Summer 2024 Newsletter

Greetings from the Department of History at the University of Minnesota,

We’ve had another busy and exciting year and are delighted to celebrate the many accomplishments of our faculty and staff, students, and alumni. We ended on a high note with a productive retreat in May, where we discussed developing a public history minor and expanding opportunities for undergraduate research. Postdoctoral Associate Andre Kobayashi Deckrow will be helping us implement those plans in the coming year.

Alumni & Student Connections

As we plan for those new undergraduate initiatives, our current programs continue strong: Katharine Gerbner has been coordinating College in the Schools and working with the University Libraries to bring high school students to campus. Meanwhile, CLA students are going out to classrooms around the Twin Cities as part of the History Day Mentor Program and alumni mentors-turned-teachers carry the momentum forward.

Five students have completed their PhD degrees this year, along with 85 history majors and 28 minors graduating with BAs. I was proud to attend commencement and hear history major Ian Zukor’s inspiring speech.

We’re also pleased to share that:

• Joe Trotter (PhD ‘80 and Giant Eagle Professor of History at Carnegie Mellon University) received the 2023 John Lewis Award for History and Social Justice from the American Historical Association.
• Vanessa Goodthunder (BA ‘16) received a CLA Emerging Alumni Award for her work in reviving the Dakota Language and culture through her role as director of C̣aƞṡayapi Waḳaƞyeża Owayawa Oṭi (The Lower Sioux Children are Sacred School).

For a list of many other accomplishments of students and alumni, read about recent accolades. The fall schedule for our History Book Club is also up, and we're looking forward to discussions of books by two faculty members and one alum.

We invite you to get involved:

• Donors make it possible for us to support our students and programming. Consider making a gift.
• What have you been up to? How has your history degree informed your career and adventures? Share your news with us!

Faculty Achievements

Our faculty continue to play critical roles in the University and profession:

• Ann Waltner has served this past year as Interim Dean of CLA.
• Tracey Deutsch was just named Associate Dean for Arts & Humanities.
• Katharine Gerbner was named Paul W. Frenzel Chair in Liberal Arts and Director of the Religious Studies Program.
• Barbara Welke became President of the American Society for Legal History.
• Kathryn Reyerson was elected President of the Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America.

In addition to the faculty publications and awards on our accolades page, here are a few highlights:

• Jean O’Brien was named Regents Professor, the highest honor the University of Minnesota bestows on its faculty.
• Kirsten Fischer received the Sara Evans Faculty Woman Scholar/Leader Award sponsored by the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost and the Women’s Center. 
• Saje Mathieu was awarded the University's Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Award and the John Tate Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising.
• Carla Rahn Phillips (professor emerita) was selected as the sixth recipient of Spain's international Premio de Historia Órdenes Españolas (History Prize of Spain's Noble Military Orders).

Farewells & Welcomes

We look forward to welcoming new faculty member Llana Barber, who has been appointed the Rudolph J. Vecoli Chair in Immigration History and director of the Immigration History Research Center. Professor Barber’s research focuses on Caribbean migration. Her first book, Latino City: Immigration and Urban Crisis in Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1945-2000, explores the history of New England’s first Latinx-majority city, with a focus on Puerto Rican and Dominican activism. She is currently researching the militarized exclusion of Haitian migrants from the United States, the Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas in the late 20th century.

We will also be welcoming a second Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow: Iman Mohamed, who has completed both a JD and PhD at Harvard and wrote a dissertation on Somalia in the early 20th century.

On a sadder note, we mourn the passing of Professor Emeritus Russell R. Menard.

Warm regards,

Sarah Chambers