossing and enjoyable than I thought it would be. Because I graduated during the 2008 recession’s worst moments, the thought of a Ph.D. and career in higher education was more daunting than I envisioned, so I pivoted toward teaching. I also had the opportunity to travel to China for a year to teach in a high school there, which further solidified my intuition that teaching was a career path that matched my personality and interests.

Tell us a bit more about We the People and even how your VCU ties have been helpful?

We the People requires research skills, rhetorical writing skills, and oral argumentation and deliberation skills that Advanced Placement courses don’t develop, so even strong students coming into the class have a lot of growing to do. We emphasize learning how to seek expert subject guides and extract information from footnotes or bibliographies, the need to go through multiple drafts and polishes of an argument, and practicing communication skills in mock debates.

The students are very dedicated and enthusiastic because the course is an elective for only those who are passionate about constitutional history, philosophy, law and politics, and this means we often meet on Saturdays at local libraries to research and write, or have practice hearings at school late into the afternoon. 

One of the best ways I’ve stayed in contact with VCU’s history professors is by having them occasionally come back and function as a judging panel, asking the students high-level and challenging verbal-response questions.

What was it like being featured in the PBS documentary?

“Citizen Nation” followed We the People competition teams from all over the country preparing for their hearings. Our team at Maggie Walker was only one of many featured in the film, but the experience was energizing. The director-producer had an inspiring vision and mission to show how civic education can bring the disparate political beliefs and regions of our nation together, and how young people have a lot more in common as they grow into adult, civically engaged citizens than they have separating them.

There was some disruption involved, and it made the students’ road a little bumpier. But it got the We the People program some additional attention across the country for its approach to teaching kids not just a rote list of terms and concepts but the skills of discourse, deliberation and critical thought to become truly politically and civically literate. That makes the process of filming worth it for sure!

What was your reaction to winning the Graduate Alumni Achievement Award?

Surprise! I’ve kept up with some of the professors at VCU who helped shape my career and outlook – like Joseph Bendersky, Ryan Smith and Carolyn Eastman – and admired how they combined community engagement, scholarly depth and teaching. But I always thought the mundane and unassuming path of a public school teacher wasn’t the kind of thing that won a person awards.

If you had to choose an “un-” word to describe yourself, what would it be and why?

Unassuming – like why I was surprised to get the award! I also try my best to keep a spirit of intellectual curiosity, intellectual humility and open-mindedness. My students certainly help by reminding me I don’t know everything!