
The Dickinson history faculty in front of Denny Hall, Sept 2017
Updated June 2020
Associate Professor Jeremy Ball's article "'From Cabinda to Cunene': Monuments and the Construction of Angolan Nationalism Since 1975" has been published in the Journal of Southern African Studies Vol. 45, Issue 2 (2019), p. 1-21.
Assistant Professor Say Burgin's piece “'The shame of our whole judicial system': George Crockett, Jr., the New Bethel Shoot-in and the National's Jim Crow Judiciary" was published in the edited collection The Strange Careers of the Jim Crow North: Segregation and Struggle Outside of the South (NYU Press) in spring 2019. In the last year, she has also been invited to speak at Hostos Community College, the People's Forum in New York, and the Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg, and has published pieces in the Washington Post and the Gilder Lehrman Institute's History Now.
Professor David Commins' book, The Mecca Uprising: An Insider's Account of Salafism and Insurrection in Saudi Arabia by Nasir al-Huzaimi, about the 1979 uprising in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, will be published in December 2020. The book has two parts: translation of a memoir by a man who belonged to the group that launched the uprising, and an introduction to the historical, political and religious contexts surrounding the uprising.
Associate Professor Emily Pawley's book, The Nature of the Future: Agriculture, Science, and Capitalism, was published by the University of Chicago Press in Spring of 2020. On June 8 2020, she gave a virtual book talk, which is available to view online here: http://newnatures.org/greenhouse/events/online-book-talk-emily-pawley-the-nature-of-the-future/
Professor Matthew Pinsker helped spearhead a new initiative in 2019 on Dickinson & Slavery that resulted in a permanent exhibit at the House Divided Studio about the college's ties to slavery and anti-slavery, as well as a report to the community recommending a variety of changes to our campus commemoration of certain historical figures, including the possible renaming of some buildings and scholarships. In 2019, the House Divided Project (which Prof. Pinsker directs) also launched a major new cooperative agreement with the National Park Service to help preserve and study the evidence of group escapes from slavery, or "slave stampedes" as they were called, in the Missouri borderlands.
Professor Karl Qualls' new book, Stalin's Niños: Educating Spanish Civil War Refugee Children in the Soviet Union, 1937-51, was published in February 2020. On 4 March 2020 at 4:30pm he presented a FaculTea in Waidner-Spahr Library that discussed the book and the additional free digital content produced with history alumna Alexia Orengo Green '19.
Assistant Professor W. Evan Young received a D. Kim Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship for the 2019-20 academic year to develop his project, "Health and Home in Modern Japan: A Cultural History of Domestic Medicine, 1850-1960."
Alumni Events & News
First HIstory Department Alumni Forum: Feb. 16, 2018
On Feb. 16, 2018, the History Department held its first Alumni Forum, inviting nine alumni with Dickinson history degrees back to historic Denny Hall to talk to current students, faculty and staff about their diverse career paths. Our alumni guests spoke eloquently and enthusiastically on a range of topics, offering advice on everything from achieving work/life balance, to managing finances in the early years after graduation, to navigating career-path changes. One thing all of our alumni guests agreed on was the continuing relevance of the study of history in today's rapidly changing world, and the value of the knowledge and skills they gained as Dickinson history majors. We hope this event will be the first of many to bring history alumni back to campus! Read more here.
How Alumni Can Stay in Touch
The history department enjoys hearing from our alumni. Please let us know what you are doing by sending an email to brownmad@dickinson.edu and including "Alumni News" in the subject line. You can also connect with us via the department Facebook page.
History Alumni Profiles and News
- Reeves Whalen '02 engages the law . . . and everything else
- Sophia Brocenos '17 is the assistant registrar at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC
- Sharaldine Francisco '16 is a second-year graduate student (in summer 2020) in the Public Humanities MA Program at Brown University. Read her discussion of collective memory and trauma in Cold War Latin America here.
- Christopher Sharples '87 leaves his mark on New York City architecture
- Greg Zimmerman '83 is senior vice president of Big Box Development at Simon Property Group
- Laura Kamoie '92 writes best-selling novels
- Chris Cocores '05 charts a rewarding career in finance
- Jessica Baverman '09 works to improve the lives of Ethiopian Jews in Gedera, Israel
- Henry Sorett '68 has spent his life in the courtroom
- Anastasia Pfarr Khoo '97 is a marketing superstar/activist
- Bud Sturmak '95 ties sustainability to the bottom line with Bluesky Investment Management
- Jeff Cohen '79, with a high-octane career in financial services, has beat cancer four times and published a book about it
- Joseph Kelley '06 caught the political bug after taking Prof. Matthew Pinsker's U.S. history survey at Dickinson, now works in politics in New Jersey
- Sarah Zimmer '17 mixes art and civic engagement