Kansas State University

Dr. Charles Sanders, Associate Professor in History, was named Professor of the Week! The recognition is coordinated by Faculty Senate, the president's office, K-State Athletics and the Division of Communications and Marketing. Read more about Dr. Sanders and the nomination HERE.

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The History Department would like to warmly congratulate our fantastic academic advisor, Kathy Lillich, on winning the William L. Stamey Award for Advising! Kathy will be honored at the Fall 2018 KSU Arts and Sciences graduate ceremonies on Saturday, December 08, in recognition of the award. Congratulations on all your hard work, Kathy!

You can read more about the award and other awardees HERE

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Two of our own History faculty present research at June NOAA workshop. Jim Sherow and Bonnie Lynn-Sherow shared their research related to community members' responses to drought in the American West. You can read the full article in K-State Today, linked HERE.

On May 4, 2018, the History Department held a tree planting and retirement reception for Dr. Robert Linder, a University Distinguished Professor, who retired in Spring 2018 after starting in 1965 - 53 years of continuous service to the History Department. The reception was well-attended; if you missed the reception, please feel free to take half an hour to watch the video. Congratulations, Dr. Linder, on your retirement!

The video can be viewed HERE.

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April 03, 2018: Our very own Bonnie Lynn-Sherow was quoted in an article for the Kansas City Star! The article, "Only 17 Kansas counties have grown in this decade. What does this mean for the state?" is about changing growth patterns in Kansas counties. Check out the full article here.

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Congratulations to Robin Ottoson, who successfully defended her PhD dissertation on Friday, March 9, 2018. We are proud of you, Robin!

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"Politics of the Pantry: Housewives, Food, and Consumer Politics in 20^th Century America"

Talk hosted by Emily E. LB. Twarog, PhD, Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Wednesday, January 31, 2018 from 1:30-3:00 PM

Hemisphere Room, Hale Library, 5th floor

A Diversity Lecture Series Event sponsored by the Department of History & the Consumer Movement Archives at K-State.

Everyone welcome!

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On November 30, 2017, The History Department hosted Dr. Michael Poliakoff, President of ACTA, to come and speak on the freedom of speech in ancient Athens. Dr. Poliakoff was well received, and his speech was well attended. He was in town for two days, and in that time met with various professors, students, and members of the community. If you missed his talk, below is a recording of it for your pleasure. Please feel free to share this lecture with your students and staff. The History Department wishes to thank Professor Marsha Frey for coordinating the visit, the Fred C and Mary R Koch Foundation and the Kansas Association of Scholars for their joint sponsorship of Dr. Poliakoff's visit.

To view the video recording (YouTube), click HERE.

Please join us in celebrating one year in Calvin Hall!

Dean Amit Chakrabarti and the College of Arts and Sciences cordially invite you to the

Dean's Holiday Open House

Thursday, December 7, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Calvin Hall, third floor reception area

Take a break from studying, see our new space, and enjoy warm beverages and comfort food, courtesy of the Dean. Also enter to win an Arts and Sciences Prize Basket!

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Lecture: "Athens and Beyond: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Intellectual"

Lecture presented by Professor Michael Poliakoff, President of ACTA and renowned classicist

Join us on Thursday, November 30, 2017

Calvin 208 at 8:00 AM

For more information, contact Marsha Frey (host): mfrey@ksu.edu

Sponsored by the Fred C and Mary R Koch Foundation, the History Department and the Kansas Association of Scholars

Fall 2017 - The History Department would officially like to congratulate Brad Galka and Katherine Goerl on achieving their Masters in History. Good job, Brad and Katherine!

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History Club goes to the Museum!
Join Professors Maner and McCrea for a talk and tour of the exhibit Borderlands in History and Art, at the Beach Museum of Art. Professor McCrea will give a brief talk about why historians are so interested in borderlands and frontiers. Then we’ll tour the current exhibit and explore the perspectives that history and art offer.

Meet at the Museum on Tuesday, November 28, 2017 at 3:30 PM for a fun and educational afternoon!
Contact Brent Maner at maner@ksu.edu for more information.

