Dear History Students,
There is a traffic jam on Beall Ave., which can only mean one thing… On behalf of the History faculty, let me welcome you back to campus! For those of you who are starting Senior I.S. this year: 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 getting to know you. For those of you coming into our classes for the first time, welcome.
Stay tuned for a message about the Mandatory Meeting of All History Majors, which will take place this coming Thursday, September 1, at 11am, in the Lean Lecture Room. For now, I just want to tell you a bit about what to expect in the year to come.
You’ll notice a few changes this year. After four years in our company, enlivening classrooms, spicing up hallway conversations, and raising our sartorial standards, Marc Goulding has moved on. We miss him already. We also have watched our visiting historians from last year take new positions, Ryan Edgington at Central Michigan University, Erik Loomis at the University of Rhode Island. We wish them all well.
We welcome back Peter Pozefsky and Jeff Roche who return from leave.
We also want to welcome a group of new faculty.
• Kabria Baumgartner, a recent PhD from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, joins us as our early U.S. historian. She works on the history of education, especially the history of education of black women in the nineteenth century. She will teach the survey of U.S. history to 1877, courses on the early republic and the nineteenth century, the history of schools, and much more.
• Monika Flaschka, who took her PhD at Kent State University, joins us for the year as a Visiting Assistant Professor of History and WGSS. Her research centers on sexual violence in Nazi-occupied Europe. She’ll be teaching a course on Holocaust memory.
• And we are also joined for the year by Sarah Mirza, a PhD in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan, who is a Visiting Fellow in History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies. In her research, she examines the written documents of early Islam. She’ll be teaching the History of the Modern Middle East in the fall. We are lucky to have them all.
You’ll notice some pretty significant changes in the curriculum. This year we’re putting in place many of the changes we discussed over the last three years. You’ll see a few new courses:
• History 201: The Craft of History is a topical course that helps prepare students for Junior and Senior I.S. with an emphasis on the critical skills of the historian. It is a W course. This year we’re offering sections on “The History of News,” “The History of Schools in America,” “The Holocaust in Postwar Societies,” “Latin America & the United States,” and “Plagues in History.”
• History 202: Historical Workshop is a quarter-credit introduction to the theory and practice of a particular historical methodology. This fall we’re offering a section on “Historical Documentary.”
• History 275: Studies in History is an upper-level topics course. This spring we’ll be offering a section on “The History of Brazil.”
• History 301: History Colloquium is an advanced seminar for Juniors and Seniors. This spring we’ll be offering a section on “African-American Women’s History.”
In addition to these, we’ll be offering some new courses and some courses that haven’t been run lately. Check out: History 227: The Modern Middle East (fall) and History 101: The History of Islam (spring).
Some other developments that you should know about concern off-campus study.
• Prof. Friedman will be taking a group of students to Israel and Palestine over spring break, as part of her History 228: Israel/Palestine: Histories in Conflict.
• Prof. Pozefsky will be leading students to India next summer, to Shillong, in the foothills of the Himalayas, for a summer of Wooster-in-India.
There will be lots going on soon: the Junior I.S. Workshops (required of those enrolled in Junior I.S.) starting in the second week of the semester, Café Bob, outside visits, the Fall History Picnic, and more. We’ll announce events as they come, but you can take a look forward by checking out the History Calendar (available directly on Google calendar by following the link to https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=b0r6mk5th8k7j0q7872n6r9kjo%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York).
The History Calendar is also available on the History Department Blog (at http://history.voices.wooster.edu). Remember that the History Blog also has all variety of Department news: class descriptions, office hours, updates on alumni, and much, much more. If you haven’t already, subscribe to email or Facebook updates from the blog to stay up to date on History news. As always, we will use the History email listserv for important announcements.
Good luck moving in. Have a great rest of the weekend. We look forward to seeing you soon in our classes and our offices. We wish you all the best for a great start to the year! gks