Reconstruction Remembered by National Park Service

A long-overdue but much welcome movement from the National Park Service to commemorate the period of Reconstruction in American history is gathering steam. Historians Greg Downs, Kate Masur, and others are working with NPS personnel to establish sites, monuments, and places for historic preservation, to help Americans better understand this crucial but often misremembered era. Departmental lecturer Amy Haines has devoted some of her specialized scholarly work to this era as well, and has worked with Professor Downs in a previous NEH seminar in this effort.

We will link here to an article detailing these efforts, a short excerpt of which is below:

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WASHINGTON – On the anniversary of the ratification of the 14th Amendment, which granted citizenship to former slaves freed after the Civil War, the National Park Service today published a theme study looking at nationally significant historic properties of the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era. The National Historic Landmarks theme study, “The Era of Reconstruction, 1861-1900,” identifies noteworthy resources related to the Era of Reconstruction that help tell the American story.

“Discovering the lesser known stories of the Reconstruction Era and identifying places and people who impacted our collective American story is the result of two years of dedicated work by historians, field practitioners, and subject matter experts,” said Dr. Joy Beasley, National Park Service Acting Associate Director for Cultural Resources, Partnerships and Science. “This theme study continues to build upon our shared narrative as Americans; knowing who we are, where we came from, and understanding the events, activities, and places that shape us citizens today is at the heart of the National Park Service mission.”

The theme study, which is the first comprehensive theme study of its kind, enhances public understanding of this complex and contested period in our nation’s history, and provides a basis for identifying and potentially nominating Reconstruction Era related properties as National Historic Landmarks. National Historic Landmarks are nationally significant historic places designated by the Secretary of the Interior because they possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States. Currently, nearly 2,600 historic places bear this national distinction.

Continue reading here.

 

Visit to China Prepares Faculty to teach World War II: A Global History, Spring 2018

This summer Professor Yang Wei of the History Department has been conducting research in archives in Beijing and other cities in China, and also giving numerous guest lectures and talks there. Paul Harvey, former Chair of the Department, joined him for a brief period, and while there the two visited sites in Nanjing related to the area’s tragic and fascinating history during World War II, notably including the Nanjing Massacre of 1937. As part of the trip, the two investigated the newly renovated, and massive, Nanjing Massacre Museum, which is now more like a museum focusing on the entire global history of World War II. The museum presents a vivid accounting, sprawled across a huge building, of what the text refers to as the World Anti-Fascist Alliance from 1931 to 1945, and gives a rich historical narrative full of insight into how the Chinese view the history of the war.

While there both professors also gave lectures at Fujian Normal University in Fuzhou, China, where they were received warmly and graciously by new colleagues there. Below are a couple of photos of these visits.

Preface to the World War Two history exhibit at the Nanjing Massacre Museum

Theme of the exhibit: The Victory of Justice, Peace, and the People Shall Prevail

Paul Harvey delivers lecture at Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou

3 Great Fall History Courses

2018 Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium

The 2018 Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium, hosted by the Special Collections of the Pikes Peak Library District, will be held June 9, 2018.

The 2018 theme will be “Remarkable Rascals, Despicable Dudes, & Hidden Heroes of the Pikes Peak Region.” This will be the 15^th annual Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium which attracts a live audience of over 200  for the day long symposium. This year’s symposium, “Enduring Legacies and Forgotten Landmarks: the Built Environment of the Pikes Peak Region,” devoted to historic architects, architecture, and land use had 211 attending in person and nearly 1,000 video viewers for each of the morning and afternoon video streams on Facebook.  Participating in the symposium either as a presenter, providing a 20-minute presentation,  or as an author of a 6,000 to 12,000 word chapter for the published proceedings (or both), offers scholars a perfect venue to share their research with an interested audience.

Chris Nicholl – Symposium Coordinator

http://www.regionalhistoryseries.org/2018-symposium.html

The Historian’s Craft: Introduction to the Discipline of History. Fall 2017 Course

Outstanding Undergraduate and Graduate Student Award Winners!

The History Department Awards Ceremony is Wednesday, May 10th, at 3:00 in UC 122. Below are the names, bios, and photos of our outstanding undergraduate and graduate students this year (2016-27). Congratulations to all! They and others will be recognized on Wednesday. Gift cards will be gifted.

Other students will be receiving recognition for other awards, TAships served, fellowships won, research trips taken, etc. A full list is available here, at the department website.

