Around the Courtyard | 2016

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  • 2016 News Archive

    • Congratulations to Jose Carlos on the following publications:

      Congratulations to Josh Paddison whose essay, "New Directions in the History of Religion and Race," appears in the current issue of American Quarterly 68 no. 4 (Dec. 2016): 1007-1017; here's the link: http://muse.jhu.edu/article/641471/pdf.

      Congratulations to Joaquin who had two book chapters published this week.

      • “Tras la huella de los bárbaros: Itinerarios comanches a través de México, 1821-1875.” Chapter in the book Los caminos transversales, edited by Chantal Cramaussel and Guadalupe Rodríguez, 189-216. Zamora, Michoacán: El Colegio de Michoacán, Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango.
      • “De ‘salvajes’ a ‘imperialistas’. Una revisión crítica de la historiografía sobre los comanches durante el período anterior a la reserva (1700-1875).”  In Visiones del pasado. Reflexiones para escribir la historia de los pueblos indígenas de América, edited by Ana Luisa Izquierdo, 153-192. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

      Congratulations to Ana Romo, recipient of an NEH Award for Faculty for 2017! 

      Congratulations to Dennis Dunn who has had an extraordinary week.  He was named Regents’ Professor by the Texas State Board of Regents and published his sixth book, The Catholic Church and Soviet Russia, 1917-39 (Routledge Religion, Society and Government in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet States)!

      Congratulations to Sara, Jose Carlos, Jeff, Ken, Jessica, and Joseph on winning REP awards!  Of the 13 grants awarded in Liberal Arts, History earned 6.

      Congratulations to Frank de la Teja who was one of several historians interviewed by KUT concerning the State Board of Education’s rejection of the Dunbar textbook on Mexican Americans.  You can find the interview at the following link: http://kut.org/post/what-1950s-texas-textbook-can-teach-us-about-todays-textbook-fight

      Congratulations to Frank de la Teja!  His book, Faces of Bexar; Early San Antonio & Texas won the Presidio La Bahia Award given by the Sons of the Republic of Texas.

      Congratulations to Adam Clark, who successfully defended his thesis on November 3rd.

      Congratulations to Heather Haley, MA’16, (and her advisor, Ellen Tillman), for winning The Graduate College’s Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award in the Humanities and Fine Arts!

      Congratulations to Lynn Denton whose article, “’They are Hauling Off bits of Texas’:  James E. Pearce and the Effort to Establish a State Museum,” appears in the October 2016 edition of the Southwestern Historical Quarterly.

      Congratulations to Angie Murphy whose chapter, “Wendell Phillips and the American Indian,” appears in Wendell Phillips, Social Justice, and the Power of the Past, eds. A J Aiséirithe and Donald Yacovone, Louisiana State University Press, 2016.

      Congratulations to Elizabeth Makowski, whose chapter “The Curious Case of Mary Felton,” will appear in Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Congress of Medieval Canon Law, published by the Vatican.

      Congratulations to Frank de la Teja who participated in a BBC World Service program entitled “Hispanic in Texas.”  His contribution begins about minute 6 of the 18-minute piece.  Here is the link to the program:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04b3ndh.

      Congratulations to Jason Mellard, whose the chapter "'Gettin' Tough': Steve Earle's America" appears in Craig Clifford and Craig Hillis, eds. Pickers & Poets: The Ruthlessly Poetic Singer-Songwriters of Texas (Texas A & M Press)!

      Jimmy’s latest essay can be found at http://www.themillions.com/2016/10/shape-beneath-color-impressionistic-wonders-woolfs-lighthouse.html

      Congratulations to Dennis Dunn. His latest book, A History of Orthodox, Islamic, and Western Christian Political Values, is now available from Palgrave Macmillan.  There is a copy on the table the office.  Dennis’ work will be included in the first spring book reading.

      Congratulations to Angie Murphy, whose article, Slavery & Abolition: "'This Foul Slavery-Reviving System': Irish Opposition to the Jamaica Emigration Scheme,” appears in Slavery & Abolition, 37:3, 578-579.  You can also find the article at the link below:

      Congratulations to Elizabeth Bishop and Ellen Tillman who have been chosen to guest edit an issue of the Graduate Journal of Social Sciences.  The theme for the issue is “New Military Histories of the 20th Century," and the CFP will have a deadline of late January 2017.  Please bring this to the attention of your graduate students.

      Congratulations as well to Jeff Helgeson who has been named the subject matter expert on the winning bid for the National Park Service's museum development team at the Pullman National Monument.

