WELCOME TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AT LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITY

In the established tradition of liberal arts education, the Department of History provides students with personal cultural enrichment, while preparing them for employment in fields in which historical knowledge, habits of mind, and skills (such as research, analysis, and communication) are valued, and/or for further study leading to careers in teaching, the law, the ministry, government service, and many others.

DEPARTMENTAL NEWS
EVENTS:
Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society Conference and Banquet was held April 23 at 4:00 pm at the Student Center

• Heather Parker presented a paper entitled "Why Tito: Economic Aid to Yugoslavia from the United States, 1950-1952"
• Matija Zizanovich presented a paper entitled "Wilson's Last Stand: The Italian Crisis, 1919-1920"
  

AWARDS:
GRADUATE PAPER COMPETITION PRIZE WINNERS:
First prize: Benjamin Brad Dison, “The Rise of Automobiles and the Fall of Passenger Trains in Shreveport, 1900-1970”
Second prize: Matija Zizanovic, “Wilson’s Last Stand: The Italian Crisis, 1919-1920”

OUTSTANDING PHI ALPHA THETA LEADERSHIP AWARDS:
Nick Ducote and Victoria Sheppard

WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH PAPER COMPETITION PRIZE WINNERS:
First prize: Miranda Dees, “The Role of Femininity in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League”
Second prize: Christina Thompson, “Consummating the Spiritual and the Physical World: Anne Bradstreet’s Expression of Puritanism”
Third prize: Lillian Grappe, “The Wife of Bath: A Tragic Caricature of Women”

OVERDYKE FIRST PLACE AWARD WINNER Graduate Division 2011:
Benjamin Brad Dison for his paper, "The Steamboat's Contribution to the Development of Shreveport's Railroads, 1840-1890"

Congratulations to the winners and all of those who submitted their work for the competitions

PUBLICATIONS:
Dr. Nazir Atassi's article, “The Transmission of Ibn Sa’d ‘s Biographical Dictionary Kitab al-tabaquat al-kabir,” appears in the most recent number of the Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies, a topical issue devoted to studies on “The Book in Fact and Fiction in Pre-Modern Arabic Literature.” 

Dr. Stephen Webre’s article, “Familia y descendientes de Bernal Díaz del Castillo: un episodio del siglo XVII con una advertencia a todos los historiadores,” appears in the most recent number of the journal Anales de la Academia de Geografía e Historia de Guatemala.

Dr. Laurie Stoffpublished an article entitled"The “Myth of the War Experience” and Russian Wartime Nursing during World War I," in the most recent issue of Aspasia: The International Yearbook of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern European Women’s and Gender History, Volume 6, 2012


Dr. Stephen Webre is co-editor with Paul Lokken of Bryant University of Siglo olvidado, provincia olvidada: Centroamérica en el siglo XVII, special issue of Boletín de la AFEHC (Toulouse, France),no. 51 (Oct.-Dec., 2011).  Dr. Webre’s contribution to the collection is entitled “Nicaragua y la crisis general del siglo XVII”.   The Boletín is a quarterly electronic publication of the Asociación para el Fomento de los Estudios Históricos en Centroamérica and appears at http://www.afehc-historia-centroamericana.org/?action=bul_aff

Dr. Jeffrey Hankins published six essays on “Economy, Family & Society, Education, and Health & Welfare” in The World and Its Peoples, Vol. IV, Europe: Belgium, Luxembourg, and Netherlands(New York: Marshall Cavendish Reference, 2010)

PRESENTATIONS AND OTHER PROFESSION ACTIVITIES:

Louisiana Tech University Graduate Students presented papers at the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society Annual Regional Meeting in New Orleans, LA on March 2, 2012:

• Heather Parker presented a paper entitled "Why Tito: Economic Aid to Yugoslavia from the United States, 1950-1952"
• Matija Zizanovich presented a paper entitled "Wilson's Last Stand: The Italian Crisis, 1919-1920"

ALUMNI NEWS:
Ardala Wigman (MA 2011) is teaching at Linwood Public Charter School, Shreveport, La.

William Guillot (MA 2011) is teaching Advanced Placement and dual enrollment history at St. Frederick’s High School, Monroe, La.

Alexes Toomes (MA 2010) is teaching history at DeSoto High School in DeSoto, Texas. She is also an adjunct instructor at Tarrant County Community College in Arlington, Texas.

Jeremy T. Pendergrass (BA 2007) is president of Argent Property Services, a subsidiary of Argent Financial Group, Inc.

Eric Pardue (MA 2007) is Law Clerk to the Honorable Bernice B. Donald, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Memphis. Eric is also the author of the chapter, “ Kennedyphobia and the Rise of Republicans in Northwest Louisiana, 1960-1962,” in the recently published book, Painting Dixie Red: Where, When, Why, and How the South Became Republican, edited by Glenn Feldman (Gainesville : University Press of Florida, 2011).

Robert Alan Lay, Jr. (BA 2004, MA 2006) is employed as assistant processing archivist at the Dole Institute of Politics, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kans.  The Dole Institute collection houses a wide variety of text, audio, and photographic pieces highlighting the 35-year career of former U.S. Senator Robert J. Dole.

Josh Williams (MA, 2004) received the MLIS degree at Louisiana State University.  He currently works as park historian at Old Washington State Park in Hope, Ark.

Catherine J. Howell (BA 2003) completed the MA in International Development at the University of Denver and is now employed at the Economic Development Council in Washington, D.C.

Amanda McVay (BA, 2003) received the MA in public history at New Mexico State University.  Currently she is employed as museum director at the Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport.

Ryan Kilpatrick (BA, 2002) is employed as vice president for business development at Community Trust Bank, Ruston.

Roshunda Belton (BA, 1999; MA, 2001) received the PhD in history at Louisiana State University.  She is employed as assistant professor of history and interim head of the Department of History at Grambling State University.

LaGuana K. Gray (MA, 1999) received her PhD in history at the University of Houston in 2007.  Dr. Gray is now employed as an assistant professor of history at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Kent B. Germany (BA, 1992; MA, 1994) received the PhD in history at Tulane University.  Previously employed at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia, he is currently assistant professor of history and African American Studies at the University of South Carolina.  Dr. Germany is the author of New Orleans After the Promises: Poverty, Citizenship, and the Search for the Great Society (University of Georgia Press, 2007) and a co-editor of The Presidential Recordings: Lyndon B. Johnson (W. W. Norton, 2007).

Gary D. Joiner (BA 1973, MA 1975) holds the PhD in history from Lancaster University, Lancaster, England.  Dr. Joiner is currently Mary Anne and Leonard Selber Professor of History at Louisiana State University-Shreveport.  He is author, co-author, or editor of eleven books.

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