Cecily Zander
Senior Fellow
Cecily N. Zander joined the Center for Presidential History in the fall of 2021. Her current project surveys the history of the United States Army in the years between 1848 and 1872, chronicling political contestation over national military affairs in the Civil War era. The manuscript examines both partisan fighting over the army’s deployment and financial maintenance, as well as clashes between the legislative and executive branches of the federal government over whether the president or Congress should oversee federal military policy.
Cecily received her PhD from the Pennsylvania State University in 2021, where she was the Ted H. and Tracy Winfree McCourtney Family Distinguished Graduate Fellow in American History. She also held the U.S. Army Center of Military History Dissertation Fellowship for the 2019-2020 academic year. Her research has been supported by a range of institutions, including major fellowships from the University of Oklahoma’s Western History Collections and the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. She has presented her research widely, to both public and academic audiences in the United States and Europe.
Cecily has published articles in popular and scholarly journals, including Civil War History. She has also contributed essays to several edited collections. She holds a master’s degree in history from Penn State and earned her bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Virginia, with highest distinction.