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The Department of History will be CLOSED in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday Wednesday, November 22 to Friday, November 24. We will reopen for normal business on Monday, November 27, 2017.

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All students, faculty and staff are encouraged to unite together to reaffirm who we are, what we value and what we stand for as the K-State family.

Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017

• 1-1:30 p.m. - Walk to Anderson Hall lawn
• 1:30 p.m. -  Reaffirm our values with university and community leaders during the KSUnite program
• Join conversations about inclusive education, reflection and action in the K-State Student Union following the program

Everyone is encouraged to wear purple. The event will take place rain or shine.

Students, faculty and staff may walk from their own buildings/locations to Anderson Hall lawn or may choose to walk from one of the following designated meeting points on campus:

• College of Business Building (south door)
• Derby Dining Center (south door entrance near Derby Bakery)
• Dole Hall (east door)
• Kramer Dining Center (Wefald Hall main entrance)
• K-State Student Union (ground floor courtyard)
• Nichols Hall (north door)

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Enrollment time has come again! Enrollment for the Spring 2018 term began October 23, 2017.

To look at History courses for the spring, view our Course Schedule. Please note that these classes are still subject to change. You may use the course schedule for planning purposes but have a backup in mind.

For advising appointments, either with Kathy Lillich or your faculty advisor, please contact the History main office at (785) 532-6730 to schedule an appointment. History students may also schedule an appointment with Kathy Lillich through the Student Success Collaborative (SSC) website; after login, follow the advising links to Kathy's calendar, choose a date and time, and book the appointment.

Two things to keep in mind:

1. Please DO NOT email Kathy directly regarding an advising appointment, as you will not receive a timely answer. Either call the History Office or use the Student Success Collaborative to set up your own appointment.
2. Please DO NOT schedule your appointment any more than one week before your enrollment period begins; your enrollment date can be found in your personal Student Center in KSIS.

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Hey History lovers! Check out our new e-newsletter post!

Historical Archives & Events is our re-imagined collection of History events and Department news that we can't wait to share with our friends! Over the next few months we will be updating the look of the e-newsletter and adding fresh content that we hope is relevant and fun.

If you have an event coming up that you would like to share, or a spotlight on a student, faculty member, or historical figure you want to share, let us know by emailing us. Until next time, please enjoy the Spotlight on Graduate Teaching Assistant Brad Galka!

-History Department

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Dear Majors and Minors,

Are you wondering about what happens after graduation? Would you like to avoid the second-semester senior panic about "what am I going to do"?

We're here to help!

LEARN TO TELL THE STORY OF YOU
Friday, Oct. 27th, 3:30-5:00 PM, Davis Theater, Berney Family Welcome Center (East Stadium)
  *   For all humanities students
  *   Learn to tell the story of you
  *   Study and respond to real job ads
  *   Identify gaps you want to fill prior to graduation
  *   Refreshments from Arrow Coffee

RSVP by Oct 25th HERE

Event sponsored by the Humanities Career Collective: Departments of Communication Studies, English, History, Modern Languages, Philosophy and by the Chapman Center for Rural Studies, by Hale Libraries, and by the Career Center.

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Hey History lovers! Check out our new e-newsletter post!

Historical Archives & Events is our re-imagined collection of History events and Department news that we can't wait to share with our friends! Over the next few months we will be updating the look of the e-newsletter and adding fresh content that we hope is relevant and fun.

If you have an event coming up that you would like to share, or a spotlight on a student, faculty member, or historical figure you want to share, let us know by emailing us. Until next time, please enjoy the Spotlight on Graduate Teaching Assistant Brad Galka!

-History Department

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Romanticism at the movies!

Join the History Club for a viewing of "Impromptu." Chopin (Hugh Grant) with a Dracula-like accent and George Sand (Judy Davis) as a cross-dressing schemer spice up this story about love and music set in 1820s France.

A short introduction by Professor Brent Maner

Free pizza and drinks!

Tuesday, September 26 at 6 pm in Calvin 102

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A total eclipse of the sun will happen on Monday, August 21, 2017, which also happens to be the first day of classes for Fall 2017.

