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Personal Information: J. B. Owens

J. B. Owens
Professor of the History of Europe and World (1350-1750) and of Spain
Director, Geographically-Integrated History Laboratory
Co-project leader, DynCoopNet Project, TECT, ESF/NSF (2007-2010)
Guggenheim Fellow (2005-2006)
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow (2004-2005)
Department of History
Idaho State University
921 S. 8th Ave. - STOP 8344
Pocatello, ID 83209-8344, USA
Voice: (208) 282-3232 or 2379
FAX: (208) 282-4267
E-mail: owenjack at isu.edu
www: http://www.isu.edu/~owenjack

Professional History

I was raised in the Washington, D.C. area and developed an early interest in economic and political institutions and process. I hold degrees from Oberlin College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and I have taught at New York University, Lehigh University, and Idaho State University. I am the author of two books, Rebelión, monarquía y oligarquía murciana en la época de Carlos V (1980) and "By My Absolute Royal Authority": Justice and the Castilian Commonwealth at the Beginning of the First Global Age (2005), as well as a number of articles and reviews on topics related to the Castilian monarchy, 1400-1700, a subject that I continue to explore. With support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, I am writing a book on a large-scale smuggling network and its impact on the exercise of political authority within the Hispanic Monarchy in the age of Philip II (second half of the sixteenth century). I have also worked on the modern attempts to create the country of Spain on the basis of a written constitution, and I am particularly interested in Spain's transition to parliamentary democracy after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco.

Thanks to consecutive research fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities (2004-2005) and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2005-2006), I did not teach from the spring semester 2004 until the fall of 2006. In May 2006, I assembled a multi- national, multi-disciplinary research group in order to submit a funding proposal to the European Science Foundation's EUROCORES (European Collaborative Research) Scheme program "The Evolution of Cooperation and Trading" (TECT). We were successful in getting our project, "Dynamic Complexity of Cooperation-Based Self-Organizing Commercial Networks in the First Global Age [1400-1800]" (DynCoopNet). You will find an illustrated brochure about TECT and these projects (including the section I wrote about DynCoopNet) in pdf at the URL:

www.esf.org/activities/eurocores/programmes/tect.html.

With the addition of a new colleague, Dr. Sarah E. Hinman, ISU's History Department was able to begin our innovative graduate program in geographically-integrated history, known as the M.A. in Historical Resources Management. During each fall semester, I am now responsible for teaching a graduate-level course, Geographic Information Systems in Historical Studies.

I continue to explore the use of networked computers and the Internet for instructional purposes. For this work, I received the Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Technology from the National Conference on College Teaching and Learning at its seventh annual meeting in Jacksonville, Florida, 23 March 1996.

I am a member of the Academy of American Research Historians on Medieval Spain, American Historical Association (Life Member), Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association, Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Society for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies, Society of Automotive Historians, and World History Association.

1966 BA, Oberlin College
1968 MA, University of Wisconsin-Madison
1972 PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison
1971-1973 Assistant Professor, New York University
1972-1973 Visiting Assistant Professor, Lehman College - CUNY
1973-1975 Assistant Professor, Lehigh University
1975-1979 Assistant Professor, Idaho State University
1979-1984 Associate Professor, Idaho State University
1984- Professor, Idaho State University

All contents copyright © 1995-2008.
J. B. Owens
All rights reserved.


Revised: 18 August 2008


URL:  http://www.isu.edu/~owenjack/personal.html