Department of History, Washington State University

Department of History, PO Box 644030, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4030 • 509-335-5139 • Contact Us

Recent Headlines

	Dr. Matt Sutton presented sections from his forthcoming book Friday, May 10, at a workshop at Yale on "International Fundamentals: Early Fundamentalism and the American Century." He recently presented chapter two his forthcoming book entitled "Global War and Christian Nationalism" (on World War I) at the Rothermere American Institute, Oxford University. In another trip to the United Kingdom, he gave a paper entitled "Al Smith, the Roaring Twenties and the Rise of Fundamentalist Political Conservatism" at a symposium on Religion and Politics in the Unites States at King's College, London.
	Katy Fry, History Instructor, has been accepted as a presenter at next year's AHA in Washington, D.C. Katy will present "The Immigrant Oyster: Race and Environment on Washington State Tidelands" on a panel entitled "Working Frontiers: Labor, Race, and the Environment in the U. S. West and Pacific in the Progressive Era." The panel will feature the preeminent U. S. Immigration Historian Mae Ngai as the Chair.
	Dr. Clif Stratton has been accepted at next year's AHA and will participate in a roundtable discussion on "Teaching Historiographical Debate in the World History Classroom," and will focus his discussion on the ways this is attempted, with varying degrees of success, in the Roots of Contemorary Issues (RCI) program."
	Phil Travis (PhD candidate in U. S. History and whose faculty mentor is Noriko Kawamura) received the Thomas S. Foley Institute's graduate student fellowship for summer 2013 in the amount of $1,000.00.
	Laura Arata (PhD candidate in U.S. History whose faculty mentor is Robert Bauman of the WSU Tri-Cities campus) writes: "I have been awrded a Charles Redd Center (BYU) Graduate Fellowship for summer research in Virginia City, Montana. The Redd Center funds research on the study of the American West."
	Assistant History Professor Lawrence Hatter has received a New Faculty Seed Grant for $19,000 for AY 2013-2014 to complete research and make manuscript revisions on his book project "Border Wars: The Laurentine Trade and the Making of American Nationhood, 1783-1846."
	History Department faculty in WSUNews: see the link to WSUNews for more information and photographs of Theresa Jordan and Ken Faunce at the sixth annual University College awards ceremony held April 16.
	Congratulations to Graduate Students Kris Skelton (advisor Professor Rob McCoy) and Dulce Kersting (advisor Professor Peter Boag), who are graduating with Master of Arts degrees May 4. They will be missed (although as noted last week, Dulce will change hats and serve as the curator for the Latah County Historical Society in nearby Moscow, Idaho).
	On May 3, the History Department recognized and celebrated the work of five outstanding students for their research in conjunction with Spring Semester History 469 and 300 courses. A reception was held in the Center for Undergraduate Education The students honored are: Matthew Kenyon, whose work is entitled "The Question of Women's Suffrage: Radicals, Rhetoric, and Reform in Washington State." Nicole Scheuerman's work is entitled "Hungarian Victims of Communism: A Remembrance." Kaitlyn Gromala's work is entitled "How the My Lai Massacre Evolved into Scapegoat Policy." Kyle Jacob Toyra's work is entitled "Black Listed: Nixon's 'Enemies List' Uncovered." Megan Ockerman's work is entitled "Tales of a Green Beret: One Man's Struggle to Cope with the Legacy of Vietnam." Instructors for History 469 are Drs. Jenny Thigpen, David Stratton, and Scott Stratton.
	The College of Arts and Sciences honored twenty-five outstanding students for their academic and extracurricular achievements at the CAS Senior Recognition event May 3. Two of the twenty-five are majoring in History. Nikki Brueggeman, earned a BA in Asian Studies and history, with a minor in Japanese. The second student is Matthew Kenyon, who earned a BA in History. See the complete news article in WSUNews dated May 2, 2013.
	Professor Sue Peabody presented her invited paper the weekend of May 3-4: “Are Freedom Suits a Form of Resistance?: When is the Personal Political?” at the international workshop, “Les résistances à l’esclavage dans le monde atlantique français à l’ère des Révolutions (1750-1850),” Montréal, 3-4 mai 2013; Atelier organisé par le Groupe d'histoire de l'Atlantique français, en collaboration avec le Haiti Lab (Duke University) et le Centre international de recherches sur les esclavages (CNRS) McGill University, Montreal. Sue will present an invited paper on May 29, “Slavery and the French Revolution: A Social Biography Approach,” Paper Presented at the International Workshop, “Entre la Révolution et l’Empire, (1790-1810): quelle politique française dans l’Océan Indien,” Université de Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne.
	Amitava Chowdhury (WSU PhD 2010) presented his paper, “The “coolie” and the “creole”: Post-emancipation labor regimes and identarian invocations in the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean,” at the international conference, Global History of Agrarian Labor Regimes, 1750-2000, at The Weatherhead Initiative on Global History, Harvard University. He subsequently learned that he has named Harvard Visiting Fellow for 2013-2014. Amitava is an assistant professor of Caribbean and World History, Indian Ocean South Asian Diaspora at Queen’s University (Canada).
	Dulce Kersting, who graduated with an MA this semester, has accepted a position as curator for the Latah County Historical Society in Moscow, Idaho. Her faculty mentor is Peter Boag. Congratulations, Dulce! And thanks to the History Faculty who helped her achieve her MA! The Moscow-Latah County area will benefit from Dulce's expertise and the cumulative training received in WSU's History Department. WSU, will, in turn, benefit from her nearby presence.
