News & Events

2021

• In Memoriam: Alumnus R. Richard “Dick” Wagner

  In Memoriam: Alumnus R. Richard “Dick” Wagner The Department of History is sad to share the news that one of our alums, R. Richard “Dick” Wagner (PhD, 1971) passed away unexpectedly on December 12, 2021 …

• In Memoriam: Alumnus Tyler Stovall

  The Department of History is saddened to note the passing of alumnus Tyler Stovall (PhD, 1984). Dr. Stovall studied with Harvey Goldberg at UW-Madison and became a distinguished historian of modern France with a particular …

• Professor Judd Kinzley Publishes Article in Wisconsin Magazine of History

  Congratulations to Professor Judd Kinzley, who has a new article published in the most recent issue of the Wisconsin Magazine of History. “The Ghosts of Science Hall: The Chinese Geologists of the University of Wisconsin” …

• Professor Gloria Whiting Wins Prize for Best Article in American Legal History

  Professor Gloria Whiting has received the Cromwell Prize from the American Society for Legal History for her article, “Race, Slavery, and the Problem of Numbers in Early New England: A View from Probate Court.” This …

• Professor Alfred McCoy Publishes New Book

  Congratulations to Professor Alfred McCoy on the publication of his new book, To Govern the Globe: World Orders and Catastrophic Change, out this month from Haymarket Books. From the publisher’s website: “In a tempestuous narrative …

• Professor Lucas Richert Publishes New Book on the Global History of Cannabis

  Lucas Richert, Associate Professor and George Urdang Chair in the History of Pharmacy and History Department faculty affiliate, has published a new book titled Cannabis: Global Histories (MIT Press, 2021). The book, co-edited by Lucas Richert …

• Professor Sasha Suarez Speaks to Local News about Indigenous Activism

  November is Native American Heritage Month, and to help bring awareness to Wisconsinites about some of the issues the Native American community have been facing, both past and present, Professor Sasha Suarez spoke with local Milwaukee news …

• Paige Glotzer Receives Best Book in North American Urban History Award

  Congratulations to Professor Paige Glotzer on receiving the 2021 Kenneth Jackson Award from the Urban History Association for How the Suburbs Were Segregated: Developers and the Business of Exclusionary Housing, 1890-1960 (Columbia University Press, 2020)! This …

• Professor Emeritus Thomas Spear Receives AHA Prize for Best Reference Work

  Congratulations to Professor Emeritus Thomas Spear for winning the American Historical Association’s Waldo G. Leland Prize for the best reference work published over the last five years! The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Historiography: Methods and Sources …

• UW History Alumni & Emeritus Receive WHA Awards

  Congratulations to our graduate program alumni, Jennifer Holland (PhD, 2013) and Cori Simon (PhD, 2020), on their awards from the Western Historical Association! At the WHA meeting last week, Jennifer Holland was presented with two …

• More 2021 posts

2020

• Alumnus Mark Solovey Publishes New Book

  Congratulations to alumnus Mark Solovey (PhD, 1996) on the publication of his newest book, Social Science for What? Battles Over Public Funding for the “Other Sciences” at the National Science Foundation (MIT Press, 2020). “In …

• History Department 2020 Newsletter – “The Past in the Present”

  History Newsletter 2020-21 (pdf) History Newsletter 2020-21: Mobile-Friendly Version (pdf) Chair’s Welcome History Welcomes New Members Interpreting 2020 The Joy of Learning New Club and Podcast Faculty/Staff/Emeritus News and more… This issue and past copies …

• Stanley Schultz (1938-2020)

  Stanley Kenton “Stan” Schultz, age 82, passed away at his home in Middleton, Wis., on Dec. 8, 2020. Stan was born on July 12, 1938, in Los Angeles, Calif., to Kenton Schultz and Virginia Pyle …

• Alumnus Paul Grant Publishes Book

  Alumnus Paul Grant (Ph.D. 2017) has published his first book, Healing and Power in Ghana: Early Indigenous Expressions of Christianity (Baylor University Press, 2020). According to the publisher’s website: “Focusing on the southeastern Gold Coast …

