Happy New Year to everyone! The History Department is already planning another semester’s worth of events, from our annual Reece Kelly talk, to inducting new student members into Phi Alpha Theta (the History Honors society), to possibly another field trip for students similar to the ones we have done in the past with Alabama two years ago and France this summer. We also have several great things to report about our alums. As I mentioned last time, two are in graduate school in Scotland and Ireland and their first semesters could not have gone better! They have really been enjoying their experiences abroad. And as I have said before our many donors have helped make so many of these things possible and I would like to extend my personal gratitude to them, especially to those who helped out on Giving Tuesday last semester. I am also preparing to step down as Chair at the end of this Academic Year and pass it into Dr. Paul Kuenker's most capable hands. 

This spring issue offers a snapshot of a department in motion. Inside, you’ll find highlights of things to come (including this year’s Reece Kelly Distinguished Lecture in History with Dr. Kris Manjapra on March 23, 2026), as well as things that have recently passed (Senior Seminar presentations, a History trip on the San Juan River, undergraduate research presentations, and more). As always, thank you for staying connected with the History Department—and for supporting the students and faculty who make this work possible.

Ben Barnes

Alexi Frye

Luke Jones

Amber Smith

        Save the Date: Reece Kelly Distinguished Lecture in History                         Monday, March 23, 2026, 6:00 PM Noble Hall, Room 130                          with Dr. Kris Manjapra - Stearns Trustee Professor of             History and Global Studies - Northeastern University

The Struggle for Bears Ears—with Updates
Since its designation as a National Monument in 2016, Bears Ears has become a focal point in debates over the Antiquities Act and public lands policy. Professor Gulliford will trace the monument’s history, including the unprecedented advocacy of five tribes, and provide recent updates on its status.

This past October, the History Department partnered with Fort Lewis on the Water (FLOW) to offer its first-ever Humanities-focused river trip, a three-day, two-night journey down the San Juan River from Sand Island to Mexican Hat, Utah. Led by our very own Andrew Gulliford, the trip brought together a group of more than twenty participants, including eight students (six History majors), the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences (Dr. Steve Fenster), faculty from the History Department and Business School, FLC alumni, and family members.

Conditions could not have been better. Aside from one particularly crisp morning, the group enjoyed classic fall desert weather—bluebird skies and canyon walls framed by cottonwoods glowing in late-season yellows and oranges. Over the course of the three days, participants visited key sites along the river corridor, from rock art along the Sand Island put-in to the 10th to 13th century CE Ancestral Puebloan River House Ruin. Coyotes and feral burros were also spotted along the journey.

In the mornings and evenings, Dr. G delivered lectures on a range of topics, from Ancestral Puebloan history, the contested politics of Bears Ears and public lands in southeastern Utah, settler colonial histories, and his own meditations on the importance of dark skies, silence, and solitude as markers of a well-lived life. The river itself served as both classroom and archive, encouraging participants to think about history not only as something read and written, but as something encountered through place.

The trip was supported by FLOW River Operations Coordinator Ben Iverson and an exceptional team of guides—many of them Fort Lewis students—who provided outstanding meals, logistical support, and a consistently positive, professional presence throughout the journey. This inaugural History FLOW trip marked an important step in expanding experiential learning at Fort Lewis College, demonstrating how history, environmental studies, and public engagement can intersect beyond the classroom in powerful and memorable ways.

The Department of History is pleased to announce that the 2025 Best Senior Thesis Award has been awarded to Alyster Birk for his thesis, “Banana Bust: United Fruit Company’s Self-Destructive Society in Limón Province of Costa Rica (1880–1940).”

Alyster’s thesis examines the role of the United Fruit Company in Costa Rica’s eastern Caribbean lowlands, tracing how corporate power, labor regimes, environmental exploitation, and social inequality combined to produce long-term instability in Limón Province. Drawing on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, the project situates Costa Rica within broader histories of U.S. imperialism, extractive capitalism, and Caribbean labor migration while maintaining a careful focus on local social consequences.