	Robert Franklin, a History graduate student, has received the Lawrence Stark Archives Graduate Fellowship from WSU's Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections (MASC) to do archival work during summer 2013. Congratulations Robert! Robert's faculty mentor is Dr. Robert McCoy.
	Nikki Brueggeman, graduated May 4, has won one of four university-wide undergraduate research awards for $500.00 from the WSU Emeritus Society. Her award was in the category of Arts and Humanities. She was honored at the University College Awards Ceremony April 16 at the Lewis Alumni Centre.
	Dr. Ken Faunce, an Instructor in the Roots of Contemporary Issues (RCI) program, won the Learning Community Excellence Award for his outstanding teaching and service with the Freshman Focus program. He was honored Tuesday, April 16 at the University College awards ceremony held at the Alumni Centre. His letter of notification states: "Each of your hall partners in the many residence halls you have worked with have particularly noted the success of your out-of-class programs with freshmen, your positive and collaborative approach, and your enthusiasm about engaging with students in a variety of ways. Attending opening hall barbeques, holding occasional office hours in the residence halls, screening relevant films, and holding your very successful research writing workshop - each of these are events that you have helped develop into hallmarks of Freshman Focus. Also deserving of recognition have been your leadership in the use of the Common Reading each year, and in the development of History 105 as a course designed to utilize learning community opportunities for out-of-class student engagement." This marks the third year in a row that a History faculty member has received this award. Previous winners are Jesse Spohnholz and Clif Stratton.
	Assistant Clinical Professor Theresa Jordan has been named the inaugural recipient of the Richard G. Law Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Theresa was honored at the WSU University College Awards ceremony on Tuesday, April 16 in the Lewis Alumni Centre, Great Hall. This ceremony recognized WSU faculty and students for outstanding achievements and contributions to undergraduate education.
	The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) awarded Sue Peabody, professor of history at WSU Vancouver, a fellowship of $65,000 to complete her book, Slavery and Emancipation in the Indian Ocean World: A Family Biography. She will be on sabbatical leave during 2013-2014. Read the entire news release in WSUNews. She was one of 65 recipients of ACLS fellowships out of a total of 1,121 applicants this year (5.8%).
	Professor Laurie Mercier of the WSU Vancouver campus, was notified that she has received a semester-long Fulbright Award to work in Canada in Academic Year 2013-2014. She will be collaborating with colleagues at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta.
	Associate Professor Rob McCoy teaches History 529: Interpreting History through Material Culture. A National Park Service Nez Perce Historic Images Collection will be on exhibit beginning April 11, in WSU Libraries Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections. The Historic Images Collection will be on display throughout the summer. Graduate students Robert Franklin, April Grube, Dulce Kersting, Michelle Winmill and Kris Skelton were instrumental in making this exhibit a success. Thank you for a job well done!
	Israt (Lipi) Turner-Rahman, a part-time instructor for the History Department and a Library employee, is involved in a project to digitally scan old newspaper clippings for the Kimble Northwest History Database. Private donations from the Wallis and Marilyn Kimble family have made this project a reality. A recent article in WSUNews explains how the Kimble Northwest History Database was begun.
	Jeff Sanders has received tenure and promotion to the rank of Associate Professor, effective August 2013. A celebration for Jeff's accomplishment will be included in a general end-of-semester social event. Congratulations, Jeff!
	Professor Peter Boag, Columbia Chair in the History of the American West, has been awarded the Ray Allen Billington Prize by the Organization of American Historians (OAH) for the best book in American frontier history, for his book Re-Dressing America’s Frontier Past (University of California Press, 2011). Dr. Boag's book carefully examines a subject that has long hidden in plain sight: cross-dressing in the nineteenth-century West. It reveals the complicated stories of cross dressers and connects late nineteenth-century understandings of sexuality and gender to the formation of the frontier idea and its prominent place in American culture. More information about the Ray Allen Billington Prize can be found at the OAH Web site. Updated information will be available May 13, 2013.
	Professor David Pietz has been named a Research Fellow by the WSU Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service for academic year 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. This comes with an award of $5,000 to be applied to inviting outside scholars for scholarly collaboration and public presentations, and to support Dr. Pietz' research activities. Dr. Pietz is also the recipient of a $30,000 two-year WSU Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach (CEREO) Fellowship to support his project on "Water and Indigenous Peoples." The fellowship is intended to help David and his collaborators lay the groundwork to create a network of scholars and major external funding initiatives. Finally, Dr. Pietz was recently elected to the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Committee on Committees.
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