The Provost has issued a statement regarding the attendance policy changes for that day only-read about the change HERE. For those interested, the last time a total solar eclipse was visible to anyone in the United States was back in 1991, and only in Hawaii. Read more about past total eclipses HERE.

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Kansas History journal gets significant mention in July 13 issue of RSCAD News!

For the weekly newsletter, Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities, and Discover News, the Office of the Vice President for Research highlighted Peter Dorhout writing about the 150th anniversary of the Chisholm Trail and its connections to K-State, from an article in Kansas History, a journal co-published by the Kansas Historical Foundation and the History Department. Read the full RSCAD article HERE.

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The Chapman Center was mentioned in the June 28 issue of K-State Today!

"History of Kansas FFA, rural life being preserved with help of Kansas State University undergraduate researchers". Read the full story HERE.

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Immediate Job Opportunity! **If you are a graduate student or ABD who would benefit from our vacancy which has only just occurred, please contact:

Salary range for MA ($32,000-35,000), ABD ($35,000), PhD ($35,000 to 38,000).

If student enrollment is up, as expected, all faculty will enjoy a 3% raise in October 2017.

The college contributes to TIAA on behalf of all faculty. Faculty are not required to match or make any contribution in order to receive this benefit. I have not verified whether, or not, first-year-hires receive this benefit (2% of salary). This will increase by 1 to 2% in February if we hit our budgeted enrollment target for spring 2018. As soon as I know the facts regarding this benefit, I will let you know.

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Congratulations to Eric Dudley! He just accepted a full time faculty position at Hutchinson Community College. He starts in the Fall. Way to go, Eric! 

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The History Department is pleased to heartily congratulate Assistant Professor Andrew Orr on the release of his book, Women and the French Army During the World Wars, 1914-1940. Orr’s book examines women’s critical roles as civilian employees of the French Army during the world wars and shows that they were essential to the army’s ability to win the First World War and to function in the interwar era. Women’s long service as civilian employees set the stage for their direct participation in the military as soldiers in the Free French Forces during World War II. The book is available at Amazon.com and through the Indiana University Press. Congratulations Dr. Andrew Orr!

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Congrats to Kate Tietzen! She recently won the 2017 Adams-Collins Dissertation Grant from the John A. Adams ’71 Center for Military History & Strategic Analysis at the Virginia Military Institute. The annual grant supports a doctoral candidate working on a Cold War history project of exceptional merit. Ms. Tietzen’s dissertation on Iraqi-Soviet military and foreign relations addresses an important gap in the existing Cold War literature—and promises to deepen our understanding of the past, present, and future of the Middle East. The grant will support her work at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, during the summer of 2017.

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On Monday, April 24, the History Department hosted Chris Dixon, Professor in the Department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He delivered a paper entitled "Australian Vietnam Veterans and the Mythology of a Lost War". The talk was held in Calvin 301 at 3:30PM. 

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Congrats to Claudio Innocenti! Claudio has won a Bradley Research Fellowship from the Omar Bradley Foundation, which will fund him conducting archival research at three sites in Italy as part of his MA thesis on the evolution of the Italian Army late in World War I and in the interwar era.

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Congrats to Tim Gresham! He won best paper award at this year’s Missouri Valley History conference (March 2-4, in Omaha, Nebraska). Tim presented "Today Mr. Packer is hailed as the Holiest of Holies': Memory and the Meat Packer’s Capture of the Kansas Livestock Association in the Interwar Period." Well done, Tim!

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Launching Your Career—a preparation for the job market for History majors

NEW BOOKS by Prof. David Graff and History doctoral alum Brian Laslie, each about “ways of war.” Read more about their work here.

 James Sherow, a professor of history who has taught and researched at Kansas State University for more than 20 years, received the Hamlin Garland Prize, with John Charlton for their book "Railroad Empire Across the Heartland: Rephotographing Alexander Gardner's Westward Journey." The award was presented Oct. 21 at the annual meeting of the Midwestern History Association in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Read more here

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Chapman Center Rural Studies KPR Interview:

Professor M.J. Morgan the historian and research director at the Chapman Center for Rural studies recently had an interview with Kansas Public Radio regarding her research on lost Kansas communities. Check out the link below to listen to her interview.

http://kansaspublicradio.org/kpr-news/ksu-professor-researches-lost-ks-communities

EISENHOWER LECTURE OCTOBER 23, 2013 AT 3:30 P.M.