      Congratulations to Jimmy McWilliams whose article, "The Examined Lie," from Summer 2015 American Scholar was just named a Notable Essay of 2015 in The Best American Essays 2016 (edited by Jonathan Franzen).

      Congratulations to Dan Utley.  Texas A&M University Press published his edited collection of oral histories entitled Archie P. McDonald: A Life in Texas History.

      Congratulations to Jessica Pliley. Cambridge University Press published her co-edited volume (along with Robert Kramm-Masaoka and Harald Fischer-Tiné), Global Anti-Vice Activism, 1890-1950: Fighting Drinks, Drugs, and “Immorality.”  In addition to editing, Jessica also wrote the introduction and one of the chapters.    

      Congratulations to Frank de la Teja on the publication of Texan Identities:  Moving beyond Myth, Memory, and fallacy in Texas History.  This book, published by the University of North Texas Press, is a compilation of essays written by former Texas State graduates and presented at a symposium organized by Frank.

      Congratulations to Jeff Helgeson whose article, “American Labor and Working-Class History, 1900-1945,” has been published in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History. As editor Jon Butler notes: The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History is a peer-reviewed resource that “combines the speed & flexibility of digital with the rigorous standards of academic publishing.” the article is available online at:
      Helgeson, Jeffrey. "American Labor and Working-Class History, 1900–1945." American History: Oxford Research Encyclopedias. 1 Sep. 2016.

      Congratulations to Margaret Menninger, whose edited volume, The Total Work of Art:  foundations, articulations, inspirations, was published this summer by Berghahn.  In addition to editing the volume, Margaret also wrote the Introduction and co-authored one of the chapters, “The Will to Heal: Gesanamtkunstwerk and Memorial Music since 1945.”

      Congratulations to Dwight Watson, whose monograph, Race and the Houston Police Department, appears on The August 2016 New & Noteworthy list from the Legislative Reference Library.

      Congratulations to Tom Alter [MA ‘08] who successfully defended his dissertation [University of Illinois at Chicago] in July--"Dirt Farmer Internationalists, The Meitzen Family: Three Generations of Farmer-Labor Radicals, 1848-1932."

      Congratulations Elizabeth Bishop on the publication of her chapter, “Wearing Balmain, Dior, and Schiaparelli:  Foreign Escorts in Hashemite Iraq,” in Prostitution: A Companion of Mankind, ed. Frank Jacob, NY: Peter Lang, 2016.

      John Mckiernan-Gonzales participated in an extended podcast that New Books in Latino Studies completed with Kellly Lyttle-Hernandez.  Dr. Lyttle-Hernandez discussed how her experience growing up black and politically conscious on the San Diego border shaped her sense that the border matters to everybody. She also discusses the joy of the hunt, the troublesome effort to find archives – and ultimately make archives – to begin a history of the border patrol, and to look at the ways actual people (with families) tried to govern and control movement between Mexico and the United States. 
      - Link to podcast
      - Link to the series, New Books in Latino Studies

      Congratulations to Dr. McWilliams who had two articles, Black Oxygen: Suttree Reconsidered and Citizen Canine, Comrade Cow: Toward a New Kind of Animal Rights, published over the summer.

      Congratulations to the Model Arab League who was named "Academic Organization of the Year" for 2016 by the Student Organizations Council!

      Congratulations to the History Department's newest tenured faculty members!

      New Tenured Faculty
      Left to right: University President Denise Trauth, Dr. Ronald A. Johnson,
      Dr. Jessica Pliley, Dr. Jeffrey Helgeson, Dr. José Carlos de la Puente,
      Dr. Angela Murphy, Dr. John Mckiernan-González, University Provost Gene Bourgeois

    • On July 1st, the History Department, along with friends and family, gathered to celebrate the release of the film Free State of Jones, based on a book written by our own Victoria Bynum.  Dr. Bynum is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus who came to Texas State in 1986 and taught with the department until her retirement in 2010.  We had an wonderful turnout with over 90 people at the screening!  Congratulations to Vikki, and thank you to everyone who helped celebrate with us! 

      Victoria Bynum on movie setVictoria Bynum at Movei Release Party

      Congratulations to Shannon Duffy whose article “Loyalists” is the featured entry in Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia.  http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/

      Congratulations to Nancy Berlage on her monograph, Farmers Helping Farmers:  The Rise of the Farm and Home Bureaus, 1914-1935. 

      Congratulations to Frank de la Teja on his multi-volume translation of the Proceedings of the Constituent Congress of Coahuila and Texas, 1824-1827.  Frank worked on this large project with Manuel Gonzalez Oropeza (whom some of you may know as AnaLuisa Izquierdo’s husband).

