2019-2020 History Department Award Winners Announced

UCCS HISTORY DEPARTMENT AWARDS, for Academic Year 2019 – 2020

 Click here to see bios and photos of some HISTORY Awards Winners on LAS’s Awards page

 You can also access the Virtual UCCS Commencement page and other links (at the bottom) on the LAS Awards Page at: https://www.uccs.edu/las/2020-awards

OUTSTANDING GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD RECIPIENTS:  Selected by the faculty of the History Department after lengthy discussions, the Outstanding Graduate Student Award honors graduating MA History students who have among the highest cumulative GPAs in their cohort and who have distinguished themselves in other ways in their academic performance, community outreach (on campus and beyond), and professional engagement. This honor is the highest recognition bestowed directly by the department faculty.

Stefan Huddleston
Heather Poll
Chris Schreck

OUTSTANDING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT AWARD RECIPIENTS:   Selected by the faculty of the History Department after lengthy discussions, the Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award honors graduating MA History students who have among the highest cumulative GPAs in their cohort and who have distinguished themselves in other ways in their academic performance, community outreach (on campus and beyond), and professional engagement. This honor is the highest recognition bestowed directly by the department faculty. 

Kateri Pacetti
Erin Rogers
Thecla Shubert
Aaron Wilson
Eric Witte

OUTSTANDING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT Across ALL HUMANITIES Depts:

Winner: Eric Witte, a non-traditional student and double major in History and Geography (GES) was nominated by the Department of History faculty for this award, acknowledging his excellent interdisciplinary work. Apart from being an outstanding student, Eric’s professors in both departments described how his contribution to class discussion elevated the overall educational experience. He is also a writing fellow and works at the Writing Center. He is a generous peer and mentor to other students. He is active in our chapter of the History National Honor Society–Phi Alpha Theta as well as CSURF, and other public presentations. The chairs of the humanities departments voted to select him for this honor.

WUNDERLI SCHOLARSHIP AWARD WINNERS: The Department gives out annual scholarships, named in honor of Rick Wunderli, long-time Professor of Medieval History at UCCS. The scholarship comes from an endowment established by Judith Price (1944-2012), a long-time Instructor in the Department. Her generosity supports these multiple $1250 awards.

2020-2021 Awardees:  

Kristy Wilson, Heather Bergh, Shannon Fortune, James Perkins, Tania Reyes, Bailey Ford, Jennifer Mills, Emily Cosper, Joshua Rodriguez, Mariah Fluegel

FLORENCE MURPHY SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS: The scholarship is possible through the generosity of one of the most distinguished graduates of UCCS. The scholarship consists of two $750 awards for the school year for non-traditional undergraduate students (25 years or older) who are History majors.

2019-2020 Awardee:   Jeffrey Mann

 INTERNSHIPS IN HISTORY, Guided by Profs. Christina Jimenez and Amy Haines, these students have completed the Internship course (HIST 3995/HIST 6995) and worked for 104 hours at various community organizations.  If you are interested in learning more about graduate or undergrad internships for course credits (HIST 3995/HIST 6995), please contact Prof. Jimenez, cjimenez@uccs.edu.

 Graduate Interns:
Kurt Blose, United States Olympic Committee Archives
Heather Poll, Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum
Ashley Affleck-Johnson, Old Colorado City Heritage Center
Lora Reiher, United States Olympic Committee Archives

Undergraduate Interns:
Jeremiah Warren, Fourth Infantry Division Museum
Amybeth Frederickson, United States Olympic Committee Archives
Mariah Fluegel, Western Museum of Mining and Industry
James Perkins, United States Air Force Academy Archives, Clark Special Collections
Peyton Taylor, United States Olympic Committee Archives
Joshua Rodriguez, United States Olympic Committee Archives
Vanessa Davila, Western Museum of Mining and Industry
Joshua Van Sanford, One Nation Walking
Jamie Anderson, United States Olympic Committee Archives
Taylor Burnfield, United States Olympic Committee Archives

FRIENDS OF FOUNTAIN FAIRVIEW CEMETERY BENEVOLENT SOCIETY:  Thank you to Profs. Barbara Headle and Amy Haines for their work! We would like to recognize the work of our UCCS student volunteers as well.

Student Volunteers for 2019:  Bryan Wheeler, Heather Bergh, Kristy Wilson, Aaron Wilson, and Nikki Valdez

Volunteer of the Year: Nikki Valdez

College of LAS Student-Faculty Research Award: Christopher Schreck, Dr. Roger Martinez and Mary Rupp for “Deciphering Secrets: Unlocking the Manuscripts of Medieval Spain.” Chris worked specifically with a group of thirty individual documents from the Burgos Cathedral in Spain. The process for extracting metadata from the transcriptions and abstracts provided and entering that information into a database.

PHI ALPHA THETA, the History National Honor Society, UCCS chapter (Tau Chi) is open to student interested in history. Faculty Advisor: Professor Samantha Christiansen. The Phi Alpha Theta (Tau Chi ) Award for Student Leadership is awarded annually in recognition of the leadership, talent, and impact of one undergraduate and one graduate student in our Phi Alpha Theta, Tau Chi chapter. The winners of this award have demonstrated exceptional dedication and skill in promoting the study of history in our department and the broader community through research, event planning, and/or other forms of public engagement, while maintaining a high GPA and overall record of academic excellence.  Thank you to Dr. Christiansen for her role as advisor!

