Lilly, R. Keith

Born in Pearisburg, Virginia in 1968, Richard Keith Lilly’s interest in history goes back to childhood. Attending Concord College as a first-generation college student, Mr. Lilly majored in both History and Political Science. Mr. Lilly earned an M.A. in History from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His thesis was a study of Anglo-American Diplomacy, 1895-1905, which focused mainly on the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty and the Canadian-Alaskan Boundary Dispute. Teaching for Concord as an Adjunct Professor from 1998 to 2011, Mr. Lilly also served as Concord University’s Academic Liaison for the Southern West Virginia Teaching American History Project, which was a grant from the United States Department of Education to help promote the use of primary sources in southern West Virginia’s public schools. Mr. Lilly also was Assistant Director for the PRISM-WV project, which also focused on improving the teaching of American History in West Virginia’s classrooms. In 2011, Mr. Lilly was appointed full time Instructor of History for Concord University and has primarily taught courses for the Concord University Center located at the Erma Byrd Higher Education Center. Since 2017, Mr. Lilly has also sponsored the Concord University Beckley Chess Club and organized the inaugural Concord Southern Open Chess Tournament.