Please join us on Wednesday October 23, when the History Department will be hosting Yanek Mieczkowski, who is delivering a special lecture in the Eisenhower Lecture Program. Dr. Mieczkowski's talk will be entitled “Eisenhower and the Cold War Prestige Race: Sputnik, Satellites, and Men on the Moon.” The lecture will be held at 3:30pm in Eisenhower Hall, Room 226.

Yanek Mieczkowski, professor and chairperson of the History Department at Dowling College in New York, is the author of "Gerald Ford and the Challenges of the 1970s" (2005) and "Eisenhower's Sputnik Moment: The Race for Space and World Prestige" (2013).

JUAN COLE "EGYPT'S REBELLION AGAINST POLITICAL ISLAM"

One of the nation's best known historians of Islam and Middle East history and politics will deliver the biennial Fred L. Parish Lecture and Colloquium in Religious History, sponsored by the history department at Kansas State University.

Juan R. Cole will present "Egypt's Rebellion Against Political Islam" at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, at the K-State Alumni Center. Cole is the Richard P. Mitchell collegiate professor of history at the University of Michigan. The lecture is free and open to all.

Read more...

PROFESSOR SHEROW'S "MANHATTAN"

The Department of History at KSU proudly announces the publication of Professor James Sherow’s new book, Manhattan, now available online and in local bookstores.

Manhattan is part of the popular “Images of America” series from Arcadia Publishing. It features a collection of 199 photographs and illustrations chosen from various local archives, including the Riley County Museum, the Special Collections Department at Hale Library, and the City of Manhattan. Gleaned from the thousands available, these carefully selected and arranged photographs provide a visual history of a unique and vibrant city nestled in the Flint Hills of Kansas.

Read more...

GUEST LECTURE WITH SOUTHERN CHEYENNE ARTIST EDGAR HEAP OF BIRDS

Students, faculty, and community members are invited to attend a lecture with Southern Cheyenne artist Edgar Heap of Birds on Wednesday, September 18 at 3:00 p.m. on the K-State campus in Justin Hall room 109.

Read more...

CONGRATULATIONS TO PROFESSOR DEREK HOFF - Winner of the PCB Book Award from the American Historical Association - Pacific Coast Branch

September 2013--The American Historical Association Pacific Coast Branch's PCB Award is given to the best first book in history. Professor Hoff received this year's award for The State and the Stork:The Population Debate and Policy Making in US History  (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012).

MUNICH ISN'T JUST FOR OKTOBERFEST!

Professor Heather McCrea has received a prestigious fellowship from the Rachel Carson Center in Munich, Germany. Professor McCrea will be at the Center from January to July 2014 to work on her second book project called "Gulf of Disease: Environment, Medicine, and State-Building in Cuba, Mexico and Panama 1880-1940." The RCC hosts scholars from around the world and from a variety of scholarly disciplines to work on projects, collaborate and comment on each others' work. The RCC was founded in 2009 as part of a joint initiative of Munich's Ludwig-Maxilimilians-Universität. For more information, see the Center's website at: http://www.carsoncenter.uni-muenchen.de/index.html.

M.A. Student Participates in U.S. Holocaust Museum Seminar

July, 2013: Sara Swanzy, M.A. student in History, has received a stipend to attend the "Introduction to Holocaust Studies" seminar at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. from July 15 to 19, 2013. Participants in the seminar will learn to use the records of the International Tracing Service, which are archived at the USHMM. This service documents the fates of more than 17 million people who were subject to incarceration, forced labor, displacement, or death as a result of World War II. The seminar provides an excellent background for Sara's M.A. thesis on the place of the Holocaust in public memory and in school curricula in the United States.

Demchak - Boren Fellow

June 5, 2013: Congratulations to Tony Demchak, doctoral student in history, who has been awarded a 2013 David S. Boren Fellowship to explore archives in St. Petersburg and Moscow for 11 months.

