As the semester draws to a close, we want to share some good news from the Department of History.
The Public History Program celebrates four interns gaining over 2,400 combined hours of hands-on experience at their host sites this semester.
Sophia Hoffert interned with the Notable Women of Delaware County, Indiana project and curating an online women’s history exhibition with help from Dr. DeSilva’s HIST 200 students.
Bilingual Dorien Scheets worked at Tumacacori National Historical Park in Arizona (part of the National Park Service) to translate and analyze Spanish missionary records, oral histories and archaeological specimens.
Melody Seberger interned with the world-renowned Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She has already organized, cataloged, and digitized several family archival collections.
Rebecca Wood partnered with the Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology in Indianapolis to complete her public history internship this fall. She has been adding to the SHAARD database and helping to complete the Indiana Bridges, Buildings, and Cemeteries ArcGIS map.
Faculty
Dr. Dorshele Stewart received the Excellence in Teaching Award, a university-wide competition that celebrates innovation in student-chosen faculty. Dr. Stewart will apply her award to her course, SS 397: Teaching Social Studies in the Elementary School.
Dr. Emily Johnson’s research on LGBTQ+ Muncie was profiled in Ball Bearings and The Daily News in advance of Muncie’s first Pride Parade on Sept. 19, 2020.
Dr. Wendy Soltz was accepted to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s 2021 Jack and Anita Hess Faculty Seminar on the topic of LGBTQ+ Histories of the Holocaust.
Dr. Sergei Zhuk participated in several presentations: “The KGB vs. Youth Culture: A Story of Hippies and Punks in Soviet Ukraine” for Ukrainian Studies Organization at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., Sept. 29, 2020; and “The KGB/FSB and Soviet/Russian Youth: Soviet/Russian Forms of Ideological Control and Foreign Enemies” and “Cold War Propaganda in Construction“ for the 52th National Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies in Washington D.C., Nov. 5-15, 2020.
Dr. Sarah Drake Brown served on the steering committee for a soon-to-be-released Educating for American Democracy (EAD) Roadmap. The purpose of this roadmap is to integrate the teaching of history and civics in order to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and capacities needed to sustain healthy democratic life. She also served as a reviewer, considering the intersection between the EAD Roadmap and the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework.
Dr. Nicole Etcheson published “‘When Women Do Military Duty’: The Civil War’s Impact on Woman Suffrage” in the December 2020 issues of the Journal of American History. She also published a book chapter, “The Making of Midwesterners: The Fletcher Family in Indiana,” in The Making of the Midwest: Essays on the Formation of Midwestern Identity, 1787-1900 edited by Jon Lauck and published by Hastings College Press.
Students
Ciera Boyes, Linda Laws, and Chris Burris received Inclusive Excellence in Teacher Education Scholarships from Teachers College.
Alumni
Kori Bethea, SOST 2018 and a World History teacher at Ben Davis Ninth Grade Center in Indianapolis, was commissioned by Ball State Football to create their newest promotional poster using current and historical images.
Paul Nelson, 2000 graduate, has released an independently produced historical documentary about Octave Chanute, an accomplished civil engineer and important figure in the history of aviation. The documentary will have its broadcast premiere on July 5, 2021 on Lakeshore PBS.
Many of our recent Social Studies Teaching Majors were hired to work in this challenging semester. Here’s a list of some of them:
Natalie Bradshaw teaches Social Studies at the Chicago Math and Science Academy in Chicago, Ill.
Zach Eckroth teaches History and Geography at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind.
Matthew Gammon teaches History at East Noble Middle School in Kendallville, Ind.
Clay Higgins teaches Social Studies at Edison School of Arts in Indianapolis, Ind.
Lauren Lykins teaches History at Beech Grove High School in Beech Grove, Ind.
Kimberly Parkhurst teaches Social Studies at Henry W. Longfellow Medical/STEM Middle School in Indianapolis, Ind.
Trisha Thien organizes educational and faith-formation camps at Annunciation Heights in Colorado.
Connor Walsh teaches Social Studies at Cowan Jr./Sr. High School in Cowan, Ind.
Rachel Witsaman teaches Social Studies and Language Arts at St. Rose of Lima Catholic School in Franklin, Ind.
Tori Zeek teaches Social Studies at Greendale Middle School in Lawrenceburg, Ind.
If you have good news to share, let us know at ballstatehistorydept@gmail.com. We’d love to hear from you!