• Students of Professor Banerjee’s History 200 Say “Thank You”

  Professor Mou Banerjee got a surprise on Tuesday when students from her History 200 course on Gandhi, King, Mandela: Non-Violence in the World performed a coordinated thank you to Professor Banerjee over Zoom. Students turned …

• “Why Take History?” Video Contest

  The History Department announces up to three $500 prizes for short (1-3 minute) videos made by an undergraduate individual or team on the subject, “Why take History?” Videos may answer this question in a variety …

• Grad Student Patrick Eickman Publishes Book Review

  STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Graduate student Patrick Eickman has a book review published in De Re Militari: The Society for Medieval Military History. Eickman reviews Stephen J. Spencer’s Emotions in a Crusading Context, 1095-1291. “This work demonstrates the …

• Kathryn Ciancia publishes new book

  Kathryn Ciancia’s new book, On Civilization’s Edge: A Polish Borderland in the Interwar World (Oxford University Press, 2020) is now available. Description: As a resurgent Poland emerged at the end of World War I, an …

• Professor Aaron Rock-Singer Publishes Article on Islamic Religious & Social Movements

  Professor Aaron Rock-Singer has a new article in the journal Religions, titled “Practices of Piety: An Alternative Approach to the Study of Islamic Movements.” “This article challenges the dominant organization-centered focus of the study of …

• Professor Mou Banerjee Writes About Teaching Colonialism in History

  For a roundtable on Teaching Colonialism in History, Professor Mou Banerjee has written an introduction focused on “Decolonizing Pedagogy: History as a Reckoning with the Past.” Of her own teaching, Professor Banerjee states: “When I …

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2019

• Professor Emeritus David Sorkin Publishes New Book

  David Sorkin, a historian of Jewish and European history, has published a new book titled Jewish Emancipation: A History Across Five Centuries (Princeton University Press, 2019). Sorkin is a Professor Emeritus of our department and …

• Professor Lapina Interviewed on Wisconsin Public Radio

  This past Sunday, December 8th, Professor Elizabeth Lapina was interviewed on Wisconsin Public Radio for a segment titled “Knightly Culture and the Crusades.” The host was Norman Gilliland, who co-produces the weekly WPR program  “University …

• History Major Takes a Horticulture Class with Grandparents Who Audit

  Danielle Wendricks, a History major also studying Community and Nonprofit Leadership and Educational Policy at UW-Madison, took Horticulture 120 this semester with her grandparents, who audited the class as part of UW’s Senior Guest Auditor …

• Gloria Whiting publishes article in Slavery & Abolition

  Professor Gloria Whiting recently published an article in Slavery & Abolition titled “Emancipation without the courts or constitution: the case of Revolutionary Massachusetts.” The essay rethinks the process by which freedom was inaugurated in Massachusetts, …

• Professor Hennessy Longlisted for 2020 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award

  Professor Elizabeth Hennessy, whose book On the Backs of Tortoises: Darwin, the Galapagos, and the Fate of an Evolutionary Eden (Yale University Press) was published this year, is on the longlist for the PEN/E.O. Wilson …

• History Department 2019 Newsletter – “The Past in the Present”

  History Newsletter 2019-20 (pdf) Chair’s Welcome History Welcomes New Members ARCHIVE in NYC The Digital City, Migration, and You Faculty/Staff/Emeritus News and more… This issue and past copies of the newsletter can also be found …

• Alumnus Sam Gee Publishes Review Essay in the Los Angeles Review of Books

  Recent graduate Sam Gee (B.A. in History and Religious Studies, 2017) has published a review essay in the Los Angeles Review of Books. The essay covers a recent biography of the prominent twentieth-century Austrian philosopher …

• More 2019 posts

2018

• Walter Stern receives 2018 Kemper and Leila Williams Prize in Louisiana History

  Walter Stern, Assistant Professor of Educational Policy Studies and affiliated faculty member of the History Department, has received the 2018 Kemper and Leila Williams Prize in Louisiana History. This prize is awarded annually by the …

• L&S Newsletter Publishes Article on Professors Cindy I-Fen Cheng and Leonora Neville

