Dr. Dean P. Vesperman is a assistant professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Publications Co-Director for the Social Science Education Consortium, Chair of the NCSS Preservice Teacher Community, and Chair of the WCSS Higher Education Consortium. Dr. Vesperman teaches courses in secondary and elementary social studies methods, multicultural education, and educational psychology. He earned a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction at Indiana University with a minor in the Learning Sciences. Before earning his doctorate, Dean taught junior high and high school social studies for eleven years in southeastern Wisconsin, and for seventeen summers he worked for Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Talented Youth teaching Model United Nations and Advanced Geography. Before teaching, he earned his Bachelor of Science in History and International Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. His current research focuses on how students and adults construct knowledge about democracy and citizenship, historical agency in textbooks, using simulations to explore the politics of climate change, and how to improve using AI in the social studies classroom. Dr. Vesperman has published articles on various pedagogical methods for teaching social studies. He lives in western Wisconsin with his wife, daughter, and dog.