Faculty News

Professor Michael Francis has has been awarded a Kislak Fellowship in American Studies for 2010-11.  He will be in residence at the Library of Congress during the academic year, with an office which gives him easy access to a superb collection containing some of the earliest records of indigenous peoples in North America, especially Florida.  While he will be focusing on his own research, Dr. Francis will also interact with students and other researchers in the collection and in the Washington, D.C. community.


    On February 2 Professor Elizabeth Furdell will kick off the University of Alabama at Birmingham's NEH-funded library exhibit of Harry Potter's World with a talk on early modern magic and medicine.  On March 26 she will be the keynote speaker at Auburn University's conference on diabetes, speaking on the subject of her most recent book, Fatal Thirst (Brill, 2009).


Professor David Courtwright gave the keynote address at a conference on the 40th anniversary of the drug war.  He spoke on the history of drug use and drug policy, the subject of his book, Forces of Habit (Harvard University Press).

War and the Environment: Military Destruction in the Modern Age (Texas A&M Press, 2009), edited and with a substantial introduction by Professor Charles Closmann, is the latest addition to the bookshelf of publications by history department faculty.  The book includes both national and transnational approaches, bringing new insights for students of military history and environmental history – who do not often find themselves reading from the same bookshelves.


Internships

An internship can give history majors a chance to apply their historical skills in an off-campus setting.  Previous interns have worked with the National Park Service’s Kingsley Plantation and Castillo de San Marcos, the archives at St. Vincent’s Medical Center, the St. John’s Riverkeeper, and a host of other public history projects.

The Jacksonville Historical Society (pictured at right) will offer spring internships for history students.  Interns will have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the JHS archives.
    This fall, history major Robyn Bertram worked closely with JHS collections, processing and scanning items for the ongoing digitization project.  These collections include rare 19th century photographs, original blueprints, and personal and professional scrapbooks, all related to local Jacksonville history.  In particular, Robyn worked with the Merrill Collection, which includes important photographs relating to the late 19th-and 20th century local shipbuilding and dry dock repair company.  In addition, she assisted with the scanning of the Leah Mary Cox collection of glass plate negatives. 
    "The Society is pleased to have Robyn as part of the team assisting with the collections' processing within the repository," said Kate Bruce, Associate Director. To discuss an internship with the Historical Society, please contact her at kbruce@jacksonvillehistoricalsociety.com or call 665-0064, or contact department chair Dale Clifford.

     Students who can leave Jacksonville for an internship may want to consider the Student Conservation Association http://www.thesca.org/  While some projects are primarily in resource conservation, many are related directly to history and historic preservation.

    Other internship opportunities include local historical societies, the Kingsley Plantation and Fort Caroline, the Castillo de San Marcos and the Lighthouse Museum in St. Augustine, and the Jacksonville Museum of Science and History.  For more information about internships both inside and outside Jacksonville, contact department chair Dr. Dale Clifford (clifford@unf.edu).

Student Accomplishments

    Graduate students Justin Blanton and Spencer Tyce delivered well-received papers at the Gulf South History & Humanities Conference, held in Pensacola October 15-17, 2009.  Blanton’s paper, "Power Struggle and Murder: A Re-examination of the Timucuan Rebellion of 1656," was part of a panel on Colonial Florida.  the panel on Latin American Perspectives included Tyce’s examination of "Indios Esclavos Y Aigos: A reassessment of Indian-Conquistador relations in 16th Century Venezuela."

    History major Jasmine Stanley was selected one of five National Girl Scout Alumnae Volunteers, and spent the past summer mentoring young leaders at Girl Scout headquarters.  At UNF, she is founder and past president of Campus Girl Scouts. She writes that "My training in Craft of the Historian and my other history courses has been a great foundation."

    MA student Naveen (Drek) Ortiz took a break from his UNF program to live, study, and work in China, where he is currently teaching English at Shanghai University.  He and his new wife, Grace Chen, plan to return to UNF next year.

    Recent MA students Paul Halloran (MA 2008) and Joe Tepas (BA 2006; MA 2008) have joined the ranks of history teachers, Halloran at San Jose Episcopal and Tepas at Bolles.

Alumni news

2000:
    Jason Johnsen (BA 2000) received his M.Phil. from University College Cork in Ireland in 2007. He moved to Washington D.C. and joined the Department of Homeland Security originally as an Asylum/Refugee Officer, and now works as a regulatory and policy analyst/writer.

2003:
    Andrew Holt (BA 2003; MA 2006) has just passed his comprehensive examinations in history at the University of Florida and has achieved the status often referred to as ABD – all but dissertation.
    Nick Martin (BA 2003) is an Information/Enterprise Architect for a global defense contracting firm, responsible for enterprise systems architecture development and maintenance.

2006:
    Brooke Danson Fry (BA, 2006) worked with the archives at both the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C. after she graduated from UNF. She will begin the Master of Library Science program at FSU in spring 2010.
    Steven J. Nepowada (BA 2006) writes that he makes use of his history degree in his current career as 1st Lieutenant and  Reconnaissance Platoon Leader for the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) in Southern Afghanistan. "My degree ...has developed me into a better Officer and leader, helping me to understand how to research the areas of interest that my unit must operate in and understand the historical tactics the enemies in that area employ."
    David Opdycke (MA, 2006) has just joined Haven Trust Bank in Ponte Vedra as Business Development Manager. He and his wife Emily (BSN, 2003) are the parents of Holland Elizabeth, born in February 2007.
   Alicia Youngblut (BA 2006) received her MA in Russian and East European Studies at the University of Michigan in spring 2008.  She currently adjuncts in Russian Studies at Jacksonville University and is working on digitization at the UNF library.

2008:
    Paul Halloran (MA 2008) teaches history at San Jose Episcopal.
    Colleen Sorrells (BA 2008) teaches history and is Head Brain Brawl Coach at Robert E. Lee High School.

2009:
    Zarak Khan (BA 2009) spent the summer traveling, and has now begun his new job at Clemson University, where he serves as Americorps VISTA coordinator in the Center for Student Involvement. He continues his interest in environmental issues, and is organizing a food recycling program, which would see leftover food from dining halls donated to a local soup kitchen. It is due to start at Thanksgiving.
    Wes Plympton (BA 2009) received a scholarship and has just begun his studies at Florida International University College of Law.
 
Stay in Touch

    We would like to feature more news about history students and alumni in future editions of the history newsletter.  If you have news you would like us to include, please email the details to clifford@unf.edu
    The department is creating a list of the careers of history majors.  We promise not to list you by name (unless you want us to), but only by your chosen career(s), so just send a quick email to clifford@unf.edu with the information.   The first result of this list is this bookmark, shown front and back:

Support your history department
    If you would like to make a contribution to the history department, click on the site below, and in the Designation section of the Donation Information block, click “Other.”  That will provide a blank in which you can designate your gift to the history department.
 https://www.alumni.unf.edu/NetCommunity/SSLPage.aspx?&pid=392&srcid=183

Or you may mail your contribution to:
Department of History, University of North Florida,
1 UNF Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32224