A prolific academic, Gary D. Joiner is a professor and the chair of the Department of History and Social Sciences at Louisiana State University Shreveport. Joiner earned the Mary Anne and Leonard Selber Professorship in History and serves as the director of the Red River Regional Studies Center. He is founder and president of the Friends of the Mansfield Battlefield, as well as a member of several other organizations, including the national history fraternity Phi Alpha Theta, the U.S. Civil War Center, and the North Louisiana Historical Association. Joiner holds a bachelor of arts in history and geography from Louisiana Tech University, a master of arts in history from Louisiana Tech University, and a PhD in history from St. Martin's college, Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. He worked as a title curator for oil companies, a consulting cartographer for the government, a GIS consultant, and a consultant in spatial analysis. Throughout his career, he has earned a fellowship, several nominations, and several awards, including the Albert Castle Award. Joiner has written thirteen books, many of which have a focus on Louisiana history. He also wrote numerous scholarly articles and edited articles for City Life and the Forum Newsweekly. In connection with his academic interests, Joiner works with the "History Matters" program on Red River Radio and has been a consultant for ABC, the Associated Press, A&E Network, the Discovery Network, HGTV, the History Channel, MSNBC, and MTV. Joiner's interests extend from Louisiana history and Civil War history to the histories of ancient Rome and ancient Greece. Joiner and his wife, Marilyn, live in Shreveport, Louisiana, and they have one grown daughter, Laura.