This year’s 2019-2020 PAT Student Leadership  Award Winners:

Undergraduate Student: Madison Harris
Graduate Student: Bryan Wheeler

2020 Phi Alpha Theta Inductees:  Mariah Fluegel; Theodore A. Givler; Hunter M. Henderson; Victoria L. Mason; Rosalyn Myrick; Victoria Lynn Pfeifer; Erin Rogers; Damian A. Ruminski; Joshua Van Sanford; Eric Witte; Cyrus J. Youngs

Undergraduate Student Conference Presentations:

• Madison Harris presented her paper on “Martin Luther King and the Quest for Racial Justice in Utah,”  at the Phi Alpha Theta regional conference at Western State University
• Madison Harris presented her paper at the Sunstone Symposium 2020:  “The Hands of Our Enemies”: Brigham Young University and the Federal Government in the Fight for Civil Rights, 1968-1975,” June 2020

Graduate Student Conference and Public Presentations:

• Bryan Wheeler presented his paper on “The Search for Identity: Nineteenth-Century Women Find Who They Are” At the National Phi Alpha Theta Conference in San Antonio.

• Heather Bergh presented her paper on: “A Whole City of Whores” At the National Phi Alpha Theta Conference in San Antonio

• Heather Bergh presented her paper on:  “A Whole City of Whores: Prostitution in the Civil War” at The Mountain Lion Research days.
• Barry Binder, Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum Lecture Series, In My Ain Countrie: Thomas MacLaren, Walter Farquhar Douglas, and Thompson Duncan Hetherington; a transnational case study of Scottish migration at the turn of the 20^th century.” Available on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhD49vASPZc

OUTSTANDING SENIOR THESES BY SECTION, Fall 2019 and Spring 2020

Professor Martinez’s section, fall 2019:  

• Eric Witte for his thesis “The Myth of El Cid, Spanish Identity, and the Fallacy of the Reconquista”

 Professor Christiansen’s Section, Fall 2019:  

• Bridget Harris for her thesis “American Apartheid”

Professor Harvey’s Section, spring 2020:

• Jeffrey Mann, “Water, Sugar Beets, and Labor: Rocky Ford in the 20th Century.”
• Madison Harris, “ ‘The Hands of Our Enemies’: Brigham Young University and the Federal Government in the Fight for Civil Rights, 1968-1975″

 GRADUATING M.A. STUDENTS

 Fall 2019: Taylor Bright, Ryan Grant, Lora Reiher, April Roof, Nicholas Smith, Ian Torres

Spring 2020: Kurt Blose, Kirstin Dillingham, Ryan Harris, Stefan Huddleston, Reagen Hudson, Allison McDonald, Spencer Miles, Heather Poll, Nathaniel Rennicks, Christopher Schreck

 GRADUATE TRAVEL FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENT:  Michael Moody and Shannon Ritchey

TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS FOR AY 2019-20 YEAR:

Barry Binder, Stefan Huddleston, Teddy Givler, Ian Torres, Heather Bergh, Bryan Wheeler

GRADUATE RESEARCH JOURNAL and Upcoming “The Springs Online Graduate History Journal “

Special Recognition: Christopher Schreck, editor

Reagen Eric Hudson “Red Nation, Golden Arches: An Examination of McDonalds in China”

Barry C. Binder “In My Ain Countrie: Thomas MacLaren, Walter Farquhar Douglas, and Thompson Duncan Hetherington; a transnational case study of Scottish migration at the turn of the 20^th century”

Christopher J. Schreck “Spoils of War: Development and Dispossession in the American Southwest”

We will announce when it is published online. If you would like to contribute a book review or essay in the next few weeks, please email: cschreck@uccs.edu and bduvick@uccs.edu.

History Students also won Fellowships and Competitions – campus-wide. 

Campus-wide Graduate Student Fellowship, a very competitive award where MA and PhD applicants (with at least one fund year left of school) from across the colleges at UCCS vie for a $5000/ year fellowship.

This year, Eilex Rodriguez, a first year MA graduate student, won one. Congratulations, Eilex!

Cesar E. Chavez Scholarship Competition. The scholarship competition, along with the Rosa Parks and Janice M. Gould scholarships, are designed to give students an opportunity to explore and research both domestic and/or global issues regarding social and/or environmental justice, human rights, and injustice or discrimination in all forms; and express their thoughts regarding the ideals that Rosa Parks, Cesar E. Chavez and Janice M. Gould represent. The History Department had two students win the campus-wide Cesar Chavez student research essay award.

Cesar E. Chavez Undergraduate Student Award:

Eilex Rodriguez – “Mexico City and Global Ties: The 1960s Student Movements”

Cesar E. Chavez Graduate Student Award:

Michelle Mason – “Weaving a Web of Justice; Political Economy and Tradition in Mayan Cooperatives: A Discourse on Modern Colonialism”

PhD Acceptances — of History MA Alumni — What a banner year!

The History Department Faculty would like to announce and congratulate these MA Alumni on their acceptance to PhD History Programs. All of these students were accepted and offered fully-funded financial packages — consisting of both guaranteed scholarships and guaranteed research and teaching assistant-ships for their PhD studies. The competition for these funded slots in PhD History Programs is very difficult. Each of these individuals crafted a resume and track record of research, teaching, public engagement, publications, award winning, and professional presenting. We have never had this many MA alumni continuing on to PhD programs in one year. Congratulations! We are so proud of how you will continue to represent UCCS and the History MA Program.

• Kellen DeAlba, MA will attend the University of Utah, PhD History Program, guaranteed funding
• Amy Haines, MA will attend the University of Colorado, Boulder, PhD History Program, guaranteed funding
• Don Unger, MA will attend the University of Arizona, PhD History Program, guaranteed funding
• Timmy Vilgiate, MA will attend the University of Texas, Austin PhD History Program, guaranteed funding

SPECIAL RECOGNITION FOR OUTSTANDING DEPARTMENTAL ASSISTANCE:  Bryan Wheeler

MA Graduate Don Unger Wins Emerging Historians Award

(Colorado Springs, CO) – Western Museum of Mining and Industry (WMMI) has announced that its newest executive staff member, Mr. Don Unger (MA, History, UCCS, 2019) has been awarded the 1st Annual Emerging Historians Award in the Graduate Student Essay Category.