Demchak will be reviewing documents that have recently become declassified and are only available in Russia. The documents are important to learning how Russian and Soviet Union naval decisions were made from 1905 to 1940, specifically importing foreign naval technologies.

Read the full article

History Professor in the NY Times

April 17, 2013: K-State's economic historian, Professor Derek Hoff, wrote an editorial on America's population, birth-rates, and current immigration debate that appeared in the April 17 edition of the New York Times.  

"It's good to see this important issue finally being discussed again in the mainstream media," Hoff said. "I was contacted out of the blue by the New York Times, which was great -- it's always nice when an academic book gets noticed."

Read Dr. Hoff's op-ed article "The False Alarm Over U.S. Fertility"

Find details about Dr. Hoff's book The State and the Stork

Eight History Majors Elected to Phi Beta Kappa

March 2013: We are proud to announce that eight history majors have been chosen for Phi Beta Kappa this year. Congratulations to Janet Adam, Crayton Caswell, Haley Claxton, Yi Ge, Lauren Kimbell, Whitney Madsen, Kristina Miller, and Allison Skees.

Career Workshop on Friday, March 29, 2013

On Friday, March 29 at 12:30 p.m. in Union 207, the Graduation Student Professionalization Committee will be holding a session on preparing for the academic and non-academic job markets. This is a process that should begin as soon as you arrive on campus and continue until you get a job. Angela Hayes from Career and Employment Services will speak about the many services her office provides to help you build the best possible c.v. and give yourself the best chance on the job market. Professors Defries, Kazemi and I will speak about what you need to do to prepare yourself for different kinds of academic positions as well as non-academic positions.

Read More...

Phi Alpha Theta Students Make History in Omaha

Congratulations to Crayton Caswell, Allison Skees, and Janet Adam, three undergraduate members of our Phi Alpha Theta chapter who presented papers at the Missouri Valley History Conference in Omaha on March 8-9.  Crayton spoke on “Politics and the Plowshare: PL480 – Food for Peace – in the 1970s.”  Janet's paper explored “Kansas Eleemosynary Institutions: Giving the Proper amount of Care, 1860-1950.”  And Allison informed with “We the People and We the States: Liberalism and Republicanism in Antifederalist Amendments.”  Congratulations to all three for their participation in this event, and Crayton placed third in the undergraduate paper competition!

University's sesquicentennial and land-grant roots find prestigious place at presidential inauguration luncheon

MANHATTAN -- An essay by two Kansas State University historians will be part of a special gift that President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and a select group of 200 dignitaries receive at a luncheon following the president's inauguration speech Monday, Jan. 21, in Washington, D.C.

Jim Sherow, professor of history, and Bonnie Lynn-Sherow, associate professor of history, are the authors of one of the 10 essays in a commemorative portfolio that will be given to attendees of the inauguration lunch, which is hosted by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies at the U.S. Capital. The committee is responsible for the 2013 presidential inaugural ceremonies.

Read More...

Read the Essay

Stone Spends Month in Madison, WI on Russian Revolution Project

David Stone, Pickett Professor of Military History, spent July at the University of Wisconsin, Madison as part of an international team assembling a major project to commemorate the centenary of Russia’s experience in World War I, the Russian Revolution, and the Russian Civil War. “For the Russian Empire, the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 began seven years of social and political upheaval,” Stone said. “The goal of this project is to gather and assess the state of our knowledge on those momentous events.”

Read more...

She Told Me Stories

Our own Sue Zschoche co-directed "She Told Me Stories," a documentary that showcases multicultural Kansas histories and the stories of several Manhattan residents, including Rosa Hickman and Geraldine Baker Walton. The film premiered in June 2012 and has been screened across the state.  It was created as a joint project by faculty members from the Kansas State University women's studies and history departments and received support from from the Kansas Humanities Council.

Read praise for the film from the Garden City Telegram

Hoff Off the Presses!

Professor Derek Hoff released one and a half books this fall: The State and the Stork: The Population Debate and Policy Making in US History, and Fighting Foreclosure: The Blaisdell Case, the Contract Clause, and the Great Depression.

