ELON UNIVERSITY
Inside this issue:
Bissett
Recognized
2
Students
Recognized
2
Ellis‟ Essay
Nominated
2
Crowe‟s The
Holocaust: Roots,
History, and
Aftermath Selected
3
Beck‟s book
Selected
3
Irons
Tenured
3
Festle Receives
Fellowship
4
Digre
Receives Federal
UISFL Grant
4
Frontani Promoted
4
Volume 1, Issue 1
Fall 2009
Students Mentored by HST/GEO Faculty Secure 4 Lumen Prizes
Brown, Kirk,
5
Matthews, and Irons
Receive Research
Support
Carignan Tenured
Department of History
and Geography News
5
Of the 2009 Lumen Prizes, 4 of 13 or 30.769 percent of Lumen Prizes awarded
campus wide went to our department!
Elizabeth Leman, History/International Studies will work with Dr. David
Crowe on „The Evolution of International Humanitarian Law: Case Studies in
Germany, Rwanda, and Sri Lanka.
Christopher Jarrett, Spanish/International Studies will work with Dr. Michael
Matthews on „Cultural Diversity in Contemporary Latin American Indigenous
Movements.‟
Renee Zale, Political Science/International Studies will work with Dr. Michael Matthews on „International Memory Knots: The Global Impact of Torture in Post-Dictatorship Chile.‟
Amber Woods, History, will work with Dr. Charles Irons on Ecclesiastical
Tensions in Kentucky, 1790-1854.
Felton Now
5
Associate
Professor of History
Stout Wins Annual
Paper Prizes
5
Department
Welcomes Two
New Members
6
Department to Host
Post-Doctoral
Fellow Amy
Johnson
6
Department Mourns 6
Passing of Former
Student Worker
Send us your news!
6
Students Mentored by HST/GEO faculty have strong showing at
Celebrate 2009
At SURF 2009, 13 of 112 presentations campus wide (or 11.6 percent of all
oral presentations) had faculty mentors from the Department of History and
Geography (1 Chang, 2 Crowe, 3 Ellis, 5 Frontani, 1 Irons, 1 Xiao). The percentage of the campus total was very similar in 2008. In terms of Academic
Service Learning presentations for Celebrate week 20 percent for the campus
were mentored by faculty (Frontani) in the department of History and Geography.
Page 2
Department of History and Geography News
Jim Bissett Recognized for Nine Years of Leadership and
Service to the Department of History and Geography
Professor of History, Jim Bissett was recognized for his nine years of leadership and service to the Department of History and Geography with a plaque
and a donation to a local food bank at which he volunteers weekly by his colleagues at the History Seniors Annual Dinner. Retired and Emeritus faculty
attended the dinner to show their appreciation for Bissett‟s work. Bissett reported looking forward to having more time to devote to scholarship.
Students Recognized at History Majors Senior Dinner and Phi
Alpha Theta Induction Ceremonies
Two students, Stephanie Murr and Jack Garrett were awarded the Outstanding Senior in History at the Senior Dinner in May. Murr will be attending UNC Law School and Garrett will be starting a Ph.D. program at George
Washington University. At the spring Phi Alpha Theta Induction Ceremony
seven students who have demonstrated dedication to the study of the nineteenth-century South were recognized by Dr. Charles Irons: Chelsea White
Carter, Zachary Hines Smith, Zachary Warren Usher, Heather Rose Laskin,
Lauren Marie Fitzgerald, Mark Ryan Loyka and Cameron Wade Swallen. At
the fall Phi Alpha Theta Induction Ceremony seven students who have demonstrated dedication to the study of German History, the Holocaust, and/or
Chinese History were recognized by Dr. David Crowe: Joshua James Bovender, Megan Joy Burkhalter, Kiersten Lynn Dittrich, Hannah Kile Gardner,
John Gregory Garratt, Stephanie Jean Murr and Anna Elizabeth Powell.
Clyde Ellis’ Essay on the Indian Lore Movement in the U.S.
