History Newsletter
April 2005

Celebrating Student Accomplishments
     Graduating history major Allison Ralph (pictured at right) has been accepted at Cambridge University, where she will study history beginning in the fall.  She is the second UNF history major to attend Cambridge; Jessica Stebbins preceded her at Peterhouse College.
     Two students share this year’s Outstanding History BA Graduate Award: Neil Paradise, a double major in history and economics, who plans to enter law school in the fall, and Chris Sylvester, a double major in history and English.
     History students Drek Ortiz and Laura Root will deliver papers in April at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research meeting.  Ortiz’ paper is entitled “Ruthless Oppressors? Unraveling the Myths About the Spanish Inquisition,” and Root’s paper analyzes “Class Consciousness and the British Officer in World War I.”  Both have been accepted for the M.A. program at UNF and have been awarded Graduate Teaching Assistantships.  Also presenting papers at NCUR are history majors Katie Kole, whose paper examines the Inca expansion, Steven Nepowada’s treatment of Frederick Jackson Turner's Frontier Thesis, Disney World, and Popular Culture, and Stephanie Schropp, who has written on love in medieval French literature.
     In May graduate student James Holeman will attend the International Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he will deliver a paper on “Looking Behind the Veil of an Idealized Past: the Useful Legacy of a False Prophet.”

Faculty News
     Historians have received a number of prestigious awards this past year.  Dr. David Courtwright won an Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award for 2004-2005.  He will be on sabbatical during 2005-2006 working on his next book, which will examine the “culture wars.”  Dr. Thomas Leonard received the 2004-2005 Outstanding International Leadership Award. Dr. Theo Prousis was runner-up for the Distinguished Professor Award.  He will travel to Greece in May to deliver a paper “Risky Business: Russian Trade in the Ottoman Empire” at a conference at the University of Athens.  Dr. Michael Francis (pictured at left, in Spain) has been awarded the Franklin Research Grant from the American Philosophical Society, to help support his sabbatical research in Seville, Spain during 2005-2006.  Dr. Aaron Sheehan-Dean won a UNF Summer Research Grant to complete his book manuscript on Virginia soldiers in the Civil War, and Dr. Dan Schafer won a Summer Teaching Grant to co-author with students a revised edition of Jacksonville’s Ordeal by Fire: A Civil War History.  Dr. Harry Rothschild will use his International Faculty Grant to travel to China this summer, where he will collect materials for his courses on modern China.

For your bookshelves
     History faculty continue to be active in publishing articles and books.  The most recent publication is one from part-time faculty member Dr. David J. Ginzl: Stein Mart: An American Story of Roots, Family, and Building a Greater Dream (University of Tampa Press, 2004).  In the near future look forward to Dr. Elizabeth Furdell’s edited book Textual Healing: Essays on Medieval and Early Modern Medicine.  Dr. Furdell returns from sabbatical in fall 2005, when she will teach a large section of her popular course on Tudor-Stuart Britain.  Also soon to be published are two books edited by Dr. Charles Closmann, War and the Environment (Rowman & Littlefield), and Nature, Culture, and Environmental Protest, for the German Historical Institute.
 
Internships
     Looking for something interesting to do this summer?  You might be interested in applying your skills in a history internship.  The Amelia Island Museum in Fernandina Beach needs interns to help with archiving documents, and artifacts, some as old as 16th century.  The museum has a new library facility and a good working atmosphere according to Education Coordinator Rhonda Norheim, a UNF alumna.  Internships are also available at the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, which includes the Kingsley Plantation, the Jacksonville Historical Archives, the Jacksonville Beach or Clay County Archives, and organizations like the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum and the Jacksonville-based Museum of Science and History a number of other local institutions.  Interns must have at least a B average in history coursework.  For more information, contact Dr. Dale Clifford at 620-1858 or clifford@unf.edu.

Summer and Fall Registration
     The summer and fall schedules appear at the end of this newsletter.  Registration for fall will be unusual this year, because that term will mark the inauguration of the University’s new Banner system.  Early fall registration will take place for a week beginning on April 26, and then will not be available again until late July.  Students will be well-advised to take advantage of early registration.
 Because the new registration system does not permit you to view the department’s schedule by clicking on the department name, you will need instead to enter the course prefixes used in the department.  If you enter all of the following prefixes while holding down the control key, the result will be a history department schedule:  AMH, ASH, ASN, EUH, HIS, IDS, LAHSeminars and New Courses for Fall 2005

Undergraduate and Graduate Seminars:
AMH 4390/- James Madison - Williams - M 3:00-5:45 pm
Students enrolled in this seminar will explore the life and career of the founding father often referred to as the “Father of the Constitution,” James Madison.  Madison’s origins in the eighteenth century Virginia gentry, his education and the impact of the Enlightenment on his political perspective will be examined.  His contributions from the American Revolution to the creation of the new nation will also be investigated.  Students will be required to do a final research paper on some aspect of or issue relevant to the U.S. Constitution.

