Matthew Pace is a lifelong Tennessean, and is honored to have his first teaching opportunity at Cumberland University! He graduated from Volunteer State Community College with an Associate’s Degree in Radio/TV Broadcasting, after hosting a weekly radio show on Vol State Radio for 2 years. He then moved on to Middle Tennessee State University, where he attained a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre. He then returned to MTSU and switched his major to history, attaining a Master’s Degree in the subject in May 2024. His master’s thesis covered the Serbian paramilitary militia Arkan’s Tigers, titled: “Puppets on Invisible Strings: Arkan’s Tigers, the Effect of Paramilitaries and Plausible Deniability in the Yugoslav Wars, 1991 – 1999.”

He has a fascination with military history, particularly the Yugoslav Wars due to its ethnic and religious complexities and its unique brutality. He has visited the disputed nation of Kosovo, claimed by Serbia and a former autonomous province of Yugoslavia, and plans to visit all former Yugoslav republics one day. He also enjoys studying Cold War geopolitics, the rise of Prussia, the Napoleonic Wars, the World Wars and the history of chemical and biological warfare.

He was inspired to become a historian by William L. Shirer’s masterpiece “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich”, as well as his former Vol State professor Gregory Marshall.