The History Department at ISU
Owens Receives $1.7 Million NSF Grant
Professor J. B. "Jack" Owens is the lead scholar in a multi-national research consortium funded by the National Science Foundation. The award of $1.7 million represents a significant national recognition for ISU's unique graduate program in Historical Resources Management, which trains students to use geographic information systems for historical analysis. Although focused on the history of social networks from 1400 to 1800, Owens points out that "the project’s ultimate goal is to better integrate into computational thinking the messy, ambiguous, uncertain, and contradictory information commonly used in history."
The project brings a new post-doctoral research fellow into the department. Dr. Barbara Stephenson (Ph.D. History, Rutgers University), is an expert on social network analysis. In her 2004 book, The Power and Patronage of Marguerite de Navarre, she uses sixteenth-century letters to and from the sister of France’s King Francis I to show how women exercised political authority. More on the significance of this project for ISU...
Idaho Yesterdays Debuts in Online Format
The Spring 2009 issue of Idaho Yesterdays is now available in a new, open-access, online format. The most recent historical scholarship on Idaho and the intermountain West can be found at www.idahoyesterdays.org. This issue, the first of two in Volume 50, features articles on land use and environmental history in the Gem State. The lead article is by former ISU history professor, Peter Boag, and is based on his paper for the Idaho Yesterdays Lecture he presented on campus in 2007.
Idaho Yesterdays, the leading academic journal in the state since it began in 1957, is currently edited by Dr. Kevin Marsh at Idaho State University with the support of Boise State University and is published by the Idaho State Historical Society. Associate editors include Dr. Laura Woodworth-Ney, chair of the History Department and previous editor of IY, and Dr. Ron Hatzenbuehler, who edits the book review section. more...
Hatzenbuehler Earns Outstanding Achievement in the Humanities Award for 2008
The Idaho Humanities Council has chosen to honor Ronald Hatzenbuehler, Ph.D., professor of History at Idaho State University, with the Idaho Humanities Council Outstanding Achievement in the Humanities Award for 2008. Hatzenbuehler has devoted "his career to exemplary teaching and scholarship," and has actively promoted the public humanities in Idaho.
After earning M. A. and Ph.D. degrees in history at Kent State University, Ron has taught at ISU since 1972. In addition to a teaching career of nearly four decades, Ron also has written and lectured to the general public on Idaho population trends, migration, political history, and the legacies of presidents.
He has served as an historian and consultant for many grassroots humanities projects and programs throughout Southeast Idaho, and has participated in many humanities workshops, institutes, and conferences.
An award presentation will take place on Thursday, February 19, 2009 at 8:00 pm in the Marshall Rotunda of the Stephens Performing Arts Center on the ISU campus. For more information contact the Idaho Humanities Council.
Idaho Landscapes Premier
Lavishly illustrated and featuring path-breaking scholarly research in colorful and readable language, Idaho Landscapes premiered in December 2008. Idaho Landscapes is jointly edited by Laura Woodworth-Ney, chair of the Idaho State University History department; Keith Peterson, Idaho state historian; and, Todd Shallat, director of the Center for Idaho History and Politics at Boise State University. In print now, the new Idaho Landscapes is available through the Idaho State Historical Society in Boise, Walrus and Carpenter Books in Pocatello, and the Center for Idaho History and Politics.
The magazine debuts "with mysteries--with a small town murder that leads to an Indian reservation, with mysterious clay tablets in an Idaho archive, with a famous writer's search for the 'dark underneath' of the human psyche, and with rivers that flow underground." For more information, see http://idaholandscapes.org.
History Compass: Theory and Methods Blog
Using Jack Owens’ History Compass article, "Toward a Geographically-Integrated, Connected World History: Employing Geographical Information Systems (GIS)" as a starting point, a discussion looking at the role of geographic information systems (GIS) in World History can be found by visiting http://historycompass.wordpress.com/2008/11/03/debate-what-can-gis-offer-world-history/#comments.
Putting a Spotlight on Our World
Use of the Geographic Information System—GIS—is expanding rapidly, and those who use it say there seems to be no limit to how it can be applied. GIS is computerized, multi layered mapping software that "allows us to analyze the world," explains Keith Weber in the summer edition of the ISU Magazine. For more information on this fascinating topic and how the Masters program in History is involved, visit the ISU Magazine web site.
History Professors Publish New Books
Laura Woodworth-Ney and Erika Kuhlman have both published important new books in 2008. Woodworth-Ney's offering is titled Women in the American West and is her third book on Idaho history. Kuhlman's book, Reconstructing Patriarchy after the Great War: Women, Gender, and Postwar Reconciliation between Nations is also her third publication. Both women have published numerous articles and reviews in scholarly venues, more...
TIG Grant
A Technology Incentive Grant was awarded to Barry Maheras and the History department for the redesigning of History 118, United States History and Culture. Maheras will be directing the design and creation of an interactive approach to studying history including role playing activities and adventures.
Professor Jack Owens Awarded $394,000 Grant for ISU's Role in an International, Collaborative Research Program.
Owens’ research group will examine the evolution of cooperation among merchants and between merchants and other groups, with particular attention to the commercial networks of importance to the global domains of Iberian monarchies during the first global age, 1400-1800, more...