Past Newsletters
Spring 2008
Winter 2006-07
Spring 2007
Winter 2007-08

WINTER COMMENCEMENT

On Sunday, December 21, 2008, the Graduate Faculty, the Dean of the Graduate School, and family and friends welcomed eight new doctoral recipients and eight master of arts conferees to the ranks of History graduate alumni. The Commencement festivities can be viewed online by clicking here.

ADMISSIONS

For the 2008-09 admissions cycle, the Department received 275 applications, a historic high. Admissions decisions will be announced in late winter 2008.

ALUMNI NEWS

Cindy Aron (PhD, US, 1981; Advisor: James Gilbert), Professor of History at the University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA), delivered the Fifth Annual Distinguished Alumni/ae Lecture, on Thursday, October 16, 2008. The title of Professor Aron's lecture was "The Exotic, the Neurotic and the Ordinary: Call Girls in Post World War II America."

Harvey Cohen (PhD, US, 2002; Advisor: David Grimsted), Lecturer at Kings College-London (United Kingdom), appeared on BBC Radio 5's Simon Mayo show, chatting about the 2008 American presidential election. Dr. Cohen also participated in a panel focusing on the music and career of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, organized in the London Jazz Festival, held in November 2008.

Max Grivno (PhD, US, 2007; Advisor: Leslie Rowland), Assistant Professor of History at the University of Southern Mississippi (Hattiesburg, MS), has received the 2008 C. Vann Woodward Prize for the best dissertation in southern history defended in 2007. In making the prize announcement at the 2008 Southern Historical Association meeting, the chair of the four-member prize committee informed Dr. Grivno that his dissertation, "'There Slavery Cannot Dwell': Agriculture and Labor in Northern Maryland, 1790-1860," was the committee's unanimous choice on the first round of deliberations. While in New Orleans to accept the Woodward Prize, Dr. Grivno also presented the paper "'There are Objections to Black and White, But One Must Be Chosen': Farm Management in Northern Maryland, 1820-1860."

The Rev. Rene M. Kollar, O.S.B. (PhD, British, 1973; Advisor: Donald Gordon), Professor of History and Dean of the School of Humanities and Fine Arts at Saint Vincent College (Latrobe, PA), received the Thoburn Excellence in Teaching Award at the annual Founders' Day Honors Convocation, held November 20, 2008.

Alexander Magoun (PhD, Science & Technology, 2000; Advisor: Robert Friedel), Curator at the David Sarnoff Library (Princeton, NJ), presented "When Old Technologies Were Renewed: RCA, the Nuvistor, and Electron Tubes in Decline, 1958-1975" at the Society for the History of Technology meeting, held in Lisbon, Portugal in October 2008.

Trisha Posey (PhD, US, 2007; Advisor: David Grimsted), Assistant Professor of History at John Brown University (Siloam Springs, AR), published the article "'Alive to the cry of distress': Joseph and Jane Sill and Poor Relief in Antebellum Philadelphia" in the July issue of the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography.

Ingo Trauschweizer (PhD, International & Diplomatic, 2006; Advisor: Jon Sumida), Visiting Assistant Professor at New Mexico Tech (Socorro, NM) who currently holds a research fellowship at the European University Institute (Florence, Italy), published The Cold War U.S. Army Building Deterrence for Limited War (University of Kansas Press) in June 2008.

Samuel Walker (PhD, US, 1974; Advisor: Wayne Cole), Historian of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, expects his new monograph, The Road to Yucca Mountain: A History of Commercial Radioactive Waste Programs in the United States, 1940s-1980s, to be published by the University of California Press in 2009. The second edition of his Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs against Japan (University of North Carolina Press) is being translated for publication in a Japanese language edition.

Jonathan White (PhD, US, 2007; Advisor: Herman Belz), Assistant Historian at the Federal Judicial Center, has word that his article "The Disloyalty Trial of John O'Connell" will appear in the Spring 2009 issue of Ohio Valley History. Dr. White has also received a contract from Louisiana State University Press to publish the monograph with the working title With Ballot and Bullet: A Reinterpretation of Civil War Soldiers and Their Politics.

