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Virgil W. Dean, an adjunct assistant professor of history at Washburn University, is the editor of Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains and director for publications for the Kansas State Historical Society. A former social studies teacher in the public schools of Kansas, Dean received his Master of Arts in American History from Emporia State University in 1981 and his Ph.D. in U. S. History from the University of Kansas in 1991. 

He has taught Washburn's Kansas history course and directed the Society's summer seminar for secondary teachers, funded in part by the Center for Kansas Studies. Dean's most significant publications include "Why Not the Brannan Plan?" Agricultural History, Spring 1996; "Pillars of Society: A Brief History of the Kansas State Historical Society," with Larry O Jochims, Kansas History, Autumn 1995; "Charles F. Brannan and the Rise and Fall of Truman's `Fair Deal' for Farmers," Agricultural History, Winter 1995; "Another Wichita Seditionist? Elmer J. Garner and the Radical Right's Opposition to World War II," Kansas History, Spring 1994;  and "The Farm Policy Debate of 1949-1950: Plains State Reaction to the Brannan Plan," Great Plains Quarterly, Winter 1993. 

With Homer E. Socolofsky, he compiled Kansas History: An Annotated Bibliography, an extensive work that contains over 4500 entries, published by Greenwood Press in 1992.  Dean also has authored numerous Kansas related entries/essays for publications such as The Encyclopedia of American Biography, American National Biography, Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, and The Encyclopedia of the Midwest.

Email: VDean@kshs.org

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