According to the History Colorado Webpage, “The Emerging Historians Award is a program of the State Historian’s Council of History and awards are judged by four respected historians in the State including the Colorado State Historian”:

·        Dr. Nicki Gonzales, Regis University

·        Dr. Jared Orsi, Colorado State University

·        Dr. Duane Vandenbusche, Western State Colorado University

·        Dr. William Wei, University of Colorado Boulder (State Historian)

The contest is open to undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in a Colorado college or university at the time of submission. Winners are selected by the State Historian’s Council of History Colorado and awards were presented in Denver during the Colorado Day celebration at the History Colorado Museum on August 1st.

As a winning author, Don received a Copyright Transfer Agreement for publication by History Colorado and he is able to retain all rights to publish his work again in the future, in any form.

In the months ahead, Don’s will work with editors at History Colorado to style his essay according to the conventions of Colorado Heritage and The Chicago Manual of Style, and, Don’s award for Best Graduate Essay will be published on the History Colorado website on the Emerging Historians Award page.

Don joined the WMMI team in July 2019 and presently serves as the museum’s Membership Development Coordinator. In addition, he works closely with the museum’s Curator, Dr. Richard Sauers in helping to archive and maintain the museum’s invaluable collection of artifacts, exhibits and displays.

For more information, contact WMMI Marketing & Communications Coordinator Jamie Briem-Martinez at 719-488-0880 or email info@wmmi.org.

Welcome to the 2019-20 School Year!

 August 22, 2019

Dear UCCS Students, 

Welcome to the 2019-20 school year. The faculty of the History Department look forward to meeting you or, for returning students, seeing you again in classes this semester. This letter has some important information about key contacts and new opportunities available in the History Department this year. We want you to explore, inquire, and collaborate with your faculty and peers. Please communicate to us your ideas and needs. Investigate other ways of personal growth, career development, and skill building. Try something new. Join a club. Complete an internship. Come to some of our department’s sponsored events. General information about the History major, minor, and Master’s program is available on our departmental website: www.uccs.edu/history –which is undergoing a substantial revision this year, so thanks for your patience.

If you have questions or would like to have a conversation about some aspect of the department, here are your key contacts:

Dr. Christina M. Jiménez, Department Chair

cjimenez@uccs.edu, office: Columbine Hall 2059, phone: 719-255-4076

Dr. Carole Woodall, Director of Undergraduate Studies

cwoodall@uccs.edu   Office: Columbine Hall 2045, phone: 719-255-3768

Dr. Roger Martinez, Director of Graduate Studies

rmartin8@uccs.edu   Office: Columbine Hall 2053, phone: 719-255-4070

Mr. Ian Smith, Program Assistant, Department of History and Humanities Program

ismith2@uccs.edu  Office:  Columbine Hall 2048, phone: 719-255-4069

Other opportunities and announcements:

• Consider enrolling in a course we have developed to better prepare you for the rigors of research and writing in upper division courses and senior thesis, titled HIST 3001: The Historian’s Craft: Introduction to the Discipline of History. Unlike other history courses that focus on specific geographical areas or chronological themes, this course introduces students to the core methods used by historians to study and write about the past. Guidance in proper citation and conventions of historical writing are also covered. Prof. Headle is offering the course this year, fall and spring semesters.

• Internship in History courses are offered at both the graduate (HIST 6995) and undergraduate (HIST 3995) levels. We strongly encourage you to consider doing a History internship if you would like to pursue a career in organization management, museums and public history, archives/collections, or other types of outreach fields. It’s a great addition to your resume as well. Last year we placed students in public history institutions throughout the Pikes Peak region, including the archives of the U.S. Olympic Committee in downtown Colorado Springs; the UCCS Archives; the Western Museum of Mining and Industry; and at the Old Colorado City Historical Society. The internship courses work like guided independent studies. Please see the department website for more information: www.uccs.edu/history. Please contact Prof. Jimenez if you are interested: cjimenez@uccs.edu.

• Get Spooked by Graveyards? Come learn about the cool connections between cemeteries, history, and public memory. You’re invited to join the Friends of Fountain Fairview Cemetery, UCCS Alumni, and faculty for this year’s “lantern tour,” aptly titled “The Mystery Behind the Crime.”  This three-stop, early evening tour will be held on Saturday, September 14th from 6:30pm to about 7:30pm. Three notorious murder cases in Fountain’s history are highlighted.  Tickets available at the gate, 757 So. Santa Fe, Fountain: $20 general admission.

• Please look for information in your student portal about our department’s endowed Wunderli scholarships – available only to undergraduate History majors and History MA students. This scholarship fund exists thanks to the generous gift bestowed on the department by our long-time Instructor of Asian History, Judith Price (1944-2012). Last year, we gave out several scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students, totaling nearly $10,000. You could be next! We will be giving out similar amounts each school year in perpetuity thanks to the generosity of Ms. Price. We also have the Florence Murphy Scholarships each year, awarded to a History major over the age of 27 years, endowed by alum Florence Murphy many years ago. Please consider submitting an application for these excellent scholarship opportunities.

• Our department has a blog where we post announcements and other articles of interest about and for our students and faculty. Check it out at: https://uccshistory.wordpress.com.  You can read previous posts about the adventures and accomplishments of History Department students and faculty.