Click here to read more...

Death on the Radio

Kenneth S. Davis Professor of History, Albert M. Hamscher, was interviewed August 30th on Wisconsin Public Radio's At Issue with Ben Merens. The topic of the hour was death: our changing attitudes toward mortality, the creation of bucket lists, the way we design our cemeteries, and the role of religion. Hamscher's popular class HIST 520 Death and Dying in History, as well as his published articles on the subject,prompted WPR's invitation.

Listen to the Program

Lost but not Forgotten

by Corene Brisendine of the Manhattan Mercury

"We started calling it an initiative at first because it was new and uncharted territory," said M. J. Morgan, research director of the Chapman Center for Rural Studies. "Now, it is pretty solid and is a major part of what we do at Chapman; I would call it a goal."

Click here to read more...

K-State Hosts Agricultural History Society

As the first operational land grant university in the nation, Kansas State University was an easy choice for the upcoming meeting of the Agricultural History's Society, to be held June 6-9 in the new Manhattan Conference Center adjacent to the Hilton Garden Inn. Anyone can register for the conference, which will include an exclusive evening at the new Flint Hills Discovery Center and a Keynote address by Dr. Richard Bushman of Columbia University. Here is the program and registration form (PDF), and you may also visit the website of the Agricultural History Society: http://www.aghistorysociety.org. 

Click here to read more...

Four Majors Elected to Phi Beta Kappa

The department congratulates Chelsie Bonds, Jeff Kuhlman, Andrew Lewis, and Tyler Rudder, history majors who have been invited to join Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and the most prestigious honorary society in the nation. Phi Beta Kappa was founded in 1776 and includes among its members luminaries like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, and all nine members of the current U.S. Supreme Court.

Chapman Center Celebrates First Anniversary with Open House and Reception

The Chapman Center for Rural Studies will celebrate our first anniversary in our new home in Leasure Hall on February 24, 2012. The Center will host an Open House from 9am to 5pm. A formal program will begin at 3pm with a poetry reading from Mary Swander, Poet Laureate of Iowa, followed by remarks from KSU President Schultz and Mr. Mark Chapman, a new film by alumni of the Center, and a cake reception. More for information please visit the Chapman Center's webpage, its Facebook page, or Rural Telegraph, the Center's blog. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.

For more info on Mary Swander, please visit www.maryswander.com

Professor McCulloh to Deliver Plenary Address at Medieval Conference

On February 25, 2012, KSU will host the 36th Annual Mid-America Medieval Association Conference. This year's theme, chosen to honor the career of our own Professor John McCulloh (who is retiring at the end of this academic year), will be "Encountering the Other." Professor McCulloh will also deliver the plenary address on "St. William of Norwich as/and the Medieval Other." This year's theme inspired scholars from a variety of disciplines, including literary studies, history and religion, and the conference program includes over fifty papers in nineteen panels divided into three sessions. We hope that many of you can attend the conference, and we will post more details and a conference program as we get closer to February 25.

MA student to present research in Topeka

History MA student Theresa Young was named one of the top ten researchers at the Research and the State graduate student poster session on October 31, 2011. The poster session aimed at showing the link between graduate student research and the state of Kansas. Young explained that her MA thesis, "Living Tools: Tree Use in the Nineteenth Century," examines land use and the human impact on the Kansas ecosystem. She reports, "The face of Kansas has changed since 1861; the relatively treeless expanses that dominated three-fourths of the state are all but gone. Click here to read more...

 PhD Student Wins Cold War Essay Contest

The History Department is happy to announce that graduate student James Young has placed second in the 2011 John A. Adams '71 Cold War Essay contest.

Recent PhD Margaret Bickers Wins National Dissertation Award

Phi Alpha Theta, the history honorary society, in conjunction with the Westerners International, offer an annual national award to a graduate student for the best dissertation in Western U.S. History. Margaret Bickers, a recent doctoral graduate in the department, won the award this year for her "Three Cultures, Four Hooves and One River: The Canadian River in Texas and New Mexico, 1848-1039." Judith Austin, the chair of the award committee said, "It was a very tight competition this year, and all of us [serving on the committee] were delighted at the quality and creativity (I mean that positively!) of the entrant's work."

