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 2012), 292-314. In May 2012 she presented “Accessing the Holy Dead: Gender, Pilgrimage, and the Cult of Saints in the Carolingian World” at the 47^th International Congress on Medieval Studies hosted by Western Michigan University, (Kalamazoo, MI).  In Spring 2012 she organized, along with Dr. Kaluhiokalani (English Department), two study abroad trips.  Students in HIST 313: Later Middle Ages traveled to London over spring break where they visited sites such as Westminster Abbey, Oxford University, Canterbury Cathedral, and the British Museum.  Over May Term students of HIST 312: Early Middle Ages toured Ireland, Scotland, and London for three weeks.  She is currently organizing a trip for 2013.  

Dr. Karen Dunak, Assistant Professor of History, continues to research and publish on topics related to post-World War II US social and cultural history. Blending her research and teaching interests with posts ranging from the emergent trend of bridal boudoir to the vision of romance communicated by 1970s popular music, in spring 2012 Dr. Dunak became a regular contributor to the Popular Romance Project, a site sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. She has two articles forthcoming: “Teaching the Many Americas of the 1950s,” The OAH Magazine of History (forthcoming, October 2012) and “‘Heed your creed, fall in love and get married’: New Left Ideology and Romantic Relationships,” Journal of American Culture (forthcoming, March 2013). Her book, As Long As We Both Shall Love: The White Wedding in Postwar America, will be published by New York University Press in the spring of 2013. She received the 2012 Junior Faculty Research Grant from the Ohio Academy of History in support of her new project, a cultural biography of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Dr. Dunak also serves as the co-advisor of the American Studies Program.

Dr. Alistair Hattingh, Associate Professor of History, continues to investigate the relationship between Argentina's national and provincial governments in the years 1930-1943. While on sabbatical in Argentina in 2009-10 he visited archives and libraries in the capital, Buenos Aires, as well as in the provinces of Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, and Catamarca. He is now examining this new material and integrating it into the larger project. Dr. Hattingh is a 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 postwar period in Germany.  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.  She will present her current research on rumors in the postwar period in Germany at the upcoming German Studies Association meeting in October 2012, with a paper entitled: “The Postwar Culture of Rumors: Security, Victimhood and Fear.”  Muskingum University awarded her the Cora I. Orr Award in August 2012, which is named in honor of a Muskingum faculty member and administrator who served the university with devotion and distinction for four decades.

Dr. Bil Kerrigan, Arthur and Eloise Cole Distinguished Professor of American History, was awarded the William Oxley Thompson Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Fall of 2011.  During the 2011-2012 academic year Dr. Kerrigan worked with museum curator Erin Stevic, (’02) and five students on a gallery exhibition, Muskingum: The First 175 Years. During the summer of 2012 he participated in a 5-week National Endowment for the Humanities Seminar on American Maritime History in Mystic, Connecticut. His most recent book, Johnny Appleseed and the American Orchard will be published by The Johns Hopkins University Press on November 1, 2012.  An essay excerpted from that book, “The Invention of Johnny Appleseed,” is the lead essay in the Fall 2012 issue of The Antioch Review. He is also active in his role as University Archivist.  During the summer 2012 he worked with Caleb Eno (’12) to update the Muskingum University Archives website: www.muskingumarchives.org. During the 2012-13 year he is working with a number of student interns on Archives projects.

Dr. Thomas McGrath, Associate Professor of History,  is currently researching the Chinese Army in India. This force was trained in India and equipped by the United States and utilized as part of the multinational force that liberated Burma and opened a land route to China during the Second World War. He has conducted research at the US Army War College, Carlisle Barrack, PA, the National Archives and Records Administration II (NARA II) in College Park, Maryland, and the Public Record Office (PRO), National Archives, UK for this project. These research trips were funded in part by two Muskingum University Faculty Development Grants. In 2011, Dr. McGrath published 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.

Jordan Eis (2009) earned her MA in History from University College Dublin, Ireland. Jordan's MA thesis is entitled "Kenya: The Breakdown of Colonial Relationships and the Failure of Indirect Rule."

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.