His thesis was selected by a committee of three faculty members who reviewed all of this year’s theses with great care. Alyster’s work stood out for its compelling historical narrative, exceptional research foundation, and sophisticated historiographical engagement. The committee agreed that his thesis “provides one of the best syntheses of primary and secondary source work we have seen,” offering an argument that strives for originality while maintaining clarity and balance. The result was a paper that is rigorously researched, thoughtfully argued, and genuinely enjoyable to read.

Senior Seminar Synopsis

The Senior Seminar represents the culmination of the History major at Fort Lewis College. Over the course of the year-long (two-semester) sequence, students move from proposal to polished thesis, developing original research projects grounded in primary sources, historiography, and sustained analytical writing.

This year’s cohort pursued a wide range of topics, reflecting both the global scope of the discipline and the Department’s emphasis on experiential and archival research. Projects explored themes such as empire and labor in Central America, public lands in the American West, war crimes and historical memory in East Asia, women’s roles and gender in medieval Europe, environmental and military history in Colorado, and Christian influence on the lives of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. Many students conducted on-site research, worked in archives and museums, or incorporated field-based learning into their projects.

We wish to extend our warm congratulations to all of this year’s thesis writers. Each project represented a significant intellectual undertaking, and the faculty commend the cohort for their dedication, creativity, and scholarly growth. Photos below of this year’s Senior Seminar presentations.

On November 4, 2025, graduating History major Amber Smith joined dozens of students across campus with a poster session at the Fort Lewis College Undergraduate Research Symposium. Presenting her senior thesis, Amber engaged faculty, students, and staff alike with her analysis of how religious frameworks, feminist strategies, and activist networks have shaped the long-running efforts for recognition and justice around the “comfort women” issue in Korea. Her research, supported by faculty mentorship and a summer research trip to Korea and Germany, reflects the kind of sustained research and critical engagement that the Undergraduate Research Symposium aims to highlight.

The History Department will induct this spring new members to the Iota Pi chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the honorary history society for undergraduates, graduate students, and history faculty. Phi Alpha Theta is a professional organization that seeks to promote the study of history through the encouragement of research, good teaching, publication, and the exchange of learning and ideas among historians. Members get to participate in regional conferences, biennial national conventions, and special scholarship opportunities. 

  If you meet the criteria for eligibility and you want to join the society, please contact Michael Fry at either 970-247-7352 or fry_m@fortlewis.edu. To qualify for induction, you must have completed at least 12 semester hours in history, and you need a GPA in history of 3.1 and an overall GPA of 3.0. You need not be a history major. There is a one-time initiation fee of $55. The fee includes a membership certificate and four electronic issues of the Phi Alpha Theta journal, The Historian. Membership in the society is for life. Former students are welcome to apply.

Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference at Colorado Mesa University (April 11, 2026)

History majors are encouraged to attend the Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction. The conference will bring together undergraduate historians from across the region to share original research, exchange ideas, and gain experience presenting in a professional academic setting. Participation in the conference offers students a valuable opportunity to showcase their work, receive feedback from peers and faculty, and connect with a broader community of historians beyond Fort Lewis College.

Students interested in attending or presenting should contact Dr. Michael Fry for more details. Participating History majors and minors are eligible for Departmental funding and support.

HIST 324: Colorado History | Andrew Gulliford

HIST 362: Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union | Ellen Paul

HIST 373: History of Mexico | Michael Fry

HIST 392: World Topics: History of Buddhism | Douglas Ober

HIST 396: Philosophy and Methods | Ellen Paul

And plenty of HI-1’s, other lower-levels and more!

