Michael is Associate Professor, and Program Chair, of History at WVSU. He is from Fayette County, WV.  After graduating from Gauley Bridge High School, he worked in the underground coal mines of southern West Virginia for over a decade, and then earned his B.A. in Political Science, a M.A. in Public History, and a Ph.D in History at West Virginia University.

During his professional career, Dr. Workman has worked for the National Park Service as an interpreter, photographer, and historian, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Institute for History of Technology & Industrial Archaeology, and served as a consultant for the Department of Justice.  He came to the History Program at WVSU in 2010.  His publications and consulting projects have dealt mostly with U.S. industrial and labor history, with a special expertise in the history of the coal industry.

At WVSU, Dr. Workman initiated the Historical Archaeology Field School and is the Faculty Advisor for the C.E. Jones Historical Society, the oldest student organization on campus.  He teaches a variety of courses in European, U.S. and Ancient history. He enjoys gardening, swimming, and cooking in his spare time.

Dr. Workman’s research interests in local history, coal mining and historical archaeology came together recently in a recent project completed in conjunction with fellow history faculty, Dr. Billy Joe Peyton, and students in History 399:  Historical Archaeology class. Together, they completed  a study of the historical associations of Wolf Creek Park in Fayette County, West Virginia.  He is currently working on a publication focusing on the West Virginia Mine War