As chair of the UWM history department, it is my pleasure to share with you the first department newsletter in this new electronic format. A lot has changed since we last produced one, but I can look back on my two years as chair with some satisfaction. Reading the reports linked to here from our website will give you an idea of what’s been going on!
You’ll learn about the work of our recently hired assistant professors Marcus Allen and Xin Yu, my own retro computing lab which recently made the cover of USA Today, and department events including the most recent McGaffey lecture by Nathan Connolly of Johns Hopkins University. We sponsored Milwaukee legend and public history graduate Clayborn Benson for an honorary doctorate, which he received this spring when he also served as the university’s commencement speaker.
We’ve celebrated new books published by talented faculty members including Jennifer Jordan, Lisa Silverman, and Greg Carter on a dizzying range of topics: Nineteenth century brewing, the racial dimensions of Star Wars fandom, and antisemitism since the Second World War. Another book, whose authors included Amanda Seligman and Kim Hernandez, was the centerpiece of Glendale’s seventy fifth anniversary celebrations.
The department also found time to celebrate the achievements of two of our retiring faculty members, Lex Renda and Martha Carlin, both of whom shaped the experience of generations of students. Lex was also a force behind the scenes, scheduling history courses for more than twenty years. We mourned the passing of David Buck, who shaped the department both as a former professor and chair and as the driving force behind our Buck Chair in Chinese History.
My two years as chair were also a time of turnover in the department office, with the retirement of long serving department admins Anita Cathey and Ashia Gripentrog and the arrival of Susan Wagner and Ahna Wilson.
You can look forward to more news from the department’s next chair David DiValerio, who will have much to report as we get ready to welcome new faculty, students, and programs to the history department. As well as our existing graduate and undergraduate programs, the department will now be home to classics, comparative ethnic studies, and Hmong diaspora studies as well as host to the cultures and communities certificate program.
Best wishes,
Thomas Haigh