Faculty and Staff News
The Department of History's faculty and staff faced the challenges of pivoting to all online courses in 2020 with aplomb, efficiency and innovation. Though the pandemic limited travel, many of us also managed to participate in service at all levels, squeak in some research and experience tremendous life events along the way.
Erik Alexander, PhD, served as the graduate programs director in the Department of History for six years. After a fruitful sabbatical in fall 2020, Dr. Alexander continues to work on a book proposal about 19th century political history and articles about political partisanship in the late 19th century.
Anthony Cheeseboro, PhD, continues his work on the African American history of the southwest Illinois region. He received a grant from SIUE’s College of Arts and Sciences to conduct research on African American churches in Edwardsville and enjoys teaching courses on both African and African American history in the department, as well as serving on committees related to equity and diversity for the SIU System.
Laura Fowler, PhD, teaches museum studies, as well as Illinois and U.S. history. She is currently working on an article titled, “Meridian Village: engaging older adults with student-led museum projects.”
Carole Collier Frick, PhD, who teaches early modern European history, has again been planning the annual Study Abroad Italy course. For this coming academic year, the three-credit hour HIST 300 will be scheduled for summer 2022, May 10 - June 10. This class will be celebrating its fifteenth anniversary year. Dr. Frick has also worked with CAS and the Graduate School to continue funding our Newberry Research Library membership, partnering with our Carbondale campus. Our membership makes available travel funds for students and faculty, each of whom are able use the rich resources of this outstanding research library, participating in workshops, conferences, programs, and publication opportunities through the Center for Renaissance Studies.
Jessica Harris, PhD, has been hired by SIUE as the Vice Chancellor for anti-racism, diversity, equity and inclusion after a national search. We miss Dr. Harris in the department’s teaching roster, but are proud to be her academic home at SIUE and look forward to working with her office to promote diversity and equity issues at SIUE.
Victoria Harrison, PhD, continues to teach U.S. history surveys and upper level courses for the department. She serves on the Editorial Board of the SIU Press and recently was a featured speaker in SIUE’s Sankofa Lecture Series.
Christienne Hinz, PhD, presented, "Critical Theory and Game-Design: Mapping Meaning-filled Spaces" at Georgetown University's Wargaming Society. A member of the Board of Directors of the Zenobia Award - a project that seeks to increase diversity and inclusivity in the history tabletop game design industry - she participated in the launch and administration of the very first contest. Dr. Hinz currently is designing the tabletop game, "the Blessed Share," which explores the political economy of gathering and hunting.
Bryan Jack, PhD, published an article, “’The Bitter with the Sweet:’ African Americans in Parsons, Kansas” in The Middle West Review Volume 8, Spring 2021. Dr. Jack was selected by the Missouri Humanities Council for the second time as a member of their “Show Me Missouri” Speakers Bureau, and give talks around the state of Missouri on Missouri history and culture. In summer 2021, Dr. Jack gave the keynote presentation and led discussion groups for the University City Library Big Book Challenge summer reading program. The subject was Frederick Douglass and discusses Douglass’ autobiographies.
Tom Jordan, PhD, continues to serve as coordinator for policy, communication and issues of concern for the Provost’s Office at SIUE. We miss Dr. Jordan's presence in the department but are always happy to be his academic home.
Jeff Manuel, PhD, is writing a book on the history of biofuels (i. e., ethanol) in the U.S. and Brazil, tentatively titled The Perennial Alternative: What Ethanol’s Past Tells Us About Its Possible Futures. Early findings from this research have been published in the Annals of Iowa and History and Technology, as well as several popular media outlets. Dr. Manuel also continues to co-edit Madison Historical: The Online Encyclopedia and Digital Archive for Madison County, Illinois and was recently promoted to the rank of professor.
Jennifer Miller, PhD, has been on sabbatical since January to work on her new book European Women’s and Gender History in the Long Twentieth Century: An Inclusive History, which is under contract with Bloomsbury press. This past May, Dr. Miller taught her History of the Holocaust class during the Maymester for the first time online and really enjoyed working with a great group of undergraduate and graduate students on the many historical debates of an incomprehensible historical event. In her spare time, Dr. Miller is training for her third half Ironman triathlon and enjoying the sunshine.
Robert “Buddy” Paulett, PhD, completed a year-long sabbatical in 2021-22. He continues working on a book manuscript about the political and geographic imaginings of King George III and the king’s relationship to British imperial projects in the 18th century.
Eric Ruckh, PhD, serves as interim Dean of Library and Information Sciences at SIUE. In addition to serving as interim Dean, Dr. Ruckh actively teaches in the honors program, imparting his historical knowledge on behalf of the department.
Jason Stacy, PhD, published Spoon River America: Edgar Lee Masters and the Myth of the American Small Town (Illinois, 2021) and a chapter on midwestern political identity in the 1890s in Jon Lauck's The Making of the Midwest: Essays on the Formation of Midwestern Identity, 1787-1900 (Hastings College, 2020). Dr. Stacy will also co-host C-SPAN’s “Cram for the APUS History Exam” again this year with Matt Ellington, his co-author on the textbook, Fabric of a Nation (Bedford/Freeman/Worth, 2020).
Steve Tamari, PhD, continues working on an English translation from Arabic of the chronicle of the 18th century barber of Damascus, Ahmad Ibn Budayr (fl. 1762). Inspired by Prof. Emerita Shirley Portwood, he recently began to teach HIST 301 Historical Methods using local history topics and resources. Dr. Tamari developed two undergraduate courses in the last year: HIST 101 "Social Movements from Jesus to Black Lives Matter" and "Society and Culture of Medieval Islam."
Tandra Taylor, PhD, joined the fepartment in fall 2020. She completed her dissertation on American women’s education in the 20th century at Saint Louis University in 2022, and is busy teaching surveys and upper level courses in modern African American history.
Allison Thomason, PhD, is currently serving in her fourth year as chair of the department. While not busy with chairing activities, Dr. Thomason has recently published a 32-chapter, co-edited volume, Handbook of the Senses in the Ancient Near East (Routledge 2021). She has also been active as the co-chair of the program committee for the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR), which plans their annual meeting. She has presented her research on the senses and other topics in Mesopotamia at several online and in-person conferences, and continues to serve as a national lecturer for the Archaeological Institute of America.
Kathleen Vongsathorn, PhD, is in her fifth year at SIUE and was recently promoted with tenure to Associate Professor. She was selected as a teaching and learning fellow at SIUE’s STEM Center. She published a co-edited anthology on hospital history and has also published chapters in other volumes on her work in the history of African and Ugandan health and medical sciences. Dr. Vongsathorn has submitted several large external grants with SIUE colleagues, and is the co-PI of a grant funded by the National Science Foundation. She is currently working on analyzing oral interviews she recorded in Uganda with the help of a graduate assistant.
Greg Viessman, BA '12, MA '15, PhD, completed his doctoral dissertation on early pyramid construction in Egyptian history at the University of Memphis (2022). He has recently joined the history department at SIUE as a lecturer teaching world history.