  Sift & Winnow, the online L&S newsletter, has an article on the “Lessons of History” that features our own Cindy I-Fen Cheng and Leonora Neville, along with Christy Clark-Pujara, who teaches in the Department of …

• Commissioner Emeritus of Major League Baseball Bud Selig (B.A. 1956) Delivers Winter Commencement Speech

  On Sunday, December 16th, the winter graduates of 2018 and 6,700 guests packed the seats of the Kohl Center and listened to Alan H, “Bud” Selig, Commissioner Emeritus of Major League Baseball and class of …

• Alumnus David Gilbert Nominated for Grammy Award

  History alumnus David Gilbert (Ph.D. 2011) is up for a Grammy Award! He is nominated in the category of Best Album Notes for The Product of Our Souls: The Sound and Sway of James Reese …

• Publication from Goldberg Center Book Series Awarded Prize from the American Historical Association

  The book, Understanding and Teaching American Slavery, published as part of The Harvey Goldberg Series for Understanding and Teaching History with University of Wisconsin Press has just received the James Harvey Robinson Prize from the …

• Retiring Faculty Member, John Sharpless, Featured on Front Page of Wisconsin State Journal

  After 43 years of teaching, Professor John Sharpless will be retiring at the end of this month. Professor Sharpless has taught American history and political history at UW-Madison since 1975. Some of his former students …

• UW Alumna Rachel Gross Wins Best Dissertation Prize

  The Business History Conference has awarded the 2018 Herman E. Krooss Prize for Best Dissertation in Business History to Dr. Rachel Gross (Ph.D. 2017) (https://rachel-gross.com/). Enterprise and Society published a summary of the project, “From …

• More 2018 posts

2017

• History Department 2017 Newsletter – “The Past in the Present”

  History Newsletter 2017-18 – “The Past in the Present” Chair’s Welcome Twenty Years of ARCHIVE Drunk History Nature’s Metropolis Turns 25 Wisconsin 101 Progress Report Faculty/Emeriti News News Professorships Graduate Student/Alumni Notes Undergraduate/Graduate Awards and …

• African Studies celebrates the contributions of Florence Bernault

  The African Studies Program congratulates and bids a fond farewell to longtime colleague Florence Bernault, who will be returning to her home country of France for a senior professorship in African History at the Institut …

• Making Tracks: Gregg Mitman

  A recent autobiographical essay on how Gregg Mitman became an environmental historian, commissioned by the Rachel Carson Center. Read the essay on their blog, Seeing the Woods.

• History of Science Brown Bag – Marie Hicks

  “Searching for Genderqueerness in the Archive” Marie Hicks UW-Madison, Department of History Upcoming History of Science brown bag: December 8th with Lynn Nyhart – Town Hall

• Lecture: Evan Laksmana

  “Reshuffling the Deck?: Organizational Evolution, Officer Promotion, and Military Reform in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia” Evan Laksmana Doctoral Candidate Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Syracuse University Senior Researcher Center of Strategic and International Studies Jakarta …

• Lecture: Susan Brewer

  “A Place Called Home: Family and Identity on Oneida Land” with Susan Brewer Tuesday, December 5, 2017 4:00 PM 7191 Helen C. White Susan Brewer investigates the history of Oneida Indian land in central New …

• Better Health Through the Humanities

  A new certificate teaches students historical, cultural and philosophical ways people intersect with health care and provides them a broader, more nuanced understanding of health. Last spring in a Biology and Society course, Makenzie Wydra …

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2016

• Prof. Lederer named UNC Distinguished Visiting Professor

  January 2016 Susan E. Lederer, Robert Turell Professor of Medical History and Bioethics and department chair, will spend Spring 2016 in North Carolina. She will be the Nannerl O. Keohane Distinguished Visiting Professor at the …

• Gómez receives UW IRH residential fellowship

  January 2016 Assistant Professor Pablo Gómez has been awarded a UW Institute for Research in the Humanities (IRH) residential fellowship for the coming Fall semester. Pablo will be working on his second book project during …