• Seniors and Juniors! This year we will run four sections of HIST 4990: Senior Thesis – 2 in the fall (taught by Prof. Martinez and Prof. Christiansen) and 2 in Spring 2020 (taught by Prof. Harvey and Prof. Woodall). Each course covers topics specific to the faculty member’s field, but there is a large variety of potential topics within each section. It’s always good to look ahead and try to plan to do your Senior Thesis with the professor who best matches your interest. Please check out the Senior Thesis page on the History Department website – under Undergraduate and BA Requirements– for more information.  You will find the schedule for HIST 4990 at http://www.uccs.edu/history/undergraduate/general-requirements/senior-thesis.html.

• Graduate Students! We have lots of exciting things happening in the MA program including the second annual Graduate Online History Journal. Please consider submitting your past research papers for publication. We will also be offering three Readings seminars each semester this year due to our enrollment growth. In Spring 2020, Readings seminars will be offered by Dr. Duvick (Ancient Greco Roman), Dr. Harvey (World War II), and Dr. Jimenez (Modern Latin America). Please contact Graduate Studies Director, Dr. Roger Martinez, for more information.

• Phi Alpha Theta (Tau Chi) – UCCS’s local chapter of the national History Honors Society is accepting applications for new members—both graduate and undergraduate students are eligible. The Honor Society meets once a month along with the History Club to coordinate fun and exciting events, as well as providing scholarship and networking opportunities. Please contact Prof. Christiansen, schrist3@uccs.edu, the faculty advisor, for more information, or the club co-Presidents, Bryan Wheeler bwheeler@uccs.edu (graduate students) or Andrew Dawson adawson@uccs.edu (undergrad students). Watch your email for more information on the first meeting and some great events for Fall.

• The UCCS Bookstore has changed it system for course books. To avoid confusion, BEFORE you go to the bookstore, we suggest that you take/ look up/ print out a list of the required book titles and authors for your specific course section and specific instructors. Whereas in the past books were organized by department/subject, instructor/section, this is no longer the case.  Instead, textbooks are now organized alphabetically, by author’s last name. This system requires that students know which books are assigned for a particular course and section.  To this end, we recommend you go to the Bookstore’s website, click on “students,” and search for your courses; jot down the book titles, authors’ names, and the ISBN numbers before you head into the bookstore (or, if possible, pre-order your books through the Bookstore’s website).

• Undergrads: Do you want to publish a great paper that you wrote for a class last year? If so, please consider submitting it to the UCCS Undergraduate Research Journal. This peer-reviewed online publication is always looking for high-quality research papers from our history students. You will likely be asked to make revisions to your paper, but you will have a publication for your resume! Check it out at: http://ojs.uccs.edu/index.php/urj

• Online Graduate History Journal: The department has named Mr. Chris Schreck the new managing editor of The Springs Online Graduate History Journal (OGHJ) for the 2019-2020 academic year. The journal will soon be requesting submissions for book reviews and articles. Please consider developing one of your research seminar papers into an article.

• Our Evening of History this semester will be Wednesday, December 11, 5-9pm tentatively located in the Daniels K-12 room in the Osbourne Science and Engineering building. Please mark your calendars and join us for graduate student presentations on European and East Asian History research papers. Undergrads, family, and friends are welcome to attend. Food and drinks served.

HISTORY FACULTY HIGHLIGHTS: 

Learn more about the History Department faculty on our website: www.uccs.edu/history.  Here are some faculty highlights from the past year.

Samantha Christiansen completed two articles that will be published in the Fall: “The Language of Student Power and Space: Building a Spatialised Social Movement Identity in East Pakistan, 1948-1954” and “A Campus in Context: The Global Sixties and East Pakistan’s “Mass Upsurge” at a Local, Regional, and International Scales.” She also presented research at the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), The American Historical Association, Yale University and lead a session at the Center for the Study of Genocide and Justice in Bangladesh.  

Brian Duvick recently completed an article, “Tests of Faith, Rebirth out of Corruption or Eternal World Cycle: Inklings of the End in the Late Roman Empire,” for the Cambridge Companion to Apocalyptic Literature. He is currently writing a related article on Macrobius’ Saturnalia  and has organized a session panel entitled, “Remaking the Ancients: The Art and Politics of Performing the Classics” for the PAMLA conference in November. This summer the American Indian Culture and Research Journal solicited

Bernice Forrest for a book review of John A. Strong, America’s Early Whalemen: Indian Shore Whalers on Long Island, 1650-1750 (University of Arizona Press, 2018). Her review is at press and will be published in an upcoming AICRJ issue.

Paul Harvey completed his biography of Howard Thurman to be published next year under the title That Which is God in Us: The Religious Lives of Howard Thurman, and received in July 2019 the Pennington Prize from the American Studies Center at the University of Heidelberg, where he delivered a public lecture on Howard Thurman.

Barbara Headle has been researching the historical relationship between the U.S. Census, congressional apportionment, gerrymandering, and the impact on power and services for peripheral populations, based on race, ethnicity, and gender, as such populations have been defined and redefined since 1790.

Christina Jiménez is pleased to announce the publication of her book Making an Urban Public: Popular Claims to the City in Mexico, 1879-1932 in May 2019 by the University of Pittsburgh Press. She just completed a summer research trip to Guadalajara, Mexico for her current book project.

Roger Martinez, Sam Christiansen, and an interdisciplinary team of scholars have launched “Augmented Reflections: Experiencing the Interchange of Plains Indians and Spaniards in Southern Colorado, 1500-1850 CE.” Alongside of our graduate students, Ian Torres and Spencer Miles, they are creating virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality worlds to tell the history of the Conquistador Coronado’s 1540 expedition into New Mexico. Roger was also invited to present a paper and workshop on crowdsourcing medieval manuscripts at Oxford University’s Dark Archives: A Conference on the Medieval Unread and Unreadable on September 10-12, 2019.

