David Varel

David Varel, Ph.D., is an affiliate professor in the Department of History at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His expertise includes recent U.S. history (1877–present), African American history, civil rights, race, and social movements. 

With nearly a decade of experience in higher education, Varel is a public scholar and award-winning author. His major works include The Scholar and the Struggle: Lawrence Reddick’s Crusade for Black History and Black Power, which won a Colorado Book Award, and The Lost Black Scholar: Resurrecting Allison Davis in American Social Thought, which inspired the University of Chicago to launch a symposium and develop academic honors in Davis’s name. His articles in Perspectives on History and The American Historian have influenced national policy within major academic organizations. 

Before joining MSU Denver, Varel held a postdoctoral fellowship in African American Studies at Case Western Reserve University and completed short-term research fellowships at the New York Public Library and the University of Chicago Library. 

He earned his Ph.D. in History from the University of Colorado Boulder, an M.A. from Illinois State University, and a B.A. from Illinois Wesleyan University.