History Newsletter - Summer 2026
Greetings from the Department of History at the University of Minnesota,
We have had a busy and exciting year, and we’re delighted to share the many accomplishments of our faculty and staff, students, and alumni.
Alumni & Student Connections
Seven students have completed their PhD degrees this past year, along with 84 history majors and 25 minors graduating with BAs. Thirty majors were inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.
As you will see in the linked stories below, our history majors are excelling in exciting research opportunities, both individually and collaboratively. Students in the inaugural History Lab created an exhibit last year on student activism that won a major public history prize. The second cohort created an exhibit on Farm Aid, now on view at the West Bank Skyway. And in another first, a pilot group of History Distinguished Scholars worked all year on their senior theses culminating in a conference in May.
We’re pleased to share a few highlights from alumni and current graduate students:
- Elizabeth Dillenburg (PhD ‘19) received the 2026 Provost’s Midcareer Scholars Award at Ohio State University.
- Jacob (Coby) Oertel (BA ‘20) received a CLA Outstanding Service Award for his work with the Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender & Sexuality Studies.
- Joe William Trotter, Jr. (PhD ‘80) and current PhD student JoJo Bell were shortlisted for the Museum of African American History’s Stone Book Award for their books, respectively, Building the Black City: The Transformation of American Life and Red Stained: The Life of Hilda Simms. Watch Bell talk about her book on the History Book Club YouTube channel.
- Elizabeth Quillen published Medieval Nuns at War: Rebellious, Resilient and Rowdy Women (Pen and Sword, November 2025). Watch Quillen talk about her book on the History Book Club YouTube channel.
For a list of many other accomplishments of students and alumni, read about recent accolades linked below. The fall schedule for our History Book Club will soon be posted, and you can watch past episodes on our YouTube Channel.
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
In addition to the faculty publications and awards on our Accolades page, here are a few highlights:
- Katharine Gerbner published Archival Irruptions: Constructing Religion and Criminalizing Obeah in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica (Duke, 2025). Watch Gerbner talk about her book on the History Book Club YouTube channel.
- Zozan Pehlivan was named co-winner of the 2024 Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association (OTSA) Book Prize for her book, The Political Ecology of Violence: Peasants and Pastoralists in the Last Ottoman Century. She was named the Arsham and Charlotte Ohanessian Chair for 2025–28. Watch Pehlivan talk about her book on the History Book Club YouTube channel.
- Emerita professor Carla Rahn Phillips has self-published a book titled Gun-toting Angels and Other Stories from the Spanish Empire.
Farewells & Welcomes
We’re pleased to announce that Noam Sienna will be joining us in the fall as the new Deinard Chair in Jewish History, and Iman Mohamed will transition from her President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship to a tenure-track assistant professorship.
On a sadder note, we mourn the passing of Andrea Hinding (BA ‘66), who went on to serve as curator in the Social Welfare History Archives and the YMCA Archives at the University of Minnesota. She was a pioneer in women’s studies, co-publishing Women’s History Sources: A Guide to Archives and Manuscript Collections in the U.S.
Warm regards,
Sarah C. Chambers
Professor and Department Chair
Innovative Undergraduate Experiences
Six students researched and produced an exhibit showcasing activism at UMN, winning the Alice Smith Prize in Public History.
The 8-panel exhibit begins by exploring the history of the 1980s Farm Crisis that inspired the first Farm Aid concert in 1985.
Read "History Students Create Exhibit on Farm Aid and the University of Minnesota"
In these interactive courses and seminars, students move beyond traditional lectures with research, field trips, role-playing games, and more.
Read “History courses offer students hands-on learning opportunities”
A new undergraduate thesis program is here, and students are getting ready to immerse themselves in historical methods in new ways.
Reflecting on Their Undergraduate Educations
Ryken Farr reflects on his hands-on learning experiences as a history major with minors in Jewish studies, German, and museum & curatorial studies.
For George Wellock, studying history in a disciplined way provides structure to the questions he’s held most of his life.
A conversation with Isabelle Pizzurro, recent history BA graduate, about her research process, playwriting, and the future of interdisciplinary historical work.
Research Spotlight
Noam Sienna (PhD '20, history) studies the history of Jewish communities in the early modern and modern Mediterranean world, and the history of the book as a material object.
Read “Meet the New Deinard Chair in Jewish History, Dr. Noam Sienna”
Hidden in archaic German scripts, a new history of Obeah emerges. Katharine Gerbner discusses "Archival Irruptions" and the recovery of a forgotten Afro-Caribbean religion.
Read “Katharine Gerbner on the History of Obeah and Religious Freedom”
Food historians Tracey Deutsch and Margie Tang-Whitmore work with Minnesota Historical Society on the “Julia Child: A Recipe for Life” exhibit, which includes a special feature for Minnesota immigrant chef Leeann Chin.
Immigration History
From Indigenous roots to global waves, Minnesota’s story is a rich tapestry. See how the Immigration History Research Center Archives’ 60 years of archives fuel innovative research on the immigrant experience.
Read “The IHRCA at 60 is showing how immigration shapes society”
Llana Barber discusses reframing Black narratives in US immigration history and shattering the too-narrow lens through which these stories have been told.