Jan Myers has been developing a new course centered on Elizabeth I of England where students will examine her reign in terms of a woman exercising power to promote peace—a hard job when all the male rulers are pursuing a policy of war for religious, economic, and political reasons.

Robert Sackett has been writing on the results of an oral-history project concerning the descendants of German immigrants in Puebla, Mexico; and he has received a grant from the UCCS Committee on Research and Creative Works to conduct research in German archives rich in documents about 1950s and 1960s West Germany.

Roy Jo Sartin continued her current research into histories of popular culture and presented, at last fall’s PAMLA conference, a new line of inquiry linking Egyptomania with fandom practices.  At this summer’s Denver Pop Culture Con, she teamed up with current UCCS graduate and undergraduate students for a panel on using film to teach history, and another on the social/cultural trends influencing representation in film and television from the 1960s to the present.

Yang Wei gave invited lectures at Bucknell University and at universities in China and Japan this past year. He signed a new book contract with a leading Chinese publisher for his book project “Public Reasoning in Context of Chinese History”. He also wrote over a dozen essays as a columnist on Tencent on Chinese politics, culture, and history. His article “The Paradoxical Effect of Autocracy: Collective Deliberation in the Ming Official Merit-Evaluation System” is published in Ming World with Routledge, UK, and his article “The Name of Enemy, Anti-Fascism and Chinese Communist Party in WWII” is published in the Proceedings for the Second International Conference on Chiang Kai-shek in Hongkong.

Carole Woodall was on sabbatical during spring 2019 when she redesigned and developed two courses: Advanced Theory: Intersectionality as a required WEST course, and a HIST 1900 Special Topics: Stakeholders of Palestine and Israel, which will be offered this spring, and will offer a study component to the West Bank and Israel, in conjunction with University of Denver’s Center for Middle East Studies. As of July 2019, she became a founding member of Canada Geese Protection Colorado in response to the City of Denver’s unannounced forced removal of its Canada geese population from four city parks. Ask her questions if you want to know more.

Please consider taking advantage of some of these fabulous opportunities to enrich your educational experience here.  Again, welcome to the school year and wishing you a productive semester!

Christina M. Jiménez, Ph.D.

Professor and Chair

Department of History

719 255 4076

cjimenez@uccs.edu

UCCS HISTORY DEPARTMENT AWARDS CEREMONY, April 25, 2019

UCCS HISTORY DEPARTMENT AWARDS CEREMONY,  April 25, 2019

(Awardees are listed alphabetically.)

OUTSTANDING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS:

Ben Nissen,  Anneliese Schaff, and Alexander Ward

OUTSTANDING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT Across ALL HUMANITIES Depts :  Anneliese Schaaf

Anneliese is a double major in History and Anthropology. She has impressed the faculty across those department and was selected as an overall Outstanding Student in the Humanities Departments.  She has earned a 3.939 GPA

OUTSTANDING GRADUATE STUDENTS:     Teo Garcia  and  Timmy Vilgiate

OUTSTANDING STUDENT ENGAGEMENT WITH PUBLIC HISTORY:   Kellen DeAlba and Don Unger

OUTSTANDING INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH:  Sydney Pearson 

UCCS GRADUATE SCHOOL FELLOWSHIP AWARDEE:  Stefan Huddleston and Chris Schreck

WUNDERLI SCHOLARSHIP AWARD WINNERS: The Department gives out annual scholarships, named in honor of Rick Wunderli, long-time Professor of Medieval History at UCCS. The scholarship comes from an endowment established by Judith Price (1944-2012), a long-time Instructor in the Department. Her generosity supports these multiple $1250 awards.

2019-2020  Awardees:   Heather Bergh,   Shannon Fortune,  Kateri Pacetti, , Tania Reyes, Elisabeth Ross
Jeffery Turkowski, Kristy Wilson

FLORENCE MURPHY SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS: The scholarship is possible through the generosity of one of the most distinguished graduates of UCCS. The scholarship consists of two $750 awards for the school year for non-traditional undergraduate students (25 years or older) who are History majors. 

2019-2020 Awardees:   Eric Witte and Cyrus Youngs

INTERNSHIPS IN HISTORY, completed at a range of organizations, including the US Olympic Committee Archives, Western Museum of Mining and Industry, UCCS Archives, Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, and Fourth Infantry Division Museum, among others. Shout out to Prof. Amy Haines for her work with undergrad interns! 

Graduate Interns:  Reagen Hudson, U.S. Olympic Committee Archives

Chris Schreck at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum

Matthew Radek at the Western Museum of Mining and Industry

     Filomeno Scafuri at Fort Carson Fourth Infantry Division

Undergraduate interns:  Kora Ivesdal, Heather Bergh, and Cody Saunders at Fort Carson Fourth Infantry Division

Marc Lucena at the U.S. Olympic Committee Archives

Bryan Wheeler at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum

If you are interested in learning more about graduate or undergrad internships for course credits (HIST 3995/HIST 6995), please contact Prof. Jimenez, cjimenez@uccs.edu. We would like to invite interested future interns to our site visits— May 3rd, at 1:00pm at the Fort Carson Fourth Infantry Division Museum and

May 6^th at 2:30pm at the U.S. Olympic Committee Archives

FRIENDS OF FOUNTAIN FAIRVIEW CEMETERY BENEVOLENT SOCIETY: We would like to recognize the work of our UCCS student volunteers, 2018-2019:  Heather Bergh, Lindsey Dierenfield, Haley Hunsaker, Emily Puffett, Niki Valdez, Bryan Wheeler, and Patrick Yarusso.  Shout out to Profs. Barbara Headle and Amy Haines for their work!

