Professor of Instruction
Office: TMH-03
Email: bg30@txstate.edu
Phone: 512.245.2772
Educational Background
Ph.D. - University of Texas at Austin
M.Phil. - University of Cambridge
B.A. - Lake Forest College
Dr. Bryan Glass is a Professor of Instruction in the Department of History at Texas State University focusing on the histories of medicine and science. He earned his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, his MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and his BA with Honors from Lake Forest College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Born in Columbus, Ohio, Dr. Glass moved to the Chicago area at the age of six. His path to academia was anything but conventional. At eighteen, he opened and operated a gym before selling the business and beginning his college education. During a study abroad program in London, he received the life-altering diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes. The discipline and perseverance required to manage the disease would later shape both his personal life and scholarly work.
After earning his undergraduate degree, Dr. Glass completed an MPhil in European Studies at the University of Cambridge before pursuing a doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin. Inspired by his mentors, he founded the British Scholar Society and its journal and book series, Britain and the World. What began as a graduate student initiative has grown into a thriving international scholarly community whose annual conferences attract more than 150 scholars from around the world.
Before turning his attention to the histories of disease, science, and medicine, Dr. Glass published widely on Scotland and the end of the British Empire. Since joining Texas State University in 2012, he has won eleven teaching awards, reflecting his commitment to educational excellence.
Dr. Glass is currently writing what will be the first comprehensive history of diabetes in all of its forms, tracing the disease from antiquity to the frontiers of modern medicine. Combining medical history, scientific innovation, public policy, and personal experience, the book seeks to tell not only the story of a disease but also the stories of the millions of people whose lives have been shaped by it.
Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1997, Dr. Glass brings both scholarly expertise and lived experience to the project. Drawing extensively on oral histories and personal testimonies from patients, families, physicians, researchers, and advocates, he aims to place the voices of people with diabetes at the center of the narrative. By preserving these experiences, the book will illuminate the challenges, triumphs, and resilience that have defined life with diabetes across generations while documenting the ongoing quest to improve treatment and ultimately achieve a cure.
Publications
The Scottish Nation at Empire’s End (Palgrave Macmillan, Publication Date: June 2014)
The rise and fall of the British Empire profoundly shaped the history of modern Scotland and the identity of its people. From the Act of Union in 1707 to the dramatic fall of the British Empire following the Second World War, Scotland’s involvement in commerce, missionary activity, cultural dissemination, emigration, and political action could not be dissociated from British overseas endeavors. In fact, Scottish national pride and identity were closely associated with the benefits bestowed on this small nation through its access to the British Empire. By examining the opinions of Scots towards the empire from numerous professional and personal backgrounds, Scotland emerges as a nation inextricably linked to the British Empire. Whether Scots categorized themselves as proponents, opponents, or victims of empire, one conclusion is clear: they maintained an abiding interest in the empire even as it rapidly disintegrated during the twenty-year period following the Second World War. In turn, the end of the British Empire coincided with the rise of Scottish nationalism and calls for Scotland to extricate itself from the Union. Decolonization had a major impact on Scottish political consciousness in the years that followed 1965, and the implications for the sustainability of the British state are still unfolding today.
Article
“Protection from the British Empire?: Central Africa and the Church of Scotland,” Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, vol. 41, no. 3 (2013): 475-495
Edited Collection
Scotland, Empire and Decolonisation in the Twentieth Century, edited with John M. MacKenzie (Manchester University Press, 2015)
Affiliations
Courses Taught
HIST 1310 | US History to 1877
A general survey of the history of the United States from its settlement to the end of Reconstruction.
HIST 2310 | Western Civilization to 1715
A general survey of western civilization from earliest times to the end of the 17th century.
HIST 2320 | Western Civilization, 1715 to Date
A general survey of world civilization from the 17th Century to the present.
HIST 4318S | Britain and the World:
From the seventeenth century onward, the histories of Britain and the world became increasingly intertwined. Yet mainstream British history still neglects the world’s influence upon domestic developments, and British overseas history remains largely confined to the study of the British Empire. This course takes a broader approach, investigating Britain’s interactions with the wider world from 1688 to the present.
HIST 4324 | A Global History of Pandemics:
This course investigates the history of pandemics. Topics covered include the Justinian plague of the 6th century, the Black Death of 1347-1353, the smallpox pandemic caused by the Spanish Empire, the influenza outbreak of 1918, the polio pandemic, the influenza pandemic of 1957, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Diabetes pandemic.
HIST 4350S | Piracy through the Ages
An activity based on greed, and sometimes survival, piracy has existed since humans took to the seas. This course investigates the global history of piracy beginning with the Vikings. The history of piracy in the Caribbean, Asia, and the Mediterranean is covered and compared to the piracy of today.
HIST 4350Q | Pirates of the Mediterranean
This special-topics course explores the history and culture of smugglers in the eighteenth-century Mediterranean, and the challenges they posed for states' interests in the region. Emphasis is placed on eighteenth-century US diplomatic relations with the Barbary states.