      Congratulations to William McWhorter (MA ’05) who has been named Executive Director of the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission.

      Congratulations to our newest graduate successes: Allison Hughes Robinson defended her dissertation at the University of Houston last Friday (4/29), and Michelle Seiler defended hers at the University of Iowa May 5th!

      Congratulations to John Aylesworth, Heather Haley, Michael Naumann, and Chris Simons!
      John has been accepted to the doctoral program at Texas Tech University.
      Heather has been accepted to the doctoral program at Auburn University.
      Michael is working for the National Park Service at Colonial National Historical Park.
      Chris Simons has been accepted to the doctoral program at the University of Oklahoma.

      history liberal arts awards
      Congratulations to our Liberal Arts Award winners!

      Congratulations to Bryan Mann who will be the recipient of the Swinney Development Leave next spring and Shannon Duffy who will benefit from the Non-Tenure Line Faculty Leave in the Fall!

      Please welcome our newest Associate Professors—Jose Carlos de la Puente, Jeff Helgeson, Ron Johnson, John Mckiernan-Gonzalez, and Jessica Pliley!

      This has been a wonderful week for our faculty!  Dennis Dunn has been named a University Distinguished Professor.  Joseph Yick has been named the third Ingram Professor of History.

      Congratulations to Jimmy on “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner,” available from The Paris Review.

      Congratulations to Heather Haley who won the Writing Center Award for best graduate paper and Marissa Harris who won for best paper written in a 2000-level class.  Both awards were presented at the English Department Awards Ceremony.

      Congratulations to Elizabeth Bishop who chapter, “Muslim Americans Between the Challenge of Policing and Freedom of Expression,” appears in New Horizons of Muslim Diaspora in North America and Europe, Moha Ennaji, ed. (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), pp. 259-273.

      Congratulations to Shannon Duffy who secured an Online Resource Grant for Newspaper Archives 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection.

      Congratulations to Bryan Glass whose book, The Scottish Nation at Empire’s End, has been released in paperback.

      Congratulations to Ellen Tillman!  Her book, Dollar Diplomacy by Force: Nation-Building and Resistance in the Dominican Republic (UNC Press, 2016) is now available.

      Jimmy’s very interesting piece on Donald Trump: http://iasc-culture.org/THR/channels/THR/2016/03/why-trump/.

      Congratulations to Frank de la Teja on the publication of his edited volume, Lone Star Unionism, Dissent, and Resistance: Other Sides of the Civil War Texas, by the University of Oklahoma Press.  In addition to the Introduction written by Frank, the volume also contains chapters by Victoria Bynum (Professor Emeritus) and Rebecca Czuchury (MA ’99).

      Congratulations to Dan Utley and the Center for Texas Public History.  The latest edition of  Sound Historian (Journal of the Texas Oral History Association), edited through the Center for Texas Public History, includes an article by graduate student Heather Haley and a research guide by Ryan Henson, another graduate student as well as book review, graduate student Bill Brkich, Heather, and Dan.  Nancy Berlage serves as book review editor.

      Congratulations to Frank de la Teja whose book, Faces of Bexar:  Early San Antonio and Texas, has been published by Texas A&M Press. 

      Congratulations to Jimmy McWilliams who wrote the cover story for the Spring issue of The American Scholar.  There will be a hard copy on my desk tomorrow.  In the meantime, it is available here: Saving the Self in the Age of the Selfie.

      Congratulations to Elizabeth Bishop whose article, “Proxy Battle of the Cold War: Taxation in Hashemite Iraq,” appears in Studia Historica Gedanensia, VI (Gdansk, Poland) (2015): pp. 227-252.

      Congratulations to Frank de la Teja whose article, “Tejanos and the Siege and Battle of the Alamo” has now appeared: https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qst01

      Congratulations to Jeff Helgeson (Service), Jose de la Puente (Scholarly/Creative), Ron Johnson (Teaching) and Elizabeth Makowski (Teaching) on their nominations as Liberal Arts’ representatives to the university-wide committees!!

      Congratulations to Kendra DeHart, MA ’13, who has accepted a tenure-track position at Sul Ross University in Alpine, TX!

      Congratulations to Angie Murphy, Jose Carlos, Jeff, Ron, John, and Jessica!  The Liberal Arts College Review Group voted to support their applications for promotion and tenure and send them all up to the Provost and President!