CSURF PRESENTERS, the Colorado Springs Undergraduate Research Forum, held at Colorado College this weekend. All are welcome. We have a handful of History majors presenting this year.  CSURF presenters, if you are here, please stand and be recognized.  Shout out to Dr. Roger Martinez, who delivered the forum’s keynote address, on the opportunities to use new techniques to tell historical stories and thus inspire citizen scholars around the world: “Medieval Manuscript, Citizen Science, and Virtual Reality.” Shout out to all of the faculty mentors, especially Barb Headle and Roy Jo Sartin

• Eilex Rodriguez presented a poster of her thesis, “The Rise in Public Brothels after the Revolt of Ciompi.”
• Kateri Pacetti gave a presentation on her thesis research, “Elementary My Dear Historian: An Examination of the Evolution of Sexuality and Femininity in Sherlock Holmes.”
• Jenneah Lenzini-Oldaker who presented her ESRI story map of Creede, Colorado from Profs. Larkin’s and Headle’s GES/HIST 3080: Maps as Historical Documents class.
• Heather Bergh who presented her senior thesis, “God’s Union Warrior and the Mythical Confederate Tramp.”
• Elisabeth “Lis” Ross presented her senior thesis, “Rape, Resistance, and Retaliation.”
• Eric Witte presented his fall 2018 Independent Study turned 2018-19 LAS Student-Faculty Research/Creative Works project, “Ruffians, Refugees, and a Community’s Reluctant Hero.”
• John Moore, a double major in Anthropology and History, who presented his work on the El Paso County Poor Farm.

College of LAS Student-Faculty Research Award: Eric Witte and Professor Headle for “Ruffians, Refugees, and a Community’s Reluctant Hero.”  Eric re-examines Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence, Kansas (1863) from the survivors’ perspective, paying particular attention to the immediate and long-term aftermath of the raid on community members (much scholarship focuses on Quantrill and/or the raid itself).

PHI ALPHA THETA, the History National Honor Society, UCCS chapter (Tau Chi) is open to student interested in history. Faculty Advisor: Professor Samantha Christiansen. The Phi Alpha Theta (Tau Chi ) Award for Student Leadership is awarded annually in recognition of the leadership, talent, and impact of one undergraduate and one graduate student in our Phi Alpha Theta, Tau Chi chapter. The winners of this award have demonstrated exceptional dedication and effective skill in promoting the study of history in our department and the broader community through research, event planning, and/or other forms of public engagement, in addition to maintaining a high GPA and overall record of academic excellence.  Shout out to Dr. Christiansen for her role as advisor!

This year’s 2018-2019 PAT Student Leadership  Award Winners:

Undergraduate Student: Bryan Wheeler   and   Graduate Student: Kellen DeAlba 

2019 Phi Alpha Theta Inductees:  Linnea Joy Benson, Andrew Z. Dawson, João Marcelo M. Fernandes, Shannon Fortune, Elizabeth M. Giles, Jeffrey A. Mann, Jennifer N. Mills, Michael M. Moody, Benton T. Nissen, Eilex A. Rodriguez, Elisabeth M. Ross,  Heather L. Bergh,  Nicole Smelser,  Shawnee A VanNess,  Andrea Walker,  Bryan Clayton Wheeler,  Kristy L. Wilson,  Aaron R. Wilson

2018 Phi Alpha Theta Inductees: Stefan S. Huddleston, Nathaniel E. Henderson, Madison S. Harris, Allison C. McDonald, Anneliese Lydia Schaff, Stacie Allen, Baylee H. Schopp, Shannon Ritchey, Haley C Hunsaker, Rachel M. Ruiz, Michelle L. Mason,  Lauren Marie Mouten.

Six UCCS students, graduate and undergrad, also presented their research at Phi Alpha Theta’s Regional Conference in April 2019 at CSU Gunnison:

• Heather Bergh, “God’s Union Warrior & the Mythical Confederate Tramp”

• Stefan Huddleston, “Massive Verbal Persuasion: J. Don Alexander and the Alexander Film Company” (1920s and 1930s)
• Elisabeth Ross, “Rape, Resistance, and Retaliation: 19^th Century Slave Women Reclaiming their Voices “
• Eric Witte, “Quantrill, The Lawrence Massacre, and a Community’s Fight for a Pension”
• Barry Binder, “In My Ain Countrie: Thomas MacLaren, Walter Farquhart Douglas, and Thompson Duncan Hetherington; a transnational case study of Scottish migration at the turn of the 20^th century.”
• Madison Harris, “Utah became the last state to recognize the Martin Luther King Holiday by name”; Mormons and the Quest for Racial Justice, 1985-2000.”

UCCS will HOST the 2020 Phi Alpha Theta Conference here in April 2020, so please consider submitting a paper to present and join the History Club and/or PAT UCCS chapter.

Other Undergraduate Conference Presentations:

• Thecla Shubert presented her paper, “Transgressions Against Women and their Biological ‘Otherness’: An Exploration of the Global Impacts of Menstruation” at the Rocky Mountain Communication Association (RMCA) conference.  Thecla was awarded Best Undergraduate Research paper!
• Madison Harris presented her paper on Civil Rights and Mormons at a professional conference in Independence, Missouri in September 2018. 

