William E. Allen, Ph.D.

William E. Allen holds a doctorate in History (Atlantic Civilization) from Florida International University, a Master for Teachers of Social Studies (Indiana University, Bloomington), and a Bachelor in History (University of Liberia). Allen has taught history on either side of the Atlantic (University of Liberia) and the United States (e.g., Kennesaw State University). He is the recipient of fellowships from Foundations such as Fulbright, Rockefeller, and Ford.

His publications include “Liberia and the Atlantic World in the Nineteenth Century:

1. Convergence and Effects,” History in Africa, 37 (2010):7-49;
2. "Rethinking the History of Settler Agriculture in Nineteenth-Century Liberia,” The International Journal of African Historical Studies 37, 3(2004): 435-462;
3. “Making History in the Bedroom: Americo-Liberians and Indigenous Liberians Sexual Unions, 1880s-c.1950s,” Liberian Studies Journal, 34, 2(2009): 16-31;
4. “Historical Methodology and Writing the Liberian Past: The Case of Agriculture in the Nineteenth Century,” History in Africa, 32 (2005): 21-39.

Allen has a chapter in a book slated for publication by Indiana University Press in September 2026. The book is entitled Met by the Love of Liberty: History and Identity in Americo-Liberian Memory. His chapter is “Becoming Liberian in an American Settlement.”

Allen has served the University as Chairperson of the Department of History, Dean of Liberia College (now The Amos C. Sawyer College of Social Sciences and Humanities), and Vice President for Academic Affairs. He is currently Executive Director of the Center of Diaspora and Migration Studies.