WELCOME TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AT LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITY

In the established tradition of liberal arts education, the Department of History provides students with personal cultural enrichment, while preparing them for employment in fields in which historical knowledge, habits of mind, and skills (such as research, analysis, and communication) are valued, and/or for further study leading to careers in teaching, the law, the ministry, government service, and many others.

DEPARTMENTAL NEWS

LOUISIANA TECH'S PHI ALPHA THETA WINS NATIONAL BEST CHAPTER AWARD AGAIN!
Once again, Louisiana Tech University’s Lambda-Rho Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, History Honor Society has walked off with national honors in the society’s annual “best chapter” competition. According to Phi Alpha Theta national executive director Dr. Graydon A. (Jack) Tunstall, the Tech chapter has been officially recognized as “best chapter” and as recipient of the Nels A. Cleven Award for 2009 in Division IV, colleges and universities with enrollments between 10,000 and 15,000 students. The Cleven Award is “reserved for those chapters who have won the Best Chapter Award five or more times, thus exhibiting a unique level of excellence,” Tunstall said. Chapter president during 2007-2008 was graduate student in history Brandy M. Blanchard, of Shreveport. Faculty advisors were V. Elaine Thompson and Stephen Webre. Liaison for faculty and student members at Grambling State University was Dr. Roshunda Belton.

EVENTS:
"THE MAYA AND THE WORLD": Following closely on the heels of the highly successful "Shaping the 21st Century: Focus on Latin America Series, this fall will see the launch of a new and exiting speaker series entitled "The Maya and the World" which will feature an impressive line-up of experts who will share their knowledge on a variety of topics related to the theme. The speaker series was organized by Dr. Taylor Mack, Assistant Professor of Geography, and Dr. Stephen Webre, Professor of History. It is funded by a grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents Support Fund. Please click here for a schedule of speakers.

GENDER STUDIES LAUNCHED:
A brand new minor program is now at LA Tech: Gender Studies, an interdisciplinary minor, aims to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the theoretical construct of gender and the political, social, historical, and cultural roles of men and women. Introduction to Gender Studies (GST 101) is being offered for the first time this fall (2009), taught by Dr. Laurie Stoff of the Department of History, TR 12:00-1:50 pm. This course serves as the foundation for the Gender Studies minor.   For more information, please contact the coordinator of the Gender Studies minor, Dr. Jo Richardson (jrich@latech.edu); Dr. Jason Pigg (jpigg@latech.edu) or Dr. Stoff (lstoff@latech.edu)

AWARDS:
Congratulations to graduate students Emily Buck and Jenna Steward, who were awarded first and second place, respectively, in the Graduate Division of the Overdyke Competition for 2009. Emily Buck won for her paper, "The Freedom Train?  Cold War Propaganda and Racial Equality in Shreveport, Louisiana, 1947-1948" and Jenna Steward took second with her paper, "Desegregation at Louisiana Polytechnic Institute, 1965-1970." The Overdyke Awards are granted by the North Louisiana Historical Association in recognition of the best research paper in North Louisiana history.

Congratulations to Dr. David Anderson, who has been awared tenure and promoted to Associate Professor of History!

Dr. Brian C. Etheridge has been selected as the 2009 recipient of the Stuart L. Bernath Research Article Prize. Presented by the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, the Bernath Prize recognizes the best article by a younger scholar on a topic related to the history of U.S. foreign relations. Dr. Etheridge received the award for his article, “The Desert Fox, Memory Diplomacy, and the German Question in Early Cold War America,” which appeared last April in the scholarly journal Diplomatic History.

PUBLICATIONS:

Dr. David Anderson's article, “’Things Are Different Down Here’: The 1955 Perfect Circle Strike, Conservative Civic Identity, and the Roots of the New Right in the 1950s Industrial Heartland,” has been published in the most recent number of the journal International Labor and Working Class History, the leading scholarly journal in this field.

Dr. Jace Stuckey's co-edited volume, The Legend of Charlemagne in the Middle Ages: Power, Faith, and Crusade has been published by Palgrave Macmillan in its "The New Middle Ages" series.  In addition to sharing coordination and editorial duties with Matthew Gabriele of Virginia Tech, Dr. Stuckey is a contributor to the volume.  His chapter is called "Charlemagne as Crusader? Memory, Propaganda, and the Many Uses of Charlemagne's Legendary Expedition to Spain."

James Ronnie Smith (MA, 2008) has published article entitled "Shreveport: The Heart and Transportation Hub of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi," in North Louisiana History, XXX, no. 1 (Winter 2009), 3-21. 