Professor James Sherow, Margaret's major advisor at K-State, said: "This award will be announced at the annual conference of the Western History Association this October in Oakland. It is the only award given for a Ph.D. dissertation at this conference, and it represents competition with submissions from all of the major universities that have a Western History Ph.D. emphasis. I am, of course, exceptionally pleased with this outcome, and excited for Margaret."

Lost Kansas towns are found again with $400,000 gift to K-State's Chapman Center

Mark Chapman, Cat Spring, Texas, has played a pivotal role in providing Kansas State University with the resources to research, preserve and share the history of rural Kansas -- including towns which no longer exist -- through the Chapman Center for Rural Studies in the K-State department of history, a project he initiated two years ago. Click here to read more …

Professor Hoff Appears on PBS's "Need to Know"

On Friday, July 15, Professor Hoff was interviewed extensively on PBS's TV news magazine "Need to Know" during a story on the disappearance of the late 1960s "zero population growth movement" in the United States. Professor Hoff talks most about President Richard Nixon's concerns about population growth. Paul Ehrlich, professor of biology at Stanford University and author of the famous 1968 book "The Population Bomb," also appears in the story. 
You can watch the full segment online at: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/environment/video-standing-room-only/10477/
In addition, you can read and comment on Professor Hoff's corresponding editorial at:http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/voices/

Dynamic Duo Race the Amazon (.com)

History Professors Michael Krysko and Heather McCrea both have new books, and their Amazon listings appeared within a few days of one another! (They assure us the close timing was purely coincidental and had nothing to do with the fact they are married.) Professor Krysko’s American Radio in China: International Encounters with Technology and Communications, 1919–41 (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2011) explores how US radio initiatives in East Asia often heightened the international tensions that pitted Americans against Chinese nationalists and Japanese imperialists in the years before the Pacific War. Professor McCrea’s Diseased Relations: Epidemics, Public Health, and State-Building in Yucatan, Mexico, 1847–1924 (University of New Mexico Press, 2011) examines the politics of postcolonial state-building through the lens of disease and public health policy in order to trace how indigenous groups on the periphery of power and geography helped shape the political practices and institutions of modern Mexico. Congrats to each on the milestone of their first book, and be sure to pick one up today for your summer reading 
Click here for Michael Krysko's Book...
Click here for Heather McCrea's Book...

Apply for Chapman Center New Faculty  Development Grants

The Chapman Center is now accepting application for its new faculty developments grants. 

Undergraduates, Apply for Chapman  Center Internships!

Internship applications are due May 13, 2011.

 Chapman Center for Rural Studies is  open!!

The Chapman Center for Rural Studies had its grand opening on January 28th, 2011. Click here for photos …

Hot off the Press!!!

M. J. Morgan recently published Land of Big Rivers: French and Indian Illinois, 1699–1778 (Southern Illinois University Press, 2010). Professor Morgan offers an on-the-ground study of environmental change in the tiny French settlement area in southern Illinois, where five French villages and three Illinois Indian communities once defined the region that would later be known as the American Bottom. Morgan recreates a long-disappeared landscape that was itself always changing on the shores of the Mississippi River. Click here to see the cover of Dr. Morgan's new book...

Department To Host Eisenhower Graduate Conference

The department welcomes all to a public conference Friday, Dec.3 2010, in the Hemisphere Room in Hale Library, during which KSU graduate students will present new research on the Eisenhower Era.

Dwight D.Eisenhower Lecture on War and Peace, FREE - Open to public

Date: October 11, 2010 
Time: 7:30 PM

5 History Majors Elected to Phi Beta Kappa

Five of the department’s best undergraduates — Chelsie Bonds, Hannah Hartsig, Patrick Michael Kirk, Tana Smith, and David Zeller — were recently elected to Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society (founded in 1776). Click here to read more …

Department Invades Oregon

The department had an excellent showing at the recent joint meeting of the American Society for Environmental History and the National Council on Public History in Portland, Oregon. Click here to read more …