Dear Friends of History at Fort Lewis College
It has been a year since our last newsletter in Spring 2023. And a lot has happened in that time as you shall soon see. And much more is on the horizon for this Spring semester so keep an eye on your email!
I don’t want to keep you waiting so please read on and enjoy. And as always if you have any feedback, stories to share, please contact me at martin_m@fortlewis.edu
|
Guy Pfalzgraff, Community Leadership Award
A 1970 graduate of the History department, Guy went on for a term with the Peace Corps. He then worked for several non-profit organizations, a public vocational school, and in job development and job training programs. He led a career of public service working for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, serving on several boards and committees, city council several times, and had a stint as the Mayor of Delta.
—Nominated by Dr. Andy Gulliford.
|
We are pleased to debut the H.E.A.R.T.H., History, Education, And Research Teaching Hub in Noble Hall. Through the generous gift of Guy and Mary Pfalzgraff, the space is for students, clubs, and people with an interest in history or just needing a place to study. The grand opening was in the Fall and the room has been a very popular addition to the History Department. Students are truly enjoying the space and it is often quite a busy and popular room. Drop by some time! Peer Educator and Faculty are available to assist you with your Gen Ed History courses (HI-1) or even your major/minor courses in History. Hours are posted outside the door.
|
Some of the events we are working on are the annual Reece Kelly Distinguished Speaker as well as a roundtable with the students who went on the trip to Alabama with Dr. Paul Kuenker and Dr. Ellen Paul last November (see below).
We unfortunately had to cancel our Public History Speaker Fall 2023. We hope to also continue work on bringing that series back again this Fall.
Also, later this Spring we will be featuring our HIST 496: Senior Capstone students as they present their senior projects. This presentation will be on a Saturday in April; more details to come on that as well.
|
FACULTY PUBLICATIONS AND ACTIVITIES |
Andrew Gulliford won the Best History Book on Utah History Award from the Utah State Historical Society for a book published in 2022. The award came with a $500 check and an offer to visit the Governor’s Mansion for a special ceremony honoring Utah history.
|
He continues to hear from former students and Dr. G. welcomes email contacts and connections. Like all of us in the History Department, he is proud of our student successes. Email Dr. G. at Gulliford_a@fortlewis.edu
|
In Fall 2023, Paul taught his advanced course entitled "History, Myth, and Memory". In this course, students explore the ways in which history is remembered, mythologized, and contested in the public. From afar, the students engaged with case studies in historical memory such as tourism related to the American Revolution in Boston, Holocaust memorialization around the world, and "history wars" in Australia over indigeneity as part of the national story.
After a panel presentation in Bayfield in 2022, Paul has been giving community lectures about the history of the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado and racial terror nationally. He spoke as part of the Lifelong Learning Series at Fort Lewis College in Fall 2023 and just gave an invited talk to the Durango Rotary Club.
In November, the class traveled to Alabama (profiled in this issue), where students encountered numerous sites of historical memory related to slavery, Jim Crow, and Civil Rights. At the end of the class, students applied these experiences to proposals for Durango to represent more fully in public histories of marginalized groups in the region.
Jackie Lawless created a video of her experience of the Alabama trip. (used with permission)
|
Sculptures at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama
|
National Memorial for Peace and Justice |
Edmund Pettus Bridge, the site of the Voting Rights March and Bloody Sunday |
National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama |
16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama |
Michael is in his second year as Chair of the History Department and that has been keeping him quite busy. After The Bible in the Early Irish Church came out in March 2022 (working with Martin McNamara), he and Martin have continued their working relationship. Michael just finished editing an article Martin wrote on “The Promptuarium: A Writing of an anonymous Thirteenth-century Irish Franciscan” and is now assisting Martin with his critical edition of the oldest known Hiberno-Latin introduction to the Psalter. Michael also is close to finishing his next book project, The Eclogae (a Latin critical edition of a commentary on the Psalms written in Ireland c. 820 c.e.).
Michael is also leading the effort to revamp the History Department curriculum, something that has not happened in quite some time. This new effort should go into effect Fall 2024. We as a department are trying to streamline the curriculum to assist students in completing their degrees in a timely fashion but one also that is tailored by them to their interests, needs, and then on to careers as Historians. We are also going to be implementing more experiential aspects into the curriculum and course work (e.g., the trip to Alabama, trips to Germany that have occurred the past two summers, as well as work right here on Fort Lewis College’s campus).
Michael taught a History of Museums class this past Fall and several students worked at the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum, The Powerhouse, and the Center of Southwest Studies. For example, some of the students built displays that are now featured in the Railroad Museum, check them out when you get a chance! If you cannot find them, ask Harris Abernathy, Museum Director (and alum of the History Department) where they are at.
|
Dr. Douglas Ober was thrilled to be returning to Durango this fall for his second year as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department. Being on campus and seeing old students in the hallways and repeat students in his classes has truly made Fort Lewis feel like home. For 2023-24, Douglas is teaching a full slate of courses in world history, from his HIST 150, where he covers some 50,000 years of human history in 15 weeks, to HIST 151, where students explore a more modest (!) 600 years of global history in 15 weeks. Working through these ‘big histories’ with students has been a challenging but exciting venture!
