New assistant professor joins Hood’s community

 By Caitlyn Linder//

There is a new face in the history department this semester.

Dan Cozart, an assistant professor, has come to Hood to teach medieval and early modern world history.

Cozart grew up in Washington D.C. and earned his bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies at the University of Richmond. “[History] was not my initial interest,” Cozart said, noting that he didn’t have a big interest in history until after graduate school.

After undergrad, Cozart completed his master’s degree at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He taught a few Latin American classes at UNCC before going to the University of New Mexico for his PhD.

After his PhD, Cozart went back to teach history classes at UNCC from 2015 to 2020, and then accepted a teaching job at Utica University in upstate New York, before finally making his way to Hood.

“I was drawn to Hood because I grew up in Northern Virginia and D.C., and the position seemed like a good fit for me, even though it was kind of pushing the boundaries of my area of expertise,” Cozart said, referring to his background in Latin American studies. “I’m really enjoying teaching medieval and early modern world [history] in ways I didn’t expect.”

“One thing I want to tell students of any major is that I try to tell students about my background and bring my personal experience to the table when I teach so students can relate to how I came around to teach and be a historian,” Cozart said.

“[History] was not my initial area of interest when I was in high school and undergraduate. To be honest, history seemed, to be blunt, kind of boring,” Cozart said. He also explained how history is interdisciplinary, so much so, that it can find a place in almost any other career field.

If you are interested in history or just want to talk about history, Cozart welcomes conversation. Stop by his office, 106 in Rosenstock, or reach out to him at cozart@hood.edu.