EMU History News
A newsletter for majors and minors in History at Eastern Michigan University
March 2008
Congratulations!
As the end of the academic year comes into view, we congratulate all of you on your academic accomplishments, and we offer special congratulations to our April graduates! The Department of History and Philosophy will honor your scholarly achievements during the past year at our annual Honors Reception, which will take place from 4:00 to 6:00 on April 7 in 300 Halle. All students are welcome to attend.
New Faculty Publication: An Age of Progress?
In his new book An Age of Progress? Clashing Twentieth-Century Global Forces, Walter Moss presents a history of clashing global forces in the 20th century. Moss evaluates that century's successes and failures through an analysis of multiple issues including violence; capitalism, socialism and communism; imperialism, racism, nationalism, westernization, globalization, and international finance; freedom and human rights; physical and mental environmental changes; and culture, science, education, religion, and social criticism. Joyce Appleby, Professor Emerita at UCLA, writes, "Elegantly, comprehensively, insightfully, Walter Moss carries us through the twentieth century’s record of progress and violence, promise and disappointment to an appreciation of the challenges we face in the twenty-first century."
An Age of Progress? will be published in April by Anthem Press.
Reacting to the Past
This year Mark Higbee has piloted the use of an innovative teaching method called Reacting to the Past in both halves of the American history survey. The Reacting method is based on elaborately designed games of historical simulation, in which students are assigned historical characters and "victory objectives" from a historic moment. The method is used at about a hundred universities around the country, and has been praised for its success at engaging students. Higbee's students have used "The Trial of Anne Hutchinson" and "Greenwich Village 1913," along with several other Reacting games. "So far, the experience with these games at Eastern strongly suggests that they can contribute much to EMU's students' education, by promoting active and engaged learning," says Higbee. "This method allows students to reenact historic conflicts, and it also requires them to be active learners. It's a lot of work, and fun, too." Higbee will be using Reacting games in his HIST 115 class this spring, and in his HIST 123 and HIST 319 classes in the fall.
Guest Lecture: A History of Contraception
As part of Women’s History Month, Dr. Gail Bederman, a leading scholar of women’s history at the University of Notre Dame, will present a lecture entitled, "Contraception and its Advocates in the USA, 1831-1965: A Revisionist History" on Tuesday, March 25th, at 7pm in Roosevelt Auditorium. Before the talk, Phi Alpha Theta and the Students’ History Association will host a reception for history instructors and students from 5:30 to 6:45 in the Burson Room of Roosevelt Hall. For information on this and other Phi Alpha Theta / Students’ History Association activities, please email cl_phialphatheta@emich.edu.
Special Topics Courses for Spring, Summer, and Fall 2008
During spring semester, Steven Ramold and the members of the travel class HIST 379: Civil War: Combat, Culture, and Place will tour several Civil War battlefields, Arlington Cemetery, and Ford's Theater, as well as the Library of Congress, where students will have the chance to view original letters and diaries written by Civil War participants. Back on campus, Robert Citino and his students will examine WWII military history in HIST 479: Death of the Wehrmacht: The German Campaigns of 1942. Citino will be a visiting professor at the US Military Academy at West Point next fall and winter, so if you are hoping to take a class with him in the next year, do not miss this opportunity!
In the summer we will offer a special one week course, HIST 479: US Diplomacy in the Middle East. Team taught by Professor Emerita Janice Terry and two young diplomats in the US State Department, this special topics class will focus on:
- US Foreign policy in Egypt, 1950s
- Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1970s and Present
- Contemporary Iraq: Life in the Green Zone, Baghdad
- Career Opportunities in the State Department and other government jobs
The class will include lectures, videos, role play, class discussions, and debates.
About the instructors:
Janice Terry was for many years a professor of history at EMU. She has written several books on the history of the modern Middle East, most recently U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East: The Role of Lobbies and Special Interest Groups (2005).
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Julie Eadeh, a career member of the Foreign Service, joined the Department of State in 2002 as a Presidential Management Fellow where she served in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. In 2004, she covered human rights and the first ever Saudi elections as a Political Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Eadeh was the Chief of American Citizen Services at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon and assisted in the largest civilian evacuation of American citizens since World War II. Since June 2007, Eadeh has worked as the Assistant Information Officer, covering press and media relations, at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. Eadeh graduated from EMU with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1999, and she also holds a master’s degree from Georgetown University.
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David Ng, a career member of the Foreign Service, joined the Department of State in 2003 as a David L. Boren National Security Education Program Fellow, and was a Political Officer in the Office of Korean Affairs at the outset of the six-party talks process. In 2004, Ng served as a Press Officer for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and as Tunisia Desk officer. Upon completing Arabic language training at the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, Virginia in 2005, Ng was Immigrant Visa Chief and covered refugee issues in Sana'a, Yemen. Since June 2007, Mr. Ng has been working as an Economic Officer at US Embassy Baghdad reporting on fiscal policy and conducting outreach to the Iraqi Parliament. Ng is a graduate of the University of Arizona and the University of California, Berkeley.
This class will meet on campus July 21-25.
In fall 2008, we will offer four special topics courses. Walter Moss will offer HIST 479: Violence and Other 20th Century Global Trends, a seminar based on his new book, An Age of Progress. HIST 379: The History of American Sports, taught by Steven Ramold, will examine shifting American tastes in sports and leisure as a reflection of changing American economic, political, and social attitudes. John McCurdy will be offering HIST 379: The History of Sexuality in America, a historical exploration of intimate relations in the US. Topics to be covered include the colonial family, interracial relations, birth control, sexually transmitted diseases, the rise of the gay community, and abortion. John Knight will teach HIST 379: The History of the Middle East: From the Rise of Islam to 1800. This is a new course which we hope will become a regular offering.
Registration for Spring, Summer, and Fall Classes Starts March 26!
Be sure to check the online schedule before registering—some course offerings have been changed, dropped, or added since the schedule went to press. Several classes will be offered online in all three terms. We are offering two one-week classes in Traverse City during summer term, and HIST 442: Modern China will be taught over the course of three weekends in the fall.
If you would like to talk about your course of study with a History undergraduate advisor, please call the Department at 487-1018 to make an appointment.
History Section
Department of History and Philosophy
Eastern Michigan University
701 Pray Harrold
734 487 1018