Emeriti Faculty

Margaret Andrews (1979–1996) mwa-jlb@telus.net 604-688-6407 Margaret lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is busy with a range of volunteer work. In Vancouver she guides school tours as a docent at the Vancouver Art Gallery and tutors adult-education students. In October 2002 she volunteered in Rajgarh, a village in Himachal Pradesh, India. Official retirement photo from 1996.

Susan Armitage (1978–2008) Sue lives in Pullman, where she is hard at work on several writing projects that she never got around to when she was teaching. Her email remains armitage@wsu.edu.

LeRoy Ashby (1972–2008) His essay, "The Church Committee's History and Relevance," was published this summer in Russell Miller (ed.), U. S. National Security, Intelligence and Democracy: From the Church Committee to the War on Terror (Routledge, 2008), and he is editing a special issue on "Popular Culture" for the Organization of American Historian's Magazine of History, which is scheduled for publication in April 2010. Ashby now resides at 174 S. Coeur d'Alene St - H303, Spokane, WA 99201. His email address is still ashby@wsu.edu.


Fritz Blackwell (1969–2004) blackwell.fw@centurytel.net Academic & Professional Interests Blackwell taught courses on South Asia and world history and was the former director of the Asia Program at Washington State University. Publications He is an associate editor for the Journal of South Asian Literature and has co-edited a volume of Indian poetry and a collection of American letters from East Pakistan. Blackwell has published numerous reviews and articles in Ariel, South Asia in Review, Asiaweek, Journal of South Asian Literature, and Indian Literature. His lastest book, India: A Global Studies Handbook, was published by ABC-CLIO, Inc. spring 2004. Official retirement photo from 2004.

O. Gene Clanton (1968–1997) Gene welcomes correspondence with scholars and history students interested in his area of expertise. He remains active in retirement and continues to work with scholars and students throughout the country. O. Gene Clanton's Web site

David L. Coon (1971–2008) Daivd retired from WSU spring 2008 after teaching at the university for 37 years. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana in 1972. David's areas of specialization were Early America, the American Revolution, and the history of American agriculture. Spring 2008, he won the College of Liberal Arts William F. Mullen Excellence in Teaching Award. That prize recognizes faculty members who exemplify excellence with an emphasis on involvement with students and student groups outside of the classroom. He won the university-wide Burlington Faculty Achievement Award for Excellence in Instruction in 1988. In addition, he also won and the Academic Advisor of the Year Award from Golden Key National Honor Society in 1987.

Edwin P. Garretson, Jr. (1970–2008) Ed received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Early Modern European History and Austrian History. He retired from in the spring of 2008 after teaching at WSU for 38 years. Ed is an active member of the Uniontown Community Development Association (Dahmen Artisan Barn project), the Palouse Scenic Byway Committee, the Pullman Chamber Lentil Festival Committee, and the Whitman County Historical Society. Local History has become his love as he works on editing the Historical Society journal, the Bunchgrass Historian, and organizing the materials, volunteers, and finding guides of the Historical Society archive in the Gladish Community Center. His email remains epgjr@wsu.edu.

Jerry Gough (1969–2010) gough@wsu.edu Jerry received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1971 and began teaching at WSU that year. During his tenure, he taught the history of science and technology and early Britain. Jerry 's articles have appeared in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Isis, Osiris, the British Journal for the History of Science, Technology and Culture, and Ambix. He has served as the editor of The Plutonium Story: The Journals of Professor Glenn T. Seaborg, 1939–1946 (Battelle Press, 1994) and recently co-authored a book with departmental colleague Richard Hume, Blacks, Carpetbaggers, and Scalawags: The Constitutional Conventions of Radical Reconstruction (Louisiana State University Press, 2008).

Richard Hume (1968–2010) rhume@wsu.edu Richard received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1969. His areas of specialty are the Civil War and the Reconstruction Era. Richard also taught American surveys and courses on the Jeffersonian and Jacksonian eras. Richard 's articles have appeared in journals such as the Journal of American History, the Journal of Southern History, and the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. Hume co-edited, with F.N. Boney (University of Georgia) and Rafia Zafar (University of Michigan), God Made Man, Man Made Slave: The Autobiography of George Teamoh (Mercer University Press, 1990). He has recently co-authored a book with departmental colleague Professor Jerry B. Gough, Blacks, Carpetbaggers, and Scalawags: The Constitutional Conventions of Radical Reconstruction (Louisiana State University Press, 2008).