Nominated for a National Award for Distinguished Writing on
the American West
Professor of History Clyde Ellis's recently published essay "'More Real Than
The Indians Themselves': The Early Years of the Indian Lore Movement in
the United States" has been nominated for the Western Writers Association's
Spur Award for the best nonfiction essay on the American West published in
2008. The essay appeared in the autumn 2008 issue of Montana:The Magazine of Western History. Spur Awards are given annually for distinguished
writing about the American West. Previous Spur winners include Tony
Hillerman, Stephen Ambrose and Joseph Bruchac. This is Ellis's second
nomination for a Spur Award. His 2003 book A Dancing People: Powwow
Culture on the Southern Plains was a finalist for the 2004 prize for booklength contemporary non-fiction.
Volume 1, Issue 1
David Crowe’s The Holocaust: Roots, History, and Aftermath
Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Title for 2008, Crowe
Granted Elon’s First Full-year Sabbatical and Recognized by
Phi Alpha Theta for his Scholarship
At the January 2009 American Library Association Conference in Denver,
Professor of History David Crowe‟s book The Holocaust: Roots, History,
and Aftermath (Westview Press) was recognized by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2008. In his Choice review D. A. Meier of
Dickinson State University describes Crowe's book as “the best overall text
on the market today for college classes on the Holocaust” and as “highly recommended [for] all undergraduate and graduate libraries.” In October, Crowe
was granted Elon University‟s first full-year sabbatical to support research on
his next book. In the fall, Crowe was also recognized for his scholarship with
a plaque by the students of Phi Alpha Theta (PAT) at their induction dinner.
John Beck’s book Selected by Choice as an Outstanding
Academic Title for 2008
Only three books written by Elon University authors were selected by Choice
as Outstanding Titles for 2008. One was John Beck‟s co-authored Southern
Culture: An Introduction.
Charles Irons Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor,
Recognized as Scholar, AAASE Faculty Member of the Year,
and for his Book on Slavery
Charles Irons was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor of History.
At the faculty awards ceremony for the College of Arts and Sciences he was
recognized for his scholarship and at the Senior Dinner for African/African
American Studies at Elon (AAASE) he was recognized as Faculty Member
of the Year. At the spring Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society Induction
Dinner Irons was recognized for his book The Origins of Proslavery Christianity: White and Black Evangelicals in Colonial and Antebellum Virginia,
which stems from his dissertation research.
Page 3
Page 4
Department of History and Geography News
Mary Jo Festle Receives First Senior Faculty Research
Fellowship
Professor of History, Mary Jo Festle was granted time to devote to her scholarship in 2009-10 as the recipient of the first Senior Faculty Research Fellowship to be awarded at Elon.
Brian Digre Receives $162,760 Federal UISFL Grant and
Partners with Rotary Club and U.S. Navy to bring Nut
Shellers and 3,000 Books to Ghana
In Dec. 2008, Professor of History, Brian Digre drove a truck full of donated
books to Norfolk, VA to meet Dr. Augustus Vogel, who works for the U.S.
Navy. Vogel spent weeks on a Navy ship headed for West Africa, which
stopped in several ports to deliver donated supplies. One stop was Ghana
where he delivered thousands of books collected at Elon for the University of
Cape Coast, Ghana. Digre‟s collaboration with the Rotary club enabled him,
in January 2009, to bring supplies for making several nut shelling machines
to Sokode, Ghana where Digre is an honorary development chief. The machines will lighten the work load, especially for local women, who currently
shell peanuts by hand. Another important contribution by Digre this term
was his work on a successful Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Languages grant to the U.S. Department of Education. The two-year
grant will enable Elon to establish a Middle Eastern Studies program, including a minor and a concentration within the International Studies major for
which Digre serves as administrative director.
