John Fry, PhD joins the Geneva College faculty as professor of history and humanities and chair of the Department of History, Political Science and Sociology.

Fry comes to Geneva from Trinity Christian College where he served as associate vice president of academic affairs and dean of faculty for the past year and as professor of history since 2003.

He has a PhD in history from the University of Iowa, an MA in history from Duquesne University, an MLS from the University of Pittsburgh, and a BA in history from Geneva College in 1991. His PhD specialized in rural history and the American West.

Fry has published three books. He wrote The Farm Press, Reform, and Rural Change: 1895-1920 (Routledge, 2005) and edited Laura Gibson Smith’s Almost Pioneers: One Couple’s Homesteading Adventure in the West (TwoDot, 2013). Most recently, he authored A Prairie Faith: The Religious Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder (Eerdmans, 2024), a full biography of Wilder that pays particular attention to her Christian faith.

Before relocating to Pennsylvania, Fry was a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Countryside, Illinois.

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