Recent News

History beats PoliSci, 62-0. On Sunday, Oct. 11, the GHS football team shut out Political Science’s team 62-0 in a friendly pick-up game at Willow Creek Park.  History dominated play, with an unprecedented three safeties. Jake Altman, speaking to ESPN’s “Mike and Mike in the Morning,” thanked the coaches and the fans for their support. Gabi von Roedern attributed the strong showing to the fact that all her teammates gave 110 percent (an overload approved in advance by the Graduate College). Ben Lawson cautioned his teammates not to look past the match-up and to take it one game at a time. GHS officials dismissed allegations that History used post-eligible players in the game. Other team members included Jake Hall and Dennis Kuhnel.

Kate Rousmaniere, "The Short, Radical Life of Pearl McGill," Labor: Studies in the Working Class History of the Americas 6:3 (Fall 2009). Kate Rousmaniere first wrote about Pearl McGill in 1980 in an undergraduate research paper for Linda Kerber; that paper was subsequently published by the Annals of Iowa. 23 years later, Pearl McGill's niece, Jean Burns, shared her aunt's letters with the author, which inspired this expansion of the earlier article. Pearl McGill's letters are now deposited in the Iowa Women's Archives.

Congratulations to Jake Hall, whose essay "Law and Labor in Detroit: The Labor Injunction and Local Politics in Detroit, 1915-1920" has won the Michigan Historical Review’s student essay contest. Jake's essay will be published in a forthcoming issue.

Colin Gordon offers his thoughts on the health care debate in a post to the Princeton University Press author’s blog, cross-posted at the History News Network.

Iowa Honors History Undergraduate Students win Helen K. Fairall Scholarships:

• Alex Fischels of Waterloo hopes to attend graduate school in history after completing his senior thesis on Jamaican popular music and the development of Jamaican popular identity. His thesis is based on research in the Jamaican National Historical Archives, focusing on the history of radio broadcasting and government policy toward music broadcasting during the emergence of Reggae music. A musician as well as a music lover, he is interested in the political implications of popular music, and the ways in which the history of music might shed light on the relationship between institutions of power on the one hand and popular political consciousness on the other. His thesis supervisor is Professor Jeffrey Cox.
• Michael Hart of Bettendorf has a special interest is East Asia, and is writing a senior thesis on "Anti-Japanese Sentiment in the American Popular Media, 1975-1995". Using a variety of media sources--movies, novels, cartoons, comic books--he plans to analyze the rise and fall of hostile stereotypes of the Japanese during the period when the American consumer market was being flooded with Japanese goods. His thesis supervisor is Professor Stephen Vlastos.

In August, Linda Kerber was inducted into Iowa Women's Hall of Fame. "Now the historian who has made a career out of documenting the lives of other women," as the Press Citizen noted, "has been recognized herself as a woman whose story needs to be documented and shared with all Iowans." To view the full story.

Heather Kopelson (PhD 2008) spoke on July 23 as part of the Bermuda Archives' 'History Speaks' summer lecture series. Her lecture was entitled "Quakers and Witchcraft: Bermuda's 17th Century Dissidents."

Kim Nielsen (PhD 1996) reflects on her new book in "What We Can Learn from a Biography of Helen Keller's Teacher?," posted at the History News Network in July.

Congratulations to recipients of internal and external awards for 2009-10. Kevin Mumford, Michel Gobat, and Glenn Penny all continue Faculty Scholarships; Jeff Cox has another Global Scholar semester; Leslie Schwalm, Shel Stromquist, and Paul Greenough have career development assignments. Connie Berman and Cathy Komisaruk have partial teaching release this fall to participate in the Obermann Center’s Cmiel Seminar, World fares: Food, Culture, and Society Since the Age of Industrialization. Jeff Cox, Colin Gordon, Cathy Komisaruk, and Omar Valerio-Jimenez received awards from the VPR’s Arts and Humanities Initiative (AHI).

Congratulations to Pam Stek and Jason Whisler, who have both received the Graduate Fairall Scholarship. Michael Hart and Alex Fischels both received the Undergraduate Fairall Scholarship.

History students awarded History Department Honors Scholarship for 2009:

• Javier Samper Vendrell has received the Alan Spitzer Scholarship. He is writing a senior thesis on "Gay and Lesbian Popular Periodicals during the Weimar Republic..." more info>>
• Alex Fischels has received the William Eugene Wolters Scholarship for research expenses related to his senior thesis on "Jamaican popular music...". Alex has also been selected to receive the Kay Keeshan Hamod Scholarship in History from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. more info>>
• Nathan Schlitter has received Flora Bella Houston Memorial Scholarship. He plans to use the scholarship for research expenses related to his senior thesis...more info>>
• Brigid Freymuller has been offered the William L. M. and William E. Burke Scholarship. She plans to use the scholarship to support research for her senior thesis...more info>>
• Kayla Olson has been awarded an Iowa Center for Research by Undergraduates Research Assistantship for 2009-10 to assist Professor Kathleen Kamerick with her research on legal prosecutions for magic in late Medieval England.

Congratulations to Matti Conn, who has been awarded a 2009 International Dissertation Research Fellowship (IDRF), funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Congratulations to Jacob Soll, a BA graduate of our Department now on the history faculty at Rutgers-Camden, who is the recipient of a 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship.

Congratulations to recipients of internal graduate awards for 2009-10: Dauna Kiser (Ballard-Seashore, Graduate College); Annie Liss (Pelzer, Department of History and Graduate College); Brian Miller and Heather Wacha (Stanley Fellowships, International Programs); Karissa Haugeberg and Woyu Liu (Summer Fellowships, Graduate College); Matt Mettler (Ink Fellowship, History); Gabi von Roedern (Prange Fellowship, History); Karen Ursic (Strong Fellowship, History); Brian Miller (Aydelotte Fellowship, History); and Jacob Hall and Anna Flaming (Lafore Fellowship, History).

Marshall Poe has been awarded an Innovations in Teaching with Technology Award for the development of three courses: a summer seminar for faculty, a graduate seminar "New Media Applications in the Humanities and Social Sciences" in Fall 2009, and an undergraduate class "Introduction to new Media in the Humanities and Social Sciences" in Spring 2010.

Congratulations to our 2008-09 graduates, who have done exceedingly well in a difficult job market. Margie Anderson has accepted a tenure-track job at the University of Tennessee; Cari Campbell has accepted a tenure-track job at the University of North Dakota; Christy Clark has accepted a post-doc and tenure-track line at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Kristen Anderson has accepted a tenure-track position at Webster University in St. Louis, MO.; and Francis Dube has accepted a tenure-track job a UW-Stevens Point.

Congratulations to Dauna Kiser, who won first prize in the Humanities Division at the recently-concluded Jakobsen Conference.

Dan Knickrehm (ABD) is the new historian for the 43rd Air Wing at Pope Air Force Base in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Congratulations to Jen Sessions, who has been elected for a term as an at-large representative to the Faculty Assembly; and to Katherine Tachau, who has been elected to a three-year term on the College's Executive Committee.

Congratulations to Colleen Kelley, who has been awarded a two-year Olson Fellowship in Special Collections.

Brian Miller has received a Department of State Critical Language Scholarship for the study of Turkish.

Congratulations to Paul Greenough, who has been awarded an Instructional Improvement Award for the preparation of CD's to support the UI’s study aborad programs in India.

Congratulations to Elke Stockreiter, who has received a Visiting Fellowship from Cambridge's Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities. Elke will take up the short-term fellowship in spring 2010.