News and Events

Phi Alpha Theta Induction

The Delta Phi chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society, inducted forty new members at a ceremony and reception on Wednesday, March 14. Professor Emeritus Michael Gordon gave a fascinating talk (pdf 42kb) on labor history and local history, highlighting the visit of the labor organizer Mother Jones to Milwaukee in 1910. UWM’s Delta Phi chapter has been reactivated this year under the leadership of new officers, and has sponsored a full schedule of workshops and lectures. Several members of the chapter attended the American Historical Association conference in Chicago in January, and many will be attending the Organization of American Historians conference in Milwaukee in April. The Phi Alpha Theta chapter will also be hosting the first annual UWM undergraduate history conference Friday May 11, from 1-4 pm in Holton 341 and adjoining rooms.

The newly-inducted undergraduate members: Kristen M. Berg, Quentin A. Black, Taylor Bour, Laura A. Carlson, Michael J. Connor, Caitlin M. Drifke, Russell C. Edlund, Danielle Eyre, Russell L. Hayden, Jason W. Hilderbrand, Zachary A.F. Hosale, Samuel A. Johnson, Corey Adam Kriescher, Mary Jane Kunath, Allysia M. Loebel, Katelyn J. Lucas, Timothy Thomas Mankiewicz, Evan S. McAllister, Cassandra L. Mentzer, Joel R. Newburg, Kaitlin A. O’Mahar, Matthew Scott Payne, John A. Rafa Todd, Drake Austin Reinick, Robert T. Sturtzen, Kristian Dee Vaughn, Olivia C. Wesely, and Michelle A. Zapf.

The newly-inducted graduate student members: Maura A. Coonan, Benoit Leridon, Louis R. Mercer, Amanda F. Strobel, and Joseph B. Walzer. The newly-inducted alumni members were Jacob C. Miller and Kathryn E. Weisbeck.

The newly-inducted faculty members: Dr. Michael A. Gordon, Dr. Joseph A. Rodriguez, and Dr. Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks.

The Delta Phi officers: Lucas J. Wolff, President; Danielle Eyre, Vice President; Allysia M. Loebel, Treasurer; Brianna M. Quade, Secretary; Olivia C. Wesely, Historian; Dr. Joseph A. Rodriguez, Faculty Advisor.

History Students Featured in L&S Newsletter

The February 2012 L&S newsletter (pdf) features History undergraduate and graduate students, their professional career paths, and history organizations with UWM chapters.

Four New History Faculty Members In 2011

Ben Johnson

Ben Johnson, who has a joint appointment with Global Studies, received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 2000, and taught at Southern Methodist University before coming to UWM. His areas of interest include three somewhat overlapping yet still distinct research fields: the history of the American West, the broader history of borderland areas, and environmental history. His first book, Revolution in Texas: How a Forgotten Rebellion and Its Bloody Suppression Turned Mexicans into Americans, published by Yale University Press, examined a regional rebellion in south Texas. In his second book, Bordertown: The Odyssey of an American Place, also published by Yale, Prof. Johnson developed an innovative collaboration with an art photographer to present the history of the U.S.-Mexico border through the life stories of the residents of one small town, accompanied by haunting black and white photographs of the land, buildings, and people. He is now working on a history of the conservation movement in the Progressive Era. Prof. Johnson will be teaching undergraduate and graduate courses on borderlands history, environmental history, and historical methods.

Christine Evans

Christine Evans received her Ph.D. in 2010 from the University of California, Berkeley, where her dissertation examined the relationship between mass media, propaganda, entertainment, and technology through a study of Soviet television in the middle and late twentieth century. She has published several articles on television and other aspects of Soviet culture, including “Song of the Year and Soviet ‘Official’ Culture in the 1970s,” which appeared in Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, and is working on a book examining the topic. Prof. Evans will be teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in Russian history, the history of popular culture, and historical methods.

Marcus Filippello

Marcus Filippello received his Ph.D. in 2010 from the University of California-Davis, where his dissertation examined the social and environmental history of a road that connected two towns in southeastern Benin, West Africa. He analyzes debates about the road in terms of larger issues of environmental change, nationalism, and identity formation in the post-colonial world, and is currently developing this into a book while on a semester-long fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Minnesota. Prof. Filippello’s interests in Africa emerged during his time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo, and he will be teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in African history and environmental history, and the world history survey.

David DiValerio

David DiValerio, who has a joint appointment with Religious Studies, received his Ph.D. in 2011 from the University of Virginia, where his dissertation focused on “holy madmen” in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. He examines these madmen, who performed shocking activities in public spaces or imitated wrathful deities in their dress and activities, within their social and historical contexts, which provides insights into both the political development of Tibet and the nature of sainthood. During his graduate training, Prof. DiValerio spent nearly two years in Tibet, India, and Nepal. He will be teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in Buddhism and Asian religions, and the introduction to religious studies.

Events

The Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting
Frontier Airlines Center, April 18-22, 2012

Attending to Early Modern Women 2012 Conference
UWM School of Continuing Education Conference Center, June 21-23, 2012