JOB PLACEMENTS AND POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS

Jennifer Kinniff (HiLS, Russia & Former Soviet Union, 2008; Advisor: Michael David-Fox) has accepted the position of Public Services and Outreach Librarian for Special Collections at The George Washington University (Washington, DC).

Nicholas Schlosser (PhD, Modern Europe, 2008; Advisor: Jeffrey Herf) has been appointed to the position of Historian at the United States Marine Corps History Division at the Marine Corps University (Quantico, VA).

FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS, AWARDS, PRIZES, AND HONORS

Daryl "Gus" Grissom (PhD, Ancient Mediterranean; Advisor: Art Eckstein) has been selected as a 2008-2009 Center Teaching Excellence-Lilly Graduate Teaching Fellow.

Jessica Johnson (PhD, US; Advisor: Ira Berlin) has been awarded a Graduate Studies Enhancement Grant, administered by the Social Science Research Council for research costs incurred by former Mellon-Mays Undergraduate Fellows.

Giacomo Mazzei (PhD, US; Advisor: Saverio Giovacchini) has been awarded Borsa di studio per cittadini italiani residenti all'estero, a grant made by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

CONFERENCES, PAPERS, PUBLICATIONS, AND PRESENTATIONS

Leandro D. Benmergui (PhD, Latin America; Advisor: Daryle Williams) presented the paper "Housing Development and the Alliance for Progress: Urban Renewal and Housing Policy in Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires in the 1960s" at the Ninth International Conference on Urban History, held in Lyon, France, August 27- 30, 2008. Leandro will also present the paper "'A Key to the Present': Urban Renewal and the Modernization of Housing in Buenos Aires, 1964-73" at a joint session of the Conference on Latin American History and the American Historical Association, to take place at the AHA Annual Meeting in New York City, January 2-5, 2009.

Jeffrey Brideau (PhD, Technology, Science, and Environment; Advisor: Tom Zeller) presented "If You Give Them the Inch, They'll Take 1.609344 Kilometres: The Demise of National Metrication in the United States" at the 50th Anniversary Meeting of the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT), held in Lisbon, Portugal in October 11-14, 2008.

Robert Chiles (PhD, US; Advisor: David Sicilia) presented "'Progressive Democracy' in Action: Alfred E. Smith and the Development of Public Education in New York State, 1918-1928" at the 2008 Researching New York: Perspectives on Empire State History conferee, held November 20-21 in Albany, NY.

Megan Coplen (PhD, US; Advisor: Clare Lyons) presented "Empire of Exclusion: Celebrating Imperial Geographies in America during the Seven Years' War" as the Rocky Mountain Interdisciplinary History Conference, held at the University of Colorado at Boulder, September 19-20.

Shane Dillingham (PhD, Latin America; Advisor: Mary Kay Vaughan) and Reid Gustafson (PhD, Latin America; Advisor: Mary Kay Vaughan) organized the Fourth Annual Graduate Student Conference on Latin America and the Caribbean, held October 30-31 on the College Park campus. Cosponsored by the Department of History and the Latin American Studies Center, the successful event brought together twenty-three graduate students from Maryland and thirteen other schools.

Joshua Furman (PhD, Jewish; Advisor: Marsha Rozenblit) presented "'The Koufax Image': Stereotypes and Symbolism in Media Coverage of Sandy Koufax, 1962-1966" at the Rocky Mountain Interdisciplinary Historical Conference, held at the University of Colorado at Boulder, September 19-20.

Claire Goldstene (PhD, US; Advisor: Gary Gerstle) presented "Recovering the Radicalism of Booker T. Washington and Samuel Gompers" at the Association of Political Theory, held at Wesleyan University (Middleton, CT) October 9-12 and "The Politics of Booker T. Washington: A Reappraisal" at the U.S. Intellectual History Conference, held at Grand Valley State University (Grand Rapids, MI) October 17-18.