• All History of Science Department Events for Spring 2016

  January 22 (Friday) at Noon Brown Bag Welcome to Spring Semester! BB organization and scheduling. Location: 204 Bradley Memorial January 29 (Friday) at Noon Brown Bag: Mitra Sharafi, Law School, UW-Madison “Blood Testing and Fear …

• All History of Science Department Events for Fall 2016

  September 9 (Friday) at Noon Brown Bag Welcome, introductions, and planning for the semester. For the remainder of the hour, we’ll have an informal discussion about current problems with academic publishing, which seems increasingly dysfunctional. …

• Post-Soviet Lustration and Contemporary Hierarchical Relations with Russia

  Professor Yuval Weber National Research University — Higher School of Economics (Moscow) Thursday, December 8, 2016 4:00 PM 206 Ingraham Hall A key challenge for post-authoritarian governments is to consolidate political authority; one of the …

• What’s in a Name?: Searching for the African Origins of “Samba” and “Zumbi” in Brazil

  Marc Hertzman Professor of History University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Wednesday, November 30, 2016 3:30 – 5:00 PM 8417 Social Science This presentation explores the contours and significance of prolonged searches for African origins of …

• The Ottoman Empire Through a Greek Lens

  Molly Greene Professor of History and Hellenic Studies Princeton University Wednesday, Novemeber 30, 2016 5:00-7:00 PM Rm 225 Pyle Center Molly Greene studies the history of the Mediterranean Basin, the Ottoman Empire, and the Greek …

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2015

• All History of Science Department Events for Fall 2015

  September 4 (Friday) at Noon Brown Bag Welcome, introductions, and planning for the semester Location: 204 Bradley Memorial September 11 (Friday) at Noon Brown Bag: Stephen Neal, History of Science, UW-Madison “Making Science Global During …

• “Journeys with Baron Ungern: Biography and Empire in the Russian Revolution”

  Willard Sunderland, Professor of Russian History, University of Cincinnati Friday, December 4, 2015 1:30 – 3:00 PM 212 University Club Sponsored by: Alice D. Mortensen/Petrovich Chair in Russian History, the George L. Mosse Program in …

• Workshop: Rethinking Borderlands

  Thursday December 3, 2015 Memorial Library Room 126 3:30 to 5:00 pm Kathryn Ciancia on Inter-war Poland Assistant Professor of History, UW-Madison Judd Kinzley on the Early People’s Republic of China Assistant Professor of History, …

• First Book Award to Nicole Nelson

  November 2015 The UW Center for the Humanities has awarded History of Science Assistant Professor Nicole Nelson a First Book Award, one of the three UW junior faculty in the humanities and interpretive social sciences …

• Department well-represented at the annual HSS meeting

  November 2015 The UW History of Science Department will be well-represented at the annual History of Science Society (HSS) meeting this month in San Francisco. Graduate students James Brannon, Melissa Charenko, Bridget Collins, Dana Freiburger, …

• Ujamaa Urbanists: Street Archives and City Life in Socialist Tanzania

  Emily Callaci Assistant Professor of History UW-Madison Nov. 23, 2015 3:30 – 4:30 PM 212 University Club Building Urban migration in Africa in the second half of the twentieth century has been one of the …

• “Why is China so Big? Rethinking the Boundaries of Civilized Empire under the Qing”

  Professor University of Chicago Nov. 13, 2015 1:30 – 3:00 PM Conrad A Elvehjem Building, Room L140 Prof. Pomeranz is a specialist on society and economy in late Imperial and twentieth-century China and the past …

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2014

• Disclosing/Enclosing Thematic Cluster

  December 2014 Assistant Professor Nicole Nelson from History of Science and a trio of Medical History and Bioethics faculty – Linda Hogle, Pilar Ossorio, and Kris Saha – form the team leaders of an exciting …

• Keller named Associate Dean of Division of International Studies

  December 2014 Professor Richard C. Keller, Department of Medical History and Bioethics and History of Science, has been named as associate dean of the UW–Madison Division of International Studies. Starting January 2015, Keller will serve …

• All History of Science Department Events for Fall 2014

  September 5 (Friday) at Noon Brown Bag Introductions and Planning Location: 204 Bradley Memorial September 12 (Friday) at Noon Brown Bag: Michael Shank, History of Science, UW-Madison “Rethinking Mathematical Culture from Pythagoras to Cusa: David …

