Before each lecture in his popular course Pirates, Guns, and Empires, Scott Sowerby, associate professor of history, plays a recording of a sea shanty; he ends the quarter by singing a comic song about Oliver Cromwell. These are playful examples of the rigorous primary sources that are at the heart of his courses, according to his chair, Kevin Boyle, who describes Sowerby as “quite simply, a superb teacher” who masterfully draws his students out of their comfort zone. 

Sowerby believes that the past is “a narrative that is shaped by the way we tell it,” and his goal is to get his students to see that “the past was just as complicated as the present and that there were many ways of living in it.” 

Sowerby’s approach resonates. One student said, “I walked out of his final lecture the fall quarter of my freshman year and pronounced on the spot that I would study history — something my undecided self would not have fathomed just 10 weeks earlier.” 

Northwestern Now, April 30 2026

He is known to Alumnae of Northwestern's students as well, after teaching for The Alumnae's Continuing Education program. For more information see his University webpage.

The Alumnae's Teaching Professorship has a three year term and is based on curriculum development for undergraduates.  It includes a salary supplement, funds for professional development, and an award to the recipients' home department.