Paula Halperin (PhD, Latin America; Advisor: Barbara Weinstein) will present the paper "Debating Xica: The Role of the Mass Media in the Definition of Racial Relations in Brazil in the 1970s" at the Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, to take place in New York City, January 2-5, 2009. Paula's research in Brazilian film history and media studies were also featured in the second (online) edition of the Latin American History and Culture (Charles Scribner's Sons).

Katarina Keane (PhD, US; Advisor: Leslie Rowland) presented "Working with Other Women: Feminist Businesses and the Second Wave" at the annual meeting of the Southern Historical Association, held in New Orleans, LA, October 9-12, 2008. Kate will also present "'Let Your Sisterhood Be Your Sustenance': Southern Women's Organizations and the Fight for Economic Justice in the 1970s" at the annual meeting of the Organization for American Historians, to take place in Seattle, WA, March 26-29, 2009.

Andrew Kellett (PhD, Modern Europe; Advisor: Jeffrey Herf), presented "I'm a Man: The Impact of Blues Masculinity on British Rock Musicians, 1958-1975" at the national conference of the North American Conference on British Studies, held in Cincinnati, OH, in October 2008. Andrew also presented "Occidentalism: Perceptions of America and Americans in European Thought and Culture Since the Victorian Era," at the Mid-Atlantic World History Association's Conference, held at Harford Community College (Bel-Air, MD) in October 2008.

Lejnar Mitrojorgji (PhD, Modern Europe; Advisor: John Lampe) received word that his article "On the Edges of Identity: A Theoretical Re-evaluation of Sources Concerning the Greco-Albanian Union of 1907" will be published on the 2010 issue of Balkanistica, the journal of South East European Studies Association.

Stefan Papaioannou (PhD, Modern Europe; Advisor: John Lampe) presented "Balkan Violence? An Analysis of Conflict in Macedonia during the Era of the Balkan Wars and World War I" at the National Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, held November 21, 2008, in Philadelphia, PA. His paper was part of a panel, "The Politics of Violence in Macedonia," organized by College of William and Mary Visiting Professor Dr. James Frusetta (PhD, Modern Europe, 2006; Advisor: John Lampe).

Charles Reed (PhD, British; Advisor: Richard Price) presented "Respectable Subjects of the Queen: Royal Tours of Southern Africa and Imperial Citizenship, 1860-1901" at the conference Britishness, Identity, and Citizenship: A View from Abroad, held at the University of Huddersfield (Queensgate, UK) in June 2008.

Stephanie Reichelderfer (PhD, US) presented "'The Perfect Organization': The Filipino Students' Christian Movement and Colonial Identity" at the 15th Annual Tri-University History Conference, held at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada), November 14- 16, 2008.

Daniel Rubin (PhD, International and Diplomatic; Advisor: Keith Olson) presented "Suitcase Diplomacy: The Role of Travel in Sino-American Relations, 1950-68" at the Rocky Mountain Interdisciplinary History Conference, held at the University of Colorado at Boulder, September 19-20, 2008.

Amy Rutenberg (PhD, US; Advisor: Robyn Muncy) presented "Service by Other Means: Changing Perceptions of Military Service and Masculinity, 1940-1973," at the Gender and the Long Postwar Conference, held at the German Historical Institute (Washington, DC) in May 2008. 

Michael Soracoe (PhD, British; Advisor: Richard Price) presented "'A Monster Unfitted to Live': The Changing Representations of Tipu Sultan in 19th-Century British Fictional Literature" at the Rocky Mountain Interdisciplinary History Conference, held at the University of Colorado at Boulder, September 19-20, 2008.

CELEBRATIONS

Paula Halperin (PhD, Latin America; Advisor: Barbara Weinstein) and Leandro Benmergui (PhD, Latin America; Advisor: Daryle Williams) are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter, Milena, on December 3, 2008. Leandro reports that "queen and the princess" are doing well.

Lejnar Mitrojorgji (PhD, Modern Europe; Advisor: John Lampe) and his wife are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter, Emilia Eva, on October 17, 2008. Within two weeks of her birth, Emilia was already decked out in Terpwear.