OUTSTANDING SENIOR THESES BY SECTION, Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 

Professor Headle’s section, fall 2018:

Eric Eisaman, “Open Hostility and Closed Borders: Chinese Immigration and the Proliferation of American Xenophobia”

• Elisabeth Ross, “Rape, Resistance, and Retaliation”
• Alex Ward, “Navigating Womanhood Under the Auspices of Columbia”
• Bryan Wheeler, “The Search for Identity: Nineteenth-Century Women Find Who They Are”

Professor Wei ’s section, fall 2018:  

• Caitlin McMillon for her thesis “Between Two Philosophies: The Legalist Impact on Emperor Wu’s Military.”
• Jacob Kistler for his thesis, “The Politics of Oda Nobunaga and Hideyoshi: The Importance of Position and Context.” 

Professor Sackett’s Section, spring 2019:  Winners to be announced at the Evening of History, Tuesday May 7^th, in the Daniels K-12 Room, around 6:30pm

Professor Sartin’s Section, spring 2019: Winners to be announced at the Evening of History, Tuesday May 7^th, in the Daniels K-12 Room, around 6:30pm

GRADUATING M.A. STUDENTS 

Fall 2018:  Timmy Vilgiate and Antonio Rivera

Spring 2019:   Teodoro Garcia, Don Unger, Kellen DeAlba, Sydney Pearson, Matthew Radek, David Walker 

GRADUATE TRAVEL FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENTS:  Timmy Viligiate, Don Unger, Kellen DeAlba, Andi Walker, Barry Binder, and Teo Garcia 

TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS FOR AY 2018-19 YEAR *Chris Schreck     *Stefan Huddleston  *Don Unger 

*Sydney Pearson  *Kellen DeAlba      *Andi Walker      * Michelle Mason     * Teodoro Garcia  * Barry Binder 

GRADUATE STUDENT PUBLICATIONS AND CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS: 

• Kellen DeAlba will publish his article “The Assimilation of Chinese Immigrants in Mexico” in ed. Édgar Cota-Torres,   Semblanzas New Borders/Nuevas Fronteras, (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California in Mexicali, Mexico, forthcoming)
• Timmy Vilgiate’s research paper on a tree called the Voacanga africana will be appearing in Arcadia: Reflections on Environment and Society, a journal of the Rachel Carson Society
• Kellen De Alba presented “The Kickapoo Fight for Sovereignty: The Migration of a People in Search of a Home of their Own” at Rocky Mountain Council of Latin American Studies in Santa Fe, NM, April 2019.
• Timmy Vilgiate presented “‘Bringing the City into the Countryside’: State-Sponsored Colonization along the Cuiabá-Santarém Highway”at Rocky Mountain Council of Latin American Studies in Santa Fe, NM, April 2019.
• Donald Unger presented “A Brief and Modern History of Mining Reclamation on Navajo Country in the Southwestern United States” at Rocky Mountain Council of Latin American Studies in Santa Fe, NM, April 2019.
• Teodoro Garcia presented “Indomitable Hearts, Unconquerable Souls: American Indian Vietnam Veterans, PTSD, and Statistical Fallacies” at Rocky Mountain Council of Latin American Studies in Santa Fe, NM, April 2019.
• Timmy Vilgiate presented at the African Studies Association Conference in Atlanta, GA, November, 2018.

GRADUATE RESEARCH JOURNAL and Upcoming “The Springs Online Graduate History Journal “

Special Recognition: Timmy Vilgiate and Kellen De Alba, founding editors/collaborators

• “’The Spirit of Caesar in the Soul of a Woman’: An Analysis of Artemisia Gentileschi’s Seventeenth-Century Gender and Patronage” by Sydney Pearson
• “Blue Stocking Women in the Eighteenth Century British Public Sphere: Motivations of Lord Macartney Prior to the Embassy” Michael Stephen
• “’We trace out all the veins of the earth’: Iberian Mining, Labor, and the Industrial Foundation of the Roman Empire: An Interdisciplinary Approach” by Donald Unger 

SPECIAL RECOGNITION FOR OUTSTANDING DEPARTMENTAL ASSISTANCE:  Sydney Pearson

Thank you and good luck to Dr. Michael Martoccio!  Dr. Martoccio will be heading to Oxford University on a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship in Fall 2019. We wish him the best of luck and thank him for all of the excellent teaching, mentoring, and inspiration he has brought to the students, faculty and department over the past three years. We will miss you!

Undergraduate Studies Newsletter Spring 2019

UGSNewsletter Spring 2019 PDF

Click on the above to access the History Department Undergraduate Student Newsletter for Spring 2019, with information on scholarships, research and travel opportunities, and much, much more!

Courses of Interest for Spring 2019!

Want to know more about our connected histories?

Consider one of these courses for Spring 2019!

HISTORY LOWER DIVISION COURSES:

HIST 1900-001 Nation Building: Stories, Identity, and Conflicts, 1/22/2019-5/18/2019, Jared Benson, TU/TH 12:15-1:30PM, Centennial Hall 106. Description: Nation-Building explores the historical manufacture of states through a progressive examination of evolving material and ideological contexts. Most people today think of the world and its peoples in terms of “countries” (nation-states) and rarely consider how and why they have been conditioned over time to do so. Nation-states, relatively speaking, represent a very recent development in social organization over the course of human history.

HISTORY 3000 LEVEL COURSES:

HIST 3000-001 Steam, Stench, and Strikes, 1/22/2029-5/18/2019, Barbara Headle and Leah Davis-Witherow, TH 4:45-7:20PM, Columbine Hall 114. Description: Over the course of the nineteenth century, the United States experienced a series of revolutions that challenged citizens’ notions of class, race, gender, labor, leisure, modernity, and democracy. Such upheavals were not always overtly political; rather, they occurred in various contexts including technology, architecture, medicine, material culture, and the workplace. This class examines the economic, political, cultural, social, gendered, environmental, and artistic themes of late 19th-century and early 20th-century America.