2023 also brought many other exciting developments, the most notable of which was the appearance of Douglas’ first book, Dust on the Throne: The Search for Buddhism in Modern India. Published by Stanford University Press in March, the book was shortlisted this fall for the 2023 Cundill History Prize. With a cash prize of $75,000, the international Cundill Prize is awarded annually to the best English-language history that embodies original historical scholarship, literary quality, and broad appeal. Although Dust didn’t bring home the purse, it continues to generate more attention than Douglas ever expected, with numerous reviews, features, and author interviews appearing in the global media, including in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Tricycle (New York City), BBC History Extra (London), Asian Review of Books (Hong Kong), Hindustan Times (New Delhi), The Wire (New Delhi), The Hindu (Chennai), Himal (Colombo), The News on Sunday (Karachi), ThaiPublica (Bangkok), among others. The past few months have also seen Douglas deliver lectures to audiences for the B.R. Ambedkar Initiative at Columbia University (New York City) and for the Chinese Globalization project at Sophia University (Tokyo).
|
On November 5, 2023, Douglas Ober delivered a keynote in Dallas at the Ambedkarite Buddhist Association of Texas (ABAT) and was presented with an award for his contributions to Ambedkarite thought and history.
|
Now in his second year as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the department, Colin Rydell continues to teach American and world history courses. His recent “Global Industrial Revolution” upper-division course centered on the so-called “great divergence” that opened between Europe (mainly Britain) and traditional global economic and technological heavyweights such as India and China during the early eighteenth century. In the Fall Semester, his lower-division American history courses were part of two campus teaching initiatives supported by grants: the “Empower Pedagogy and Ignite Change” [EPIC] program and a co-teaching “LAC Lens” opportunity to pair his early U.S. history course with an American literature course taught by Dr. Larry Hartsfield of the English Department.
In addition to his teaching, Dr. Rydell continues to work on his book manuscript for McGill-Queen’s University Press. This past summer, he visited archives in New Hampshire and Delaware in support of this project, titled: Cider as Colonizer: Necessity, Instability, and Legibility. This global environmental history of a relatively well-known food article explores links between sociopolitical structures and the turn towards, and away, from cider cultivation across the British Empire.
Dr. Rydell serves as an advisor to the campus Anime Club and the department’s newly founded History Club along with Paul Kuenker.
|
Senior Seminar Spring 2023 Congratulations on a job well done! |
We are very proud of our alumni and would love to share their stories. Please email us with stories of how you have used your History degree, or places you have visited with some historical connections you would love to share, along with a photo of you there, or at your job putting that degree to work!
We also have a map of the United States in our department hallway. We would love to pinpoint where our alumni are at. Eventually we would like to build up an electronic version to include on our website in the Alumni Updates section. Please let us know where you are at!
If there are any errors in the profiles below please let us know and we apologize in advance.
|
Mike Warfield [2015]
After graduating from FLC in 2015, Mike moved to Denver to pursue a career. Picking up a quick stop-gap job at a local bank, FirstBank, Mike was able to leverage his strong research background to climb the corporate ladder, ultimately becoming a Business Analyst where he manages technical software development and guides company roadmap initiatives to improve internal structures. After a solid performance at FirstBank, he was able to bring his analytical approach to a larger market presence at Charles Schwab. Currently working as a Senior Technical Business Analyst, Mike manages a team of software developers to create new technical enhancements for Charles Schwab’s software architecture. As he writes: "Although I am not currently in a history role, my FLC history degree has given me a strong research and analytical base. This has allowed me to leverage the historical context of business system development to identify critical needs and build more sustainable technical architecture going forward. I am extremely thankful to Dr. Paul and Dr. Fry for their mentorship and for inspiring me to always look at the big picture."
|
Griffen Stacy (2019)
Griffen Stacy graduated from Fort Lewis in 2019 from the History/Education Department. I am going on year 4 of teaching at the same school that hired me, Stahl Junior High in Puyallup, Washington, and I truly am living the dream. Couple of highlights since I've started my teaching career:
-I got married this past October.
-Bought a house.
-I have taught all 3 courses we offer at Stahl JH, primarily 9th grade Modern World Studies & 8th grade American Studies.
-Putting my History degree to good use and your teaching has helped me tremendously!
-I lead the annual Washington D.C. Trip
-We take students for a week to D.C. during Spring Break so they can see what they've learned about in 8th grade.
-Going on year 3
-Received my Continuing Contract through the Puyallup School District.
-Coach 3 sports
-Head Football Coach, Assistant Wrestling & Track Coach
-Educator of the Month 2x
-Most importantly, created lasting relationships with my Admin & Colleagues and have no plan of leaving where I'm at.
|
Please consider donating to the History Department |
As always, your ongoing contributions are most appreciated and helps our faculty and students do the work that you have been reading about above. Please consider donating to one of our funds to help us continue to do that work.
History Associates Fund
Reese Kelly Excellence Fund
Public History Fund
|
|
|
Manage your preferences | Opt Out using TrueRemove™
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.
|
History Department, Fort Lewis College 1000 Rim Drive | Durango, CO 81301 US
|
|
|
This email was sent to .
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.
|
| |
|
|