AMH 4491/ (CRN 82592) -Local History -  Schafer - T 6:00-8:45 pm
This seminar is an intensive workshop intended for students who are seriously interested in learning how to research and write local history. Its focus is the northeast Florida region because quality records are available nearby. The techniques learned, however, will be as applicable to other localities in North America and Europe as they are here. Training opportunities abound for history, journalism, and literature majors, as well as those interested in library and museum work, public administration, and historical preservation. Requirements include mandatory attendance, travel to sources, weekly oral reports and essays, and a demonstration project at the end of the term. If you choose this seminar expect hard but rewarding work, constructive criticism from supportive classmates and the instructor, and personal participation in the discipline of history.

HIS 4936 (CRN 82596) - SEM: Hitler and Stalin - Prousis - F 12:00-2:45 pm
 The seminar critically examines key events, issues, ideas, and actions which shaped the rise to power and the policies of Hitler and Stalin.   In addition to the political personalities of both leaders, we explore politics, society, culture, and foreign affairs in Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia

AMH 6936 (CRN 82578) - Diplomacy of WWII - Leonard - M 6:00-8:45 pm
This seminar will examine the reasons for U.S. entry into the war and its wartime policies regarding Asia, Europe and Latin America.

New Courses:

AMH 3932 (CRN 82889) - Baseball and American Society - Ginzl - TR 12:15-1:30 pm
For the past 150 years, baseball has been a reflection of American culture and values.  Some of the major themes in American history can be explored by studying the history of baseball - bitter labor disputes between players and owners from the 1880s to the present; the separate, but not equal, Negro Leagues, and the effects of the integration of baseball on the civil rights movement; the on-going conflicts over the impact of drugs, alcohol, and gambling on the sport; and the increased economic affluence and development of a consumer-driven economy that supports the present-day corporate world of sports.  Baseball is also about defeat and scandal, redemption and victory, whether it be the Black Sox scandal of 1919 or the mythical figure of Roy Hobbs in Malamud’s The Natural. To quote Roger Angell of The New Yorker, “Baseball seems to have been invented solely for the purpose of explaining all other things in life.”

AMH 3992/5991 - Old South - Sheehan-Dean - W 6-8:45
This course will introduce students to the history of the American South from the beginnings of European settlement in the early 17th century to the end of the Civil War. We will explore the various peoples that interacted in different parts of the South, including Native Americans, British settlers, French and Spanish colonists, and enslaved Africans. A central theme of the course will be the development of racial slavery in the Britain’s North American colonies. We will explore how and why this institution developed and seek to understand the experience of both slaveholders and enslaved people. We will also look in detail at the social and economic growth of the southern colonies and their participation in the larger Anglo-American world. Students will examine how important movements and events in American history were created and experienced by southerners, including the American Revolution, the Second Great Awakening, Jacksonian political battles, and the Market Revolution.

ASH 3990/ 5935 - Traditional China - Rothschild - TR 1:40-2:55 pm
This course investigates the three core institutions of Chinese civilization--the patriarchal family, the bureaucracy and the imperial monarchy—and introduces students to the social, cultural and ideological forces that shaped traditional Chinese history. We begin with oracle bone inscriptions in the Shang dynasty and end in roughly 1800. Topics covered include: formation of a political ideal; the development and evolution of the Confucian state; the Chinese vision of history; gender roles in traditional times; and the relations between state and periphery.

EUH 3990/ 5995  Nazi Germany - Closmann - TR 3:05-4:20 pm or R 6:00-8:45 pm
This course explores the history of Nazi Germany, 1933-1945, and provides an introduction into current historiography. We will examine the formation of the Nazi racial state and its pursuit of dictatorship, war, and mass murder while paying considerable attention to issues of conformity, dissent, and resistance. We will also discuss scholars’ efforts to identify and explain the key features and dynamics of Nazi Germany.

AMH 3312- (CD) Gender in the US - Williams - TR 3:05-4:20 pm
This course explores the evolution of social identities and the roles of men and women based on biological sex from prehistoric times to contemporary American society.  The relationship between the status of men and women and economic factors, ideology and politics constitutes the major focus of the course.  Particular emphasis will be placed on variations in gender identity and roles across cultures and at different times.  The class will also examine the tensions generated by mainstream cultural norms regarding gender and sexuality and these factors in diverse cultures and their impact.

HIS 3991/HIS 5990 Environmental History - Closmann - TR 9:25-10:40 am
Environmental History is a new and vital field. By studying the history of humankind’s evolving relationship to Nature, we can learn much about the roots of current ecological problems like Global Warming, environmental racism, and the extinction of rare animals and plants.

For the Summer and Fall 2005 schedules, go to
http://www.unf.edu/unfinfo/course-schedules/