 

 

PRESENTATIONS AND OTHER PROFESSION ACTIVITIES:
Dr. Stephen Webre spent his summer doing speaking engagements in Mexico and Central America. Webre was one of more than 3,000 researchers to present at the 53rd International Congress of Americanists, which was held in Mexico City in July. His paper was titled, “Incidents and Personalities of the Struggle for Territorial Control: the Central American Frontier in the Seventeenth Century.” Following the conference Webre traveled to Guatemala and presented public lectures at the Guatemalan Academy of Geography and History and the University of the Valley of Guatemala. In late August Webre visited San Jose, Costa Rica, where he taught a short doctoral course at the University of Costa Rica. He also participated as a panelist and featured speaker at a symposium on colonial history co-sponsored by the university and the Central American Institute of Historical Research.

Dr. Brian Etheridge attended the annual conference of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations in Falls Church, Virginia. Dr. Etheridge also serves as the web administrator for the organization.

Dr. Jeffery Hankins attended an NEH Summer Institute on "The Rule of Law: Teaching Legal Studies in Liberal  Arts,"  held at  the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine. Experts from  the fields of law, literature, political science, and history  presented lectures and led discussions for the 25 participants.

Dr. Laurie Stoff conducted research at the University of Illinois, in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, as part of the Summer Slavic Research Laboratory. Dr. Stoff has also been appointed as Associate Executive Editor of Minerva Journal of War, a multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed scholarly journal that examines the roles of women in war and the ways that armed conflict affects women's lives.

ALUMNI NEWS:
Kent B. Germany (BA, 1992; MA, 1994) received the PhD in history at Tulane University.  Previously employed at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia, he is currently assistant professor of history and African American Studies at the University of South Carolina.  Dr. Germany is the author of New Orleans After the Promises: Poverty, Citizenship, and the Search for the Great Society (University of Georgia Press, 2007) and a co-editor of The Presidential Recordings: Lyndon B. Johnson (W. W. Norton, 2007).

Benjamin Mark Allen (MA, 1996) received his PhD in history from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2008.  Dr. Allen is on the history faculty at South Texas College in McAllen.

LaGuana K. Gray (MA, 1999) received her PhD in history at the University of Houston in 2007.  After teaching briefly at Grambling State University, Dr. Gray is now employed as an assistant professor of history at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Alicia Kaigler Jackson (MA, 1999) received the PhD in history at the University of Mississippi.  She is currently employed as assistant professor of history at Covenant College, Lookout Moutain, Ga.

Roshunda Belton (BA, 1999; MA, 2001) received the PhD in history at Louisiana State University.  She is employed as assistant professor of history and interim head of the Department of History at Grambling State University.

Josh Williams (MA, 2004) received the MLIS degree at Louisiana State University.  He currently works as park historian at Old Washington State Park in Hope, Ark.

Jeffrey E. Holmes (MA, 1992) is now employed as district administrator of the Montello Public School District in Montello, Wisc.

Sam McClure (BA, 1995) received his MA in history at Texas A&M University.  He is currently employed as electronic records life cycle officer at the Office of Presidential Libraries, a division of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland.

J. Mark Scalia (BA 1995, MA 1997) is teaching 8th grade social studies at Marco Island Charter Middle School, Marco Island, Fla.  He and his wife Marilyn live on a 47' sailboat.  Mark Scalia is the author of Germany's Last Mission to Japan: The Failed Voyage of U-234 (Naval Institute Press, 2000).  He is at work on a second book. 

Amanda McVay (BA, 2003) received the MA in public history at New Mexico State University.  Currently she is employed as museum director at the Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport.

Ryan Kilpatrick (BA, 2002) is employed as vice president for business development at Community Trust Bank, Ruston.

Robert Alan Lay, Jr. (BA 2004, MA 2006) is employed as assistant processing archivist at the Dole Institute of Politics, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kans.  The Dole Institute collection houses a wide variety of text, audio, and photographic pieces highlighting the 35-year career of former U.S. Senator Robert J. Dole.

Dennis Shockley (BA 1970) received the MA in history from Pittsburg State University and the PhD from Kansas State University.  He currently serves as executive director of the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency.  Dr. Shockley is a graduate of the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and he serves on the board of directors of the National Council of State Housing Agencies.  His recent book, co-authored with Holley Mangham, How We Lived: A Pictorial History of the Places Oklahomans Have Called Home, was a 2009 Oklahoma Book Award finalist.