      Congratulations to Jessica Pliley, whose article, “Vice Queens and White Slaves” appears in the January 2016 edition of the Journal of the History of Sexuality.  You can find it in digital form on Project Muse. 

      Texas State Walks Away from National University Model Arab League With Awards

      Summer 2016 MALThirteen Texas State students and a faculty advisor returned from the National University Model Arab League competition held in Washington DC with five individual awards. Twenty universities (among them, the American University in Cairo, Brigham Young University, Converse College, George Mason University, Georgia State University, Miami University of Ohio, Northeastern University, Shawnee State University, the US Air Force Academy, the US Military Academy, the Université Laval, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and the University of Houston/Honors College) were represented at the competition, which took place 6-10 April 2016.

      The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations organize a series of regional competitions at which students debate in five councils: Palestinian Affairs, Social Affairs, Political Affairs, Economic Affairs, and Joint Defense. At these, students sharpened their skills in diplomacy and public speech.  The Nationals event represents the culmination of all the teams' preparations, which sees Bobcats representing the Republic of Djibouti engaged with students from California to Massachusetts, as well as Cairo and Quebec.

      At their first national-level competition, Geoff Sloan and Lauren Schmidt found an "eyeopening" opportunity they shared with other enthused students. As Sloan remarked, "We felt this was an overall success, as we were able to pass more resolutions and control more of the conversations from the start, compared to our even greater lack of experience at our previous conference in Houston." Sloan and Schmidt were awarded "Distinguished Delegate" for their contribution to the Social Affairs Ministers council.

      With regard to her award-winning work, Sarah Jo Marshall noted: "The work in the council on Palestinian Affairs was full of diplomacy and strategy; it was a fantastic opportunity that motivated me to keep being involved in Model Arab League and look for future internships in the organization as well." It was difficult working so hard on something for so long but it builds character and teaches you valuable life lessons." Lily Lowder and Ryan Kirmse also returned with awards.

      The MAL program acknowledges support from the Dean of Students' Office, the Office of Equity and Access, Associated Student Government, the College of Liberal Arts, and the History Department.

      Dr. Elizabeth Bishop mentors Texas State University's program. For further information, contact her at eb26@txstate.edu.

      Bobcats - "Outstanding" at the Bilateral Chamber Model Arab League in Houston

      MAL WinnersThirteen Texas State students and their faculty advisor returned from the Bilateral Chamber Model Arab League competition held in Houston TX with individual and team awards. Eight universities (among them Houston Community College Honors College, Louisiana State University, Texas A&M University, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, University of Houston Downtown, University of Houston – Clear Lake, and University of Houston – Honors College) were represented at the competition, which took place 19-21 February 2016.

      The Bilateral US-Arab Chamber of Commerce and the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations organize these events at which students debate in five councils: Palestinian Affairs, Social Affairs, Political Affairs, Economic Affairs, and Joint Defense. At these competitions, students sharpened their skills in diplomacy and public speech. Two pairs of delegates brought home honors from this year's competition, and the entire team was recognized with the "Outstanding Delegation" award. As Head Delegate (and MAL President) Meghan Blizinski says, "I am very proud of my team for winning outstanding delegation; it is a true representation of all the hard work we put in to Model Arab League this past year. It was interesting and exciting to represent the Kingdom of Jordan and look forward to competing at Nationals!"

      MAL WinnersCarlos Ituarte and Daisy Jaimez received their own "Outstanding" for representing the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on the Economic Affairs council. Jamiez says, "we proposed resolutions that aimed to strengthen the private sector and SMEs in the MENA region; while our goal was to diversify the Arab League's economies into knowledge sectors, we also tried to integrate refugees into the formal labor sector of host countries." Ituare adds: "We established an agency that monitored petroleum production and transactions, in hopes of minimizing the sale of oil through secondary channels as a way of diverting funds for non-state actors."

      First-time delegates Lauren Schmidt and Geoff Sloan enjoyed what they call "a very professional experience" with students from other area universities. Despite the lack of formal experience, these two Bobcats made such an impression on the Social Affairs Council, that they were recognized as "Honorable Mention Delegates." As the award indicates, Lauren and Geoff proposed a vital amount of draft language for the resulting resolutions. By leading delegates from other schools, Lauren and Geoff represented Texas State as a key player in the Bilateral Competition.

      The MAL program acknowledges the support of Associated Student Government, the College of Liberal Arts, the Dean of Students' Office, the Office of Equity and Access, and the History Department. Dr. Elizabeth Bishop, of the Department of History, mentors Texas State University's program. For further information, you can email her at eb26@txstate.edu.