On behalf of the faculty, I want to welcome our students back to campus. For those of you who are starting Senior I.S. this fall: a fun-filled intellectual adventure awaits you. (Think: Lord of the Rings but with more reading and note-taking). For new History majors: we look forward to meeting you.
You’ll notice a few changes this year. After many years of stimulating teaching, overturning expectations, raising the level of fun in the department, teaching the history of women, gender, queer theory and American history, Karen Taylor retired from the Department. We will miss her. Jeff Roche and Peter Pozefsky are on leave for the year. David Gedalecia is on leave for the fall semester. We hope to have the chance to check in with all of them in the months to come.
We are lucky to have some great additions to the History faculty. Prof. Ryan Edgington, a Ph.D. out of Temple University and native of New Mexico, specializes in American history, with a focus on environmental and western history. His current research project is entitled (De)militarized: An Environmental History of the Cold War American West. Prof. Erik Loomis, a Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico, is an American historian as well, with an emphasis on environmental and labor history. His research centers on the Northwest logging industry in the twentieth century. Prof. Loomis has a blog devoted to history and politics entitled “Alterdestiny,” hosted at alterdestiny.blogspot.com.
Also new this year is the Chair of the Department, yours truly. If you need help with Departmental business, please stop by my office in Kauke 111.
We have lots of events planned for the year: the meeting of all History majors coming up this Thursday, the Junior I.S. Workshops starting in a couple weeks, Café Bob, and a History Picnic. Stay tuned for more information on all of this.
Let me say a big thank you to Prof. Holt for starting this History Blog. We’ll use it to share announcements, news of upcoming events, snapshots of faculty research and alumni achievements, and more. You can submit your email address on the home page of the blog to receive email updates. If you have an idea for something we should include, please just pass it along to me or to one of your professors.
All the best for a great start to the year! gks