Outstanding Undergraduate Students, May 2017

Amy Statton graduates this May with a Bachelors of Arts in History and a

Amy Statton

leadership certificate through the UCCSLead program. She transferred from Pikes Peak Community College after earning her Associates of Arts degree with an emphasis in History. Amy wrote her Senior Thesis on the French legitimization of their claim to the Mandates of Syria and Lebanon after World War I. During her time at UCCS, she also received the Reisher Scholarship for 2015-2017 academic years, as well as the Wunderli Scholarship for 2016-2017 academic year. Amy plans to take a year off from academic study, but plans to go on to earn a Masters or potentially a Doctorate in History. Amy is extremely grateful for the people who supported her academic goals, including her family, her fiancé, and her teachers at Pikes Peak Community College and UCCS.

Jessica Juhala

Jessica Juhala

Jessica Juhala transferred to UCCS in the fall of 2015. She immediately fell in love with the History department and has taken a variety of classes with an almost perfect record throughout. Jessica is also involved in UCCSLead and will graduate this semester with a Breakthrough Leadership Certificate. Along with other UCCS history students, she participated in the annual Fountain Fairview Cemetery Tour as a docent. This semester Jessica chose to write her Undergraduate thesis on the evolution of Uncle Sam, focusing specifically on the relationship between the image and various American wars. After graduation Jessica plans to continue to pursue her passion for history and hopefully return to UCCS for graduate studies at some point in the future.

Outstanding Graduate Students, May 2017

Thomas Fugler

Tommy Fugler

Thomas Fugler, a Graduate Student in the History Department, active duty Air Force officer, and happily married father of three, has oriented his work toward the Middle East with a focus on Turkey. After graduating with a BS in Humanities from the Air Force Academy in 2005, Major Fugler served 11 years as an F-16 fighter pilot, amassing 1000 hours. He attained his MA in Management and Leadership at Liberty University in 2013, followed by an AA in Turkish at the Defense Language Institute. Upon completion of the program in 2014 Major Fugler spent 1 year in Turkey assigned to the Turkish Air Force as a NATO advisor and F-16 instructor. This priceless experience led to his research focus on modern Turkey. Following graduation, Major Fugler will serve as a history Instructor at the Air Force Academy, after which he aspires to pursue a PhD centered on Middle East studies.

Michael Bunch

Michael Bunch

Michael received his BA in History from the University of North Georgia in 2008. His graduate work included: – Alamannic immigrant influence on the Roman provinces of Germania Superior and the Agri Decumates in the third and fourth centuries CE; the continuation of East Prussian culture in relation to Nazi oppression and East Prussian painter identity in the refugee community post-World War II; and the lack of political representation of the Kosovar-Albanian diaspora in 1990s in Frankfurt am Main. Michael plans on applying for a PhD program and continuing his studies.

Biography for Jami Wilson

Jami Wilson

Jami earned her BA in Chinese studies and writing from Pacific Lutheran University in 2014. In May 2017, she will obtain her MA in history from UCCS. While resident at UCCS, Jami focused her research on human rights in modern Chinese history and presented her work at three academic conferences, including Harvard’s East Asia Society Conference 2016: [Re]imagining Asia, the Annual American Historical Association (AHA) Conference (2017), and Columbia’s 26th Annual Graduate Student Conference on East Asia (2017). Jami also volunteered and interned at the Crawford Family U.S. Olympic Archives in Colorado Springs, where she processed and organized all Olympic Games manuscripts into the archive’s software, allowing for scholar’s easy access to historical materials. Her graduate school experience ultimately involved extensive research, writing, archiving, and mentorship (thank you, Professor Woodall and Wei) integral to her person.

Emilee Shindel

Emilee Shindel

Emilee earned her BA from UCCS in 2014, finishing then with an award-winning Senior Thesis about race relations in the Mennonite Church in the 20^th century. She then went on to the History MA program, where, under the influence of Professor Sackett, she became especially interested in Jewish history. She has been accepted into the Ph.D. program in Jewish history at Temple University, where she will be studying with noted scholar Lila Corwin Berman. Emilee also has spent the last two years working in the History Office, as well as being President of Phi Alpha Theta, the History Honors Society. She is also an expert in the fine arts of coffee roasting, and selecting draft picks in her fantasy football league.

History Department Student Awards Celebration

History Department Student Awards  Celebration.

Wednesday, May 10, 3:00 – 4:15, UC 122

Come join all the 2016-17 student award winners, conference presenters, and graduating MA students. We will recognize our Outstanding Graduate and Undergraduate Student Award Winners, the best Senior Theses (one or two for each Sr. Thesis section for this school year), CSURF presenters, and  MA graduates  this school year.