• Emeritus Professor Robert Siegfried dies, first department PhD

  November 2014 Robert Siegfried, professor emeritus of the History of Science department and its first Ph.D. awardee, passed away on September 2, 2014. Siegfried taught in the department for many years after completing his doctorate …

• Professor Pablo F. Gómez garners UW ‘First Book Award

  November 2014 Hearty congratulations to Assistant Professor Pablo F. Gómez, History of Science and Medical History and Bioethics, who has received a 2014-15 “First Book Award” from the UW Center for the Humanities. Pablo’s book, …

• Elmer L. Andersen Research Scholars Award to Charenko

  November 2014 Graduate student Melissa Charenko has received a research award from the Elmer L. Andersen Research Scholars program at the University of Minnesota Libraries. She plans to use this award next year to look …

• Gregg Mitman – participates in a Congressional briefing Nov. 17 on the Ebola crisis in Africa

  Professor Gregg Mitman participated in a Congressional briefing on Ebola and the African Health Crisis in Washington, D.C. The briefing was be held on Monday, November 17, 2014 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. in the Gold …

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2013

• Honored Instructors Melissa Charenko and Toshihiro Higuchi

  December 2013 History of Science graduate student Melissa Charenko and Associate Lecturer and Postdoctoral Fellow Toshihiro Higuchi have been named Honored Instructors for their contributions to UW students and their education. This fall, as course …

• All History of Science Department Events for Fall 2013

  September 6 (Friday) at Noon Brown Bag Introductions and Planning Location: 204 Bradley Memorial September 13 (Friday) at Noon Richard Hirsh, Virginia Tech “History of Science & Technology and Public Policy: Reflections on an Academic’s …

• Emily Callaci won First Book Award for junior faculty

• Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen won the AHA’s biennial Dunning Prize for Best Book in US History

• Graduate Student Jesse Gant has co-authored a book about Wisconsin bicycling history

• Graduate Student Film Premieres at Tales From Planet Earth

  October 2013 Melissa Charenko’s short film, 24-7B, will premiere on Friday, November 1, 2013, the opening night of the 2013 Tales From Planet Earth biennial film festival. Charenko, a history of science graduate student, produced …

• Wall Street Journal ‘Numbers Guy’ Interviews Rick Keller

  August 2013 Carl Bialik, ‘The Numbers Guy’ columnist for the Wall Street Journal, interviewed Professor Rick Keller as part of his 17 August 2013 blog posting titled “The Challenge of Counting Heat-Wave Deaths.” Click ‘here‘ …

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2012

• Vilas Research Travel Grant to Scott Prinster

  December 2012 Doctoral candidate Scott Prinster has received a Vilas Research Travel Grant in support of his dissertation that explores the scientific critique of religious authority as higher biblical criticism spread in the United States. …

• All History of Science Department Events for Fall 2012

  September 7 (Friday) at Noon Brown Bag Introductions and Planning Location: 204 Bradley Memorial September 7 (Friday) at 3:00 pm Colloquium: Megan Raby, UW-Madison Title: “Taming ‘Jungle Island:’ The transformation of Barro Colorado Island into …

• Welcome Pablo F. Gómez

  November 2012 The department welcomes Pablo F. Gómez as an Assistant Professor. In addition to a Ph.D. in History of Medicine and Latin American History from Vanderbilt University in 2010, Pablo completed his M.D. at …

• Selig visit offers History undergrads rare opportunity

• History course teaches students to think globally about Pearl Harbor

• Vicki Fama garners Best Paper Award in St. Louis

  October 2012 Third-year graduate student Vicki Fama received the best paper award for her paper titled “Heroes and Villains: Displaying and Viewing Bodies at the United States Army Medical Museum, 1862-1888” at the recent 2012 …

• Jim Sweet wins the Frederick Douglass Book Prize

  James Sweet, Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin, has been selected as the winner of the 2012 Frederick Douglass Book Prize for his book, Domingos Álvares, African Healing, and the Intellectual History of …

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