Ph.D., University of Texas, 1954
M.A., University of Houston, 1950
B.A., University of Houston, 1950

(409) 880-8511
rwooster@my.lamar.edu

A fixture at Lamar University for more than fifty years, Ralph A. Wooster taught courses on the Civil War, southern history, and Nazi Germany prior to his retirement in December 2006. He has authored nine books: The Secession Conventions of the South (Princeton University Press, 1962); The People in Power: Courthouse and Statehouse in the Lower South, 1850-1860 (University of Tennessee Press, 1969); Politicians, Planters, and Plain Folk: Courthouse and Statehouse in the Upper South, 1850-1860 (University of Tennessee Press, 1975); Texas and Texans in the Civil War (Eakin Press, 1995); Texas in the Civil War (Texas State Historical Association, 1999); Civil War Texas: A History and a Guide (Texas State Historical Association, 1999); Lone Star Generals in Gray (Eakin Press, 2000); Lone Star Regiments in Gray (Eakin Press, 2002); and Texas and Texans in World War II (Eakin Press, 2005). He also co-authored the state-adopted textbook, Texas and Texans (McGraw-Hill) and edited Texas Vistas: Selections from the Southwestern Historical Quarterly (Texas State Historical Association, 1980, 1987, 2006) and Lone Star Blue and Gray: Essays on Texas in the Civil War (Texas State Historical Association, 1995). Dr. Wooster has written more than seventy scholarly articles for the East Texas Historical Journal, the Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Civil War History, the Georgia Historical Quarterly, the Florida Historical Quarterly, the Journal of Southern History, and other publications. One-time chair of the history department, dean of graduate studies, dean of faculties, and associate vice president for academic affairs at Lamar, he also served as president of the Texas Association of College Teachers, the Texas State Historical Association, and the East Texas Historical Association. He earned numerous teaching awards recognizing his excellence in the classroom.