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History | Faculty News

Assoc. Professor Raymond Sun receives ‘Honorary Cadet’ award

 

At a World War I Commemoration ceremony April 6, Dr. Raymond Sun received an “Honorary Cadet” plaque from WSU’s Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). The ceremony was to commemorate 100 years since the U. S. formally entered World War I on April 6, 1917.

Dr. Sun was the keynote speaker.  U. S. and German military antiques were on display, as were two re-enactors in their respective World War I uniforms.  Ryan Stubbins portrayed a U. S. soldier and William Safford was dressed in a World War I German Imperial Marine captain’s uniform.  For more information, see the Daily News article.

 

Dr. Lydia Gerber, Asia Program Director, wins ASWSU Faculty Staff Appreciation Award

An Exceptional Professor Award for the Honors College for the Fourth Annual ASWSU Faculty Staff Appreciation Awards was received by Dr. Lydia Gerber, Director of the Asia Program.

She also received an Honors Faculty Fellowship:

“Many WSU faculty members who are not housed in the Honors College make significant contributions to the mission of the Honors College. To acknowledge the contributions of these faculty, the Honors College created the courtesy title of Honors Faculty Fellow in 2015. Honors Faculty Fellows have the opportunity to apply for funding from the Honors College to support enhancement activities related to their appointment, such as developing a new faculty-led program or attending workshops and conferences related to their research or teaching. Generous support comes from the Jonas family. Honors Faculty Fellow appointments will be for an initial duration of three years; appointments may be renewed for further terms with approval from the Dean.”

Dr. Gerber also became a member of the Honors Council, the faculty advisory board of WSU’s Honors College.  This is a 3-year appointment.

Dr. Jennifer Thigpen wins ASWSU Faculty Staff Appreciation Award

Jennifer ThigpenThe Exceptional Professor Award for the College of Arts and Sciences for the Fourth Annual ASWSU Faculty Staff Appreciation Awards was won by Dr. Jennifer Thigpen.

Each year, the Associated Students of Washington State University (ASWSU) Senate puts on this ceremony to honor exemplary faculty and staff within the Cougar family.  This year, the Faculty Staff Appreciation Awards Ceremony will be held at the WSU Alumni Center on Friday, April 14, 2017 from 6:00-8:00 pm. Please RSVP to Savannah Rogers (savannah.rogers@wsu.edu)  by Thursday, April 13th. Please include the number of guests and any dietary restrictions. We encourage you to bring family members, friends, and loved ones to this event in celebration and honor of you. Please limit to two guests. Note that hors d’oeuvres, desserts, and drinks will be served, and Dr. Mark Swanson from the College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences will be speaking during the ceremony.

Univ of Virginia Professor Emeritus to Speak April 17 at 10 a.m.

Peter Onuf, Thomas Jefferson Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia, will be visiting the Pullman campus on Monday, April 17. Onuf is a scholar of sectionalism, federalism, and Thomas Jefferson, who recently co-authored  “Most Blessed of the Patriarchs:” Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination with Annette Gordon-Reed.  Dr. Onuf will give a lecture entitled “Thomas Jefferson and the West” in the CUB auditorium 10:00-11:00 a.m.  For more information, see the program flyer.

Dr. Michelle Mann, new RCI Postdoc arriving for Fall 2017

The Department of History has hired Dr. Michelle Mann as a new RCI Teaching Postdoc (Pullman campus) to start in Fall 2017. Dr. Mann received her PhD in 2016 from Brandeis University. She has published four peer-reviewed articles and is currently preparing her book manuscript, Not Quite Citizens: Islam, ‘Assimilation’ and the Origins of Nationalism in French Colonial Algeria, 1870-1930, for submission. Dr. Mann held a Mellon Dissertation Fellowship in 2014­­­­­­-15 and has received two awards from the American Institute of Maghreb Studies.  She has also served as the Director for Brandeis University’s Writing Center for two years and has taught courses on “Methods in Historical Research,” “Resistance and Revolution in the Colonized World,” and “Empire and its Contradictions.”

Dr. Mann will be spending this summer 2017 mixed between moving to the Palouse, attending a conference in South Korea and participating in an NEH Summer Seminar on women’s voices in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia at Oregon State University. She is excited to join our community and looks forward to the opportunity to move West. Dr. Mann can be reached at zilliah09@gmail.com.

Assn of Washington Historians to meet in Richland April 22

On Saturday, April 22, the Association of Washington Historians (AWH) is holding their annual meeting at Columbia Basin College in Richland, Washington. Dr. Clif Stratton of the WSU’s Department of History  and Assistant Director of the RCI Program, has been asked to deliver the keynote address, entitled “From Stories to Skills: Teaching History in the Age of Automation and Austerity.”  The lecture will address how college historians can better equip their students for a wider variety of information-centered professions by offering sustained and intentional emphasis on building skills through the practice of historical inquiry and research.  It will take as its example and centerpiece the Roots of Contemporary Issues Program, now in its fifth year at Washington State University.

Those attending from Pullman are:  Steven Kale (Department Chair), Jesse Spohnholz (former AWH keynote speaker and Director of the RCI Program at WSU), Sean A. Wempe (RCI faculty member and this year’s AWH president), Theresa Jordan (Clinical Associate Professor), Ken Faunce (Clinical Assistant Professor in the RCI Program), and David Bolingbroke (a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of History).

 

Katy Fry wins Global Campus award for Best Online Instructor

Katy FryKaty Fry is the first ever winner of the new Global Campus Excellence in Teaching Award.  She has been recognized for her work as an Instructor of History 305.  The student who nominated her commented on her responsiveness and dedication, passion for the material, quality of feedback and “organization of material and assignments in ways that cater to different learning styles.”

Congratulations, Katy!

“Ambitions and Intellect: Pioneering Women at Washington State University

Lipi Turner-RahmanA new exhibit in WSU’s Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections (MASC), “Ambitions and Intellect: Pioneering Women at WSU,” explores the stories of early women contributors at the fledgling college. It is part of this year’s events around Women’s History Month and the Common Reading book “I Am Malala.” An opening reception is planned from 3-4:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 22, in the MASC lobby. Please join us.

Before 1900, women were denied entrance to many Eastern colleges, which were strictly for men only. But in the western states, where there were fewer people, many colleges were coeducational, including Washington Agricultural College and School of Science. The small land-grant college in farm country did something the larger Eastern universities would not do: give women the chance to use their intellect and demonstrate the benefits of higher education for all.

 The exhibit also highlights women’s determination to get an education and how they made their mark in society afterward.

“Countless contributions and achievements of women are absent from our historical memory,” said Lipi Turner-Rahman, exhibit curator and WSU Libraries’ Kimble database coordinator. “The 1862 Morrill Act helped remove educational barriers for women in Washington State at a time when most women were not encouraged to go to college.”

For more information about the exhibit, contact Turner-Rahman at ilipi@wsu.edu.