HIST 3000-002 Laws of War, 1/22/2019-5/18/2019, Robin Lynch, WE 1:40-4:20PM, Columbine Hall 136 Description: This course explores the changing ethics and laws of war (organized violence) overtime. Specific thematic topics include debates over justice and expediency in the Peloponnesian War, feudalism and the Peace of God, the treatment of prisoners of war, Machiavellianism and Realpolitik, the U.S. Constitution and the roles of the President and Congress, nuclear and chemical weapons bans from WWI to the present, and the emerging norm over humanitarian intervention and RTP (the Right to Protect).

HIST 3000-004 History of Medicine/Body, 1/22/2019-5/18/2019, Susan Brandt, TU 1:40-4:20PM, Centennial Hall 191 Description: Media headlines confirm that healthcare is at the center of current debates over politics. Has medicine always played such a visible role in our culture? This course offers an introduction to the history of healthcare and medicine in the United States from the colonial period to the present. Students will consider topics such as the effects of epidemics, the persistence of lay healing, medical professionalization, the authority of anatomical training, the role of healthcare institutions, public health, medical consumerism, women’s health, and healthcare activism. Students will interrogate how cultural discourses about healing and diseases have shaped our understandings of the body in sickness and health.

HIST 3000-005 Russian History, 1/22/2019-5/18/2019, Melvyn Weissman, TU 1:40-4:20PM, Columbine Hall 117 Description:  Learn about the fascinating history of Russia from Peter the Great through the Russian Revolution to the Cold War and Soviet USSR. Your appreciation of current global politics will be grounded in new historical perspectives.

HIST 3100-001 Digital History, 1/22/2019-5/18/2019, Roger Martinez, TU 10:50-1:30PM, Columbine Hall 136  Description:  This course introduces students to the newly developing field of digital history, and gives students a chance to present a serious project of historical research in a digital medium, specifically building virtual worlds. We will learn visual programming and practice using Unity (a game development engine) and other digital tools.

HIST 4120 The Twelfth Century Renaissance, 1/22/2019-5/18/2019, Janet Myers, WE 7:30-10:05PM, Columbine Hall 216  Description: Scope of the course: 11th century through the 13th century. Themes covered will be political, social, religious, and economic developments that shaped Medieval Europe into a unique civilization.

HIST 4530-001 Civil War and Reconstruction, 1850-1877, Amy Haines and Paul Harvey, 1/22/2019-5/18/2019, TH 1:40-4:20PM Columbine Hall 216 Description: Intensive study of the causes and consequences of the Civil War, and the struggle over reconstruction. Course focuses on the period 1850 – 1877. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirements: Inclusiveness (Global/Diversity); Writing Intensive.

GES 4700: Power, Populations, and the U.S. Census, Barbara Headle, Friday 1:40-4:20, Columbine Hall 334. The Census is coming in 2020! Why do we care? In this course, student study the social, political, economic, racial, ethnic, and gender issues that have plagued the census since 1790 and continue today.

HISTORY ONLINE COURSES: HIST 4540-OL1 American Religious Cultures, 1945-2000, Karen deVries and Paul Harvey, 1/22/2019-5/18/2019, Online course. Description: Intensive research seminar focusing on primary texts of recent American religions from Cold War Protestantism to New Age Buddhism. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirements: Inclusiveness (Global/Diversity); Writing Intensive.

HISTORY WEEKEND UNIVERSITY SPRING 2019 HIS 3980-WK1- The Vietnam War Through Film, Samantha Christiansen, 2/16/2019-4/27/2019, SA 1:00-5:00PM  Description: A survey of the war in Southeast Asia through the eyes of Hollywood. Major periods include France’s war with Vietnam, early American involvement, the war through Asian eyes (as portrayed in Hollywood), the soldiers’ war back home, and the fall of Vietnam. HIST 1400-WK1 Latin America to 1810, Sarah Clay, 2/16/2019-4/27/2019, Osborne Center B215, SA 8:30-12:30PM  Description: Survey of the political, social and economic development of Latin America from pre-Columbian beginnings to 1810. Approved for LAS Humanities area and Global Awareness requirements. Approved for Compass Curriculum requirements: Inclusiveness (Global/Diversity); Explore-Arts, Humanities, and Cultures; Writing Intensive. GT-HI1.

HISTORY SUMMER Travel course, June 2019  HIST 3000: Special Topics: Pilgrims, Patriots, and Poets–Travel Course Janet Myers and Barbara Headle, 6/3/2019-6/7//2019. Description: Be a Pilgrim! Journey to Massachusetts on the history department’s maiden in-country travel course. We will venture to Boston, Plymouth, Lexington and Concord where we follow the footsteps of the determined, but not always so pure, Puritans; of the rabble-rousing, tea-tossing, rebel Patriots; and of the literary giants whose works range from the sublime to the downright eerie. This is a 3-credit hour upper division history course. When: June 3 – 7 2019. How Much: Tuition $1300. Travel expenses $2544. (Prices are approximate (subject to confirmation) Contact: Barbara Headle: bheadle@uccs.edu or Jan Myers: jmyers@uccs.edu

Women of Influence: Leah Davis Witherow

The History Department is proud to have Leah Davis Witherow as one of our proud MA alumni, as well as former Instructor and now part-time Lecturer in the Department. Recently Leah received a wonderful recognition locally, as a “Woman of Influence,” from the Colorado Springs Business Journal.

Here’s the article, which discusses Leah’s background and her work now as archivist and curator of history at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum:

https://www.csbj.com/2018/11/16/women-of-influence-leah-davis-witherow/

And here’s a video interview with Leah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=SGllS7vfXpM.

Congratulations to Leah, who has been a major force in shaping the teaching of history both to UCCS students and to the general public here in Colorado Springs.