I continue to hear from former students and welcome email contacts and connections. Like all of us in the History Department, I am proud of our student successes. Email Dr. G at gulliford_a@fortlewis.edu

Dr. Kuenker wrapped up his History of Race in America course in December, learning along with the students through many difficult and timely conversations about the past and present. This semester he'll be teaching, for the second time, one of his U.S. History since 1877 intro courses at Durango High School as part of Fort Lewis's dual-enrollment program. The History faculty often have a few dual enrollment students in our intro courses at the college, and recently we've started offering a full section taught in the DHS building. Dr. Kuenker, who once upon a time taught 4th grade, has enjoyed the change of pace of working in a K-12 school again.

This spring, Dr. Ober is teaching an upper-level seminar on the History of Buddhism. Covering some 2500 years, the course begins in ancient India before moving into China, Japan, Tibet, and Southeast Asia. The capstone to the course involves classes on Buddhism in the West that involve guest lectures and take the students to the Durango Dharma Center, Tara Mandala in Pagosa Springs, and hopefully, an overnight trip to Crestone, Colorado, a unique alpine desert community that hosts one of the most concentrated collections of Buddhist centers, Hindu temples, and interfaith retreat spaces in North America. The visits would allow students to explore how Asian religious traditions are lived, adapted, and reimagined in contemporary American contexts.

Off campus, Dr. Ober remains busy. The past few months involved him working as an expert reviewer for ICOMOS—the evaluation arm of UNESCO. Dr. Ober was invited to provide guidance and advice on a new site in India that was nominated for UNESCO World Heritage status and is now in the “assessment stage.” The process takes many months (years in some cases) and involves providing both conceptual and historical expertise on questions related to archaeological preservation, tourism management plans, international heritage governance, and comparisons to other sites that have attained UNESCO World Heritage status. The site in India that he is evaluating has further layers of complications because it is also an active pilgrimage space and the center of vibrant ritual worship so all of these concerns have to be balanced alongside questions of freedom of religion and the Indian government’s management of religious sites.

Along with two online Western Civilization survey courses, Dr. Paul will be busy this semester teaching one of her specialties, the Rise and Fall of the USSR, and helping our seniors prepare a prospectus for their senior thesis capstone research project, which they will complete in the fall.  Students have told her that they love when she brings one of her dogs to class. Firefly, the black pug, is the clear favorite, but Athera (husky) is a close second.  

Luke Perkins (BA, History, 2018) writes:

They say it’s a scary thing walking out your door… you never know where your feet might lead you. This has certainly been the case for me since I first started at Fort Lewis College in the fall of 2014. During my time at FLC I had no idea that the mixture of history (with an environmental focus), education and journalism I was engaging with would lead me on such an eclectic career trajectory.

In the time since I left FLC I’ve covered the state legislature as a reporter for my hometown newspaper, directed one of the largest before and after school programs in the Denver Metro Area, and served as Youth Programs Manager and Public Relations Officer (not at the same time) for the Colorado State Historical Society. Oh, I also was named a Koch Fellow and completed a master’s in public history at the University of Colorado Denver.

My current job has helped mash all these disparate experiences into a cohesive form as I now am a Statewide Public Information Officer for Colorado Parks and Wildlife focused on carnivore communications. 

This is not the path I thought I was on at Fort Lewis. I figured I would be writing for a newspaper on general assignment or eventually leading youth programs at a museum (which I did both) but a different journey has unveiled itself as I have continued to follow my feet.

I’ve found that it is important to have a plan, but equally important to be open to opportunities that come up along the way. You might find that the thing you always thought you wanted isn’t quite what you hoped it would be… and you might also find that the thing you thought you weren’t enough for is just the right fit.

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!

Our work would not be possible without the generous support of our community donors. Your gifts are testaments to the value of history, critical thinking, and the liberal arts in a complex and interdependent world.

Your ongoing contributions are most appreciated, please consider donating to one of our funds to help us continue this valuable work.

History Associates Fund

Reese Kelly Excellence Fund

Public History Fund

Duane Smith Lecture Series

General Ron & Miss Jane Fogleman's History Excellence Endowment