History Department News

Faculty

Dr. Amy Bosworth, Assistant Professor of History, received her B.A. in history from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, her M.A. in History from Boston University, and her Ph.D. in History from Purdue University. She teaches courses in world, ancient, and medieval history at Muskingum University. Dr. Bosworth’s research interests include the social/cultural and religious history of early Middle Ages in particular the creation and use of saints’ lives in the Carolingian era (c.750-950). She has published “Learning from the Saints: Ninth-Century Hagiography and the Carolingian Renaissance.” History Compass 8, 9 (2010): 1055-1066. “Representing the Saint: The Structure of Heiric of Auxerre’s Miracula sancti Germani,” in Cullen J. Chandler and Steven A. Stofferahn (eds.), Discovery and Distinction in the Early Middle Ages: Studies in Honor of John J. Contreni (Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, forthcoming 2011), 292-314. She has presented “Seeking a Cure, Finding Forgiveness: Pilgrimage in the Carolingian World” at the International Medieval Congress - University of Leeds, Leeds, England (July 2010). “Female Pilgrims in the Carolingian Empire: Women and the Miraculous in the Ninth Century” presented at the 37th Annual Sewanee Medieval Colloquium - The University of the South, Sewanee, TN (April 2010).

Dr. Karen Dunak, Assistant Professor of History, joined the department in August 2010. Dr. Dunak is in the process of revising her dissertation, “‘As long as we both shall love’: Individuality, Authority, and the White Wedding in Postwar America,” with hopes of preparing the manuscript for future publication. While researching her dissertation, she traveled throughout the United States to visit archives such as the Center for Communal Studies at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, Indiana, the Iowa Women’s Archive at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, the Smithsonian Archives Center in Washington, DC, and the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She recently authored a book chapter on “Suburbanization and Consumerism, 1945-1985,” soon to be published in an edited collection, Events That Changed America in the Twentieth Century. She presented a paper, entitled, “‘Out of the closets and into the chapels!’: Same-Sex Weddings and the Battle for Marriage Equality” at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association in January 2011.

Dr. Alistair Hattingh, Associate Professor of History, was on sabbatical during 2009-10. Dr. Hattingh spent the year in Argentina, expanding his research on the relationship between Argentina's national and provincial governments in the years 1930-1943. He visited archives and libraries in the capital, Buenos Aires, as well as in the provinces of Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, and Catamarca. While in South America Dr. Hattingh took the opportunity to travel through Bolivia and Peru, visiting historical sites - such as Tiahuanaco, Lake Titicaca, and Cuzco - that feature prominently in his teaching of Latin American history. Following his sabbatical, he traveled to the country of his birth, South Africa, to take in the World Cup. Dr. Hattingh is the co-advisor of the International Affairs major at Muskingum and is an Assistant Coach of Men's Soccer.

Dr. Laura Hilton, Associate Professor of History and department chair, is continuing her scholarship on the Displaced Persons and the postwar period in Germany. She published an article, “Cultural Nationalism in Exile: Polish and Latvian Displaced Persons,” The Historian, Volume 71(2), 2009: 280-317. She also published a chapter in an edited collection, “The Jewish Communities in Frankfurt and Zeilsheim in Comparative Perspective,” in We Are Here: New Approaches to Jewish Displaced Persons in Postwar Germany, Avinoam Patt and Michael Berkowitz (eds.), Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2010: 194-226. She presented her research at a roundtable discussion, "Mir Zaynen Doh": New Research on the Surviving Remnant after the Holocaust," at the Lessons and Legacies, X conference in Boca Raton, FL in November 2010.

She was awarded the William Oxley Thompson Award from Muskingum University in August 2008. This is the Award for Outstanding Teaching, named in honor of an alumnus whose career combined teaching, ministry and service as president of Miami University and The Ohio State University. In the summer of 2009, she was one of twenty Teaching Fellows chosen to participate in the two-week Curt C. and Else Silberman Seminar for University Faculty at the Center for Advancement of Holocaust Studies, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Most recently, she published "The Black Market in History and Memory: German Perceptions of Victimhood from 1945 to 1948," German History, Volume 28(4), 2010: 479-497.

Dr. Bill Kerrigan, Arthur and Eloise Cole Distinguished Professor of American History, In conjunction with Dr. Tom McGrath, Dr. Kerrigan led a group of Muskingum students on a Civil War tour of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania in May of 2010. In June he traveled to Turkey to meet with administrators at Bilkent University to discuss exchange programs. In addition, he was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Writing grant for the summer of 2010 and spent the rest of his summer working on his book, Johnny Appleseed and the American Orchard: A Cultural History. He is on sabbatical for the spring semester of 2011.