Thomas Kennedy (1970–2001) kennedyt@wsunix.wsu.edu Tom recently has published an adapted translation of the memoirs of Ms. Zeng Baosun entitled Confucian Feminist: The Memoirs of Zeng Baosun (1893–1978) from the American Philosophical Association, Philadelphia, PA. He presented a paper on Ms. Zeng's life and philosophy at the annual meeting of the Pacific Coast conference of the Association for Asian Studies at Western Washington University in June 2002. Currently he is working on an annotated translation of Zhou Daguan's A Record of the Customs of Cambodia, written in 1293 and submitted to the Court of Khubilai Khan by China's first ambassador to the Khmer kingdom, in cooperation with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. Official retirement photo from 2001.

John E. Kicza (1980–2009) jekicza@wsu.edu Professor Kicza retired in 2009 after 29 years of teaching and administrative duties at Washington State University. He served as cochair of the Department of History from 2007–2009, interim chair from 2005–2007, and was an associate dean for the College of Liberal Arts from 2001–2005. He served on the graduate faculty of the American Studies Program (2000–2009) and is a former Edward R. Meyer Distinguished Professor. His field of expertise is Latin American history and early European overseas culture contacts.

Kathryn E. Meyer (1992–2008) Kathy retired in May of 2008 after teaching for 19 years at Washington State University. She received her Ph.D. from WSU in 1992. Between 1989 and 2008, she taught a wide assortment of courses, including Roman Republican History, Women in the Ancient World, Food in World History, and World Civilizations. She was also the advisor of the WSU History Club, which she helped found. She lives with her husband, Doug, on a farm just outside of Pullman. They enjoy international and domestic travel. She is active in the Whitman County Historical Society, and she is currently working on several writing projects that she never managed to finish while she was teaching. Her email address is klmeyer@gmail.com.

Jacqueline Peterson (1983–2010) jpeterson1@vancouver.wsu.edu Jackie received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Chicago in 1981. Peterson taught Native American, North American, and public history at WSU Vancouver. She curated and directed a 7,000-square-foot traveling museum exhibition funded by NEH titled Sacred Encounters: The Society of Jesus and the Indians of the Northwest and her publications include Sacred Encounters: Father De Smet and the Indians of the Rocky Mountain West (University of Oklahoma Press, 1993) and The New Peoples: Being and Becoming Metis in North America, ed., with Jennifer S.H. Brown (University of Manitoba Press, 1991).

Roger Schlesinger (Professor) (1968–2006) Mary Watrous-Schlesinger (Senior Instructor) (1991–2006) schlesin@wsu.edu Roger and Mary retired at the end of the 2006 spring semester. They are enjoying their new life and homes on the Hawaiian island of Molokaíi and at Port Angeles, Washington, with plans to visit various destinations around the world. Roger joined the department in 1968. During his 39 years of service, he taught Renaissance and Reformation, published 4 books, received several teaching awards, and served as chair of the department from 1993 to 2005. Mary came to WSU in 1984 to pursue a doctorate in Latin American history. After her career as a graduate student, she remained in the department as a senior instructor. She developed popular courses on the history of world trade and food, co-edited one book, and also received a number of teaching awards. Official retirement photo from 2006.

Robert Staab (1997–2009) rstaab@wsu.edu Dr. Staab taught history courses primarily related to the Middle East and world civilizations until 2009. His interest in the Middle East started in 1965 when he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Turkey. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Utah in 1980, with a focus on Middle East studies, Turkish and Islamic history. His recent research interests focused on social and cultural 19th-century Istanbul.

David Stratton (1962–1993) 509-335-9898 dstratton@wsu.edu Professor Stratton is busy in retirement teaching an occasional class at WSU and working on research for a book involving, as a case study, the influence of railroads and major highways on a western town. In 2002, at the College of Liberal Arts Awards Ceremony, he was awarded the Dean's Distinguished Contribution Award and a Certificate of Appreciation (in grateful acknowledgement of 40 years of dedicated service to Washington State University). His most recent contribution to the college was the publication of 2 booklets: The Liberal Arts at Washington State University and The Grand Old Lady: Albert W. Thompson Hall (Old Administration Building). He is the author of Tempest over Teapot Dome: The Story of Albert B. Fall (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998). Official retirement photo from 1993.

Richard Williams (1974–2011) sarek@wsu.edu Dr. Williams received his Ph.D. in Ancient History from Michigan State University in 1973 and started teaching at WSU the following year. During his tenure, Williams taught courses on the history of ancient Greece, Rome, and medieval Europe. He is interested in the use of electronic presentations in the classroom and has remodeled his lecture classes into PowerPoint presentations. Williams is also the Webmaster for the Whitman County Historical Society. Williams received the President's Faculty Excellence Award for Instruction in 1992 and has received two NEH Summer Institute Awards. His most recent article (co-authored with his wife, Burma P. Williams), "Finger Numbers in the Greco-Roman World and Early Middle Ages," was published in Isis (December 1995). The Williamses' current research focuses on Roman mathematics and computing. Dr. Williams now resides with his wife, Burma, in Spokane, WA.