Heidi G. Frontani Promoted to Full Professor, Selected as
Department Chair, and Named Development Chief (‘Queen
Mother’) in Kpoeta, Ghana
On January 10, 2009 Heidi Frontani was installed as „Development Queen
Mother Kado I‟ by the people of Kpoeta, Ghana for her role in bringing a 10room community clinic to the 10,000 people of the region who were previously without year-round access to health care. Frontani serves as faculty
mentor to the 2010 class of Periclean Scholars, a group of 32 Elon undergraduates who, in two years, have raised over $45,000 for outreach and education, and development projects in southeastern Ghana; of these funds, over
$23,000 went towards the Kpoeta Community Clinic‟s completion. She was
also promoted to Professor of Geography and will serve as the department‟s
new chair.
Volume 1, Issue 1
Page 5
Jim Brown, Ryan Kirk, Michael Matthews, and Charles Irons
Receive Support for their Research from the Faculty Research
and Development Committee
Several department members were awarded funds through FR&D for their
research. Jim Brown received a sabbatical to support his research on
„Household Structure in Lower Austria, 1788-1848, Ryan Kirk received a
Hultquist (new faculty research) award and funding to support his research
on „Historic Land Parcelization in Alamance and Macon Counties, NC‟ and
also successfully defended his doctoral dissertation. Michael Matthews received a Hultquist award and funding to support his research on „Of Savagery
and Civilization: Railways, Culture, and Modernization in Mexico, 18761910.‟ Charles Irons received a course release for his research on „The factors affecting the pace of black Southerners‟ withdrawal from biracial
churches after the Civil War.”
Michael Carignan Tenured, Promoted to Associate Professor,
and Named Associate Director of the Honors Program
Michael Carignan was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor of History. He was also selected to serve as the Associate Director of Elon‟s Honors Program, replacing Dr. Janet Myers.
Peter Felton Now Associate Professor of History
Peter Felton, Director of Elon‟s Center for Teaching and Learning holds a
PhD in History and will more formally be affiliated with the Department of
History and Geography henceforth as Associate Professor of History.
Jenna Stout Wins Annual Geography Paper Prize
Competition and Annual History Paper Prize Competition
Jenna Stout won the 2008-09 Geography Program Paper Prize with her paper
entitled “Muslim Immigration: The Socio-Economic Effects of Muslim Immigration and Integration in France.”The $500 prize is meant to be used to
help defray the cost of study abroad. Jenna will put her award towards
“Cathedral: An Introduction to Structures of Power” (GST 278-IS) next winter term. Impressively, Jenna Stout also won the Phi Alpha Theta History Essay Contest; her paper title was "Victorian Child Labor Reform: Upper-class
Participation and Exploitation".
ELON UNIVERSITY
Department of History and Geography News
Department Welcomes Two New Members
Department of History
and Geography
Lindner Hall
2335 Campus Box
Elon, NC 27244
Departmental members gathered at the home of David Crowe to celebrate the
arrival of Charles Irons and Dana‟s son Caleb and Ryan Kirk and Jamie‟s
son Peter. Both boys were born in December 2008.
Department to Host Post-Doctoral Fellow Amy Johnson
Duke University History Ph.D. Amy Johnson, who specializes in West African and Caribbean History will have the Department of History and Geography as her temporary home starting in fall 2009.
http://www.elon.edu/e-web/
academics/elon_college/
history_geography/
Department Mourns Passing of Former Student Worker
Chelsea Detrick
It was with great sadness that members of the department learned of the
death of Chelsea Detrick. Chelsea had served as the departmental student
worker up until her graduation from Elon in May 2008. Shortly after graduating, moving to the west coast, and taking a job in the Seattle area Chelsea
was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in her leg. After several months of
treatment, hospitalization, and care at home by her father Chelsea lost her
struggle with cancer. The department honored Chelsea‟s memory by making
a donation to the Virginia Mason Foundation‟s Oncology Fund.
Send us your news! Current students with History and/or Geography
interests, alums, and faculty, should send their news for our spring 2010
newsletter to Jenna Stout [email protected] by Dec. 15, 2009.