Dr. Thomas McGrath, Associate Professor of History, conducted a research tip to Carlisle Barrack, PA, the U.S. Army War College on the subject of the American training and utilization of Chinese soldiers in the China-Burma-India theater during the Second World War. This research trip was funded by the Muskingum College Faculty Development Grants. He is authoring several articles in the Encyclopedia of World History, including entries on Southeast Asia during the Great Depression, Collapse of Chinese and Japanese Empires, and Decline of the Qing Military.

History Graduates

Allison Avolio (2006) was one of the student contributors to the publication on Cambridge, Ohio, edited by Dr. Bil Kerrigan. She completed her MA in Student Affairs within the field of Higher Education at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, in 2008.  She is currently the Director of Residential Life at Muskingum.

Meredith Bowman (2007) earned an MAT at Mount Vernon Nazarene University and is currently teaching at Danville Junior High School. She served as one of Dr. Kerrigan’s Summer Muskie Fellows during 2006 and co-authored a book on Salt Fork State Park with Dr. Kerrigan and alumnae Alicia Seng. She won the 2007 Schooley Award as outstanding senior and the 2007 Taylor Stults Senior Seminar Research Award. She also wrote an entry for the Encyclopedia of the First Amendment that focused on the Supreme Court case Citizen Publishing Co. et al v. United States.

Bill Carlson (2005) earned his MS in Environmental Studies from Ohio University.  He works for Tetra Tech as a Water Resources Scientist.

Nachiket Chanchani (2004) finished graduate work (M/Phil) at the Research Training Program offered by the renowned Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, in Calcutta, India and completed an MA at the University of Minnesota.  He is a Ph.D. student specializing in the study of South Asian art at the University of Pennsylvania. He has conducted disser­tation fieldwork in India and Nepal. His dissertation seeks to trace the expansion of sacred geographies, the movements of builders, and the creation of a mosaic of polities in the Central Himalayas, and how these intersected with the development of architectural form and stone temple construction from the eighth to the twelfth centuries.

Daniel Cowden (2006) won the Schooley Award from the Muskingum Department of History for outstanding senior in April 2006, is currently in the U.S. Marines, stationed in Afghanistan.

Erin Crosby (2003) works for the American Diabetes Association.

Becky Cross (2010) is completing her MA in Oral History at Columbia University in New York City.

Kelsey Eilers (2009) is completing her MA in African Studies at Ohio University.

Michael Faeth (2005) finished his MA in history at the University of Akron in 2007 and is completing a PhD program at the University of Minnesota in Comparative Early Modern History. He received grant assistance and spent part of the past year conducting dissertation research in Spain on his topic, the Expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain and Latin America.

Jennifer Gheen (2008) teaches Social Studies at Philo High School in Duncan Falls, Ohio.

Dean Gorsuch (2005) is the Assistant Editor for high school Geography textbooks for McGraw-Hill, working in their headquarters in Columbus, Ohio.

Megan Gray (2009) is a Sales Manager at the Dittmar Company.

Rebecka Hackett (2006) won the Schooley Award from the Muskingum Department of History for outstanding senior in April 2006 and completed her MA in Public History at Middle Tennessee State University. She serves as the Assistant Site Manager for the Zoar Village State Memorial.

Matthew Harris (2008) is completing his law degree at Cleveland State University.

Amanda Jones (2004) completed her MA in Public History at Indiana University—Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI). She is a Project Coordinator at the Center for Historic Preservation at Ball State University.

Paul Lafyatis (2009) works at J. P. Morgan Chase, in Columbus, OH.

Anthony Lorenz (2004) completed his M.Div at Princeton Seminary.  He is the minister for the Presbyterian Church of the Upper West Conocochegue.

Kristen Losey (2004) earned her M.Ed in Educational Administration -- Higher Education and Student Personnel from Kent State University.  She works for the Kent State University College of Business, as its Director of Business Experiences for students.

Mark Romis (2009) is an auditor at Crowe Horwath LLP in Chicago, IL.

Traci Rucker (2002) completed her MA in Public History at IUPUI.  She currently serves as Program Coordinator for the Visiting Scholar Programs at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

David Shahbodaghi (2010) is in medical school at West Virginia University and is a Second Lt. in the U.S. Army.

Sam Stevenson (2008) is the Vice-President at Reserve Orthodontic Lab in Medina, OH.

Erin Stevic (2002) completed her MA in Material Culture at Winterthur in Delaware, taught Ohio History and U.S. history here at Muskingum in the Fall of 2004.  She is currently Curator of the Windsor Historical Society in Windsor, Connecticut and the Director of NCAARD.

Princess Tarrance (2009) worked as a College Access Advisor for the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative Project REACH through Americorps in 2009-2010.  She is currently enrolled in the MPA program at Bowling Green University, with a focus on NGO and non-profit management.