Sweet’s teaching interests center on Africans and their descendants in the broader world. He teaches courses on comparative slavery, race and nation in the Atlantic world, comparative world history, the history of Brazil, and the history of South Africa. Sweet is an award-winning undergraduate history teacher; in 2017, the senior class voted him to be their commencement speaker.

Doctoral students Sweet has worked with are listed in alphabetical order below.
Current Students
Kwaku Mintah Danquah UW-Madison History Department Fields of Interest: Africa and the African diaspora Celia Crifasi UW-Madison History Department Fields of Interest: Early modern Iberian Atlantic John Balz UW-Madison History Department Fields of Interest: Atlantic world and linguistcs
Past students:
Sean Bloch, Analyst, General Dynamics Information Technology Hermann von Hesse, Assistant Professor of African Art History, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Philip Janzen, Assistant Professor of History, University of Florida-Gainesville Colleen Vasconcellos, Associate Professor of History, University of West Georgia Jessica Krug
Past Students Sweet has Worked Closely With:
William Allen, Liberian ambassador to France Ikuko Asaka, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Robyn Autry, Wesleyan University Simon Balto, University of Iowa Natalie Belisle, University of Southern California Jacob Blanc, University of Edinburgh David Bresnahan, University of Utah John A. Coakley, Merrimack College Marcos Colón, Florida State University Bennett E. Cross, Economic Analyst Jerome Dotson, University of Arizona Nicole A. Eggers, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Lacy S. Ferrell, Central Washington University Mark Allan Goldberg, University of Houston Paul Grant, University of Wisconsin-Platteville Sarah F. Hardin, Saint Anselm College Marc Hertzman, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Ousman Kobo, Ohio State University Christopher Kirchgasler, University of Wisconsin Erika Robb Larkins, San Diego State University Francisco Xavier Luca, Wolfsonian-FIU Library Francis Lukhele, University of Swaziland Daniel Magaziner, Yale University Upenyu Majee, Michigan State University Adam Malka, University of Oklahoma John C. Marquez, Omohundro Institute John Garrison Marks, American Association for State and Local History Christina Mobley, Newcastle University Solsirée del Moral, Amherst College Alberto Ortiz, University of Iowa Patrick Otim, Bates College Stephen Pierce, Indiana Wesleyan University Ryan Quintana, Wellesley College Matthew Rarey, Oberlin College Naaborko Sackeyfio-Lenoch, Dartmouth College Antoinette Pressley Sanon, Eastern Michigan University Stephen C. Volz, Kenyon College