Welcome Sandra Mendiola!

The History Department welcomes our new colleague, Sandra C. Mendiola! Sandra is currently finishing her doctoral dissertation in the History Department at Rutgers University and will join us this fall.

Her dissertation, entitled Street Vendors, Marketers, and Politics in Twentieth-Century Puebla, examines the lives of market women in Puebla, Mexico. She analyzes their backgrounds and values, and shows how they organized to defend their dignity and enhance their income. Blending labor, gender, and business history, Sandra not only uses traditional evidence, but also oral history interviews and records of police spies.

Sandra loves teaching! At Rutgers, she has taught Latin American Revolutions and Social History of Latin America. Among her ideas for courses in Latin American history at UAH, she suggested introductory surveys, labor and gender history, revolutions and counter-revolutions, the region during the Cold War, as well as media and history. Sandra is expert at teaching with technology (she confesses that she loves gadgets).

Sandra was born and raised in Puebla, Mexico. In 1998, she completed a BA in International Relations at the Universidad de las Américas-Puebla. From 1998-1999 she worked as a Spanish language assistant at Union College, NY. In 2000 she finished an MA in History at the University of Toronto, Canada.

Welcome Sandra!

History Majors Present at Phi Alpha Theta Conference; Jennifer Staton Wins Best Paper Award!

UAH history majors Thomas Bockhorn, Veronica Ferreira, and Jennifer Staton presented papers at the 2008 Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference at Samford University in Birmingham, AL, on Saturday, February 9, 2008. They were accompanied by Phi Alpha Theta Faculty Advisor Dr. Molly Johnson.

Thomas presented a paper on "Enterprising Citizens: Bell Factory's Profit by Slave Labor," written for Dr. Johanna Shields' graduate class on Southern History (HY 614). Veronica presented a paper on "How the Vote was Won: Alice Paul and the US Woman Suffrage Movement," written for Dr. Molly Johnson's Historical Methods course (HY 290). Jennifer Staton presented on "European Ideals of Slavery in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko," written for Dr. Christine Sears' Atlantic World class (HY 424).

All three students presented their papers and fielded questions well and were impressive representatives of the UAH history department.

The department is particularly pleased to announce that Jennifer Staton's paper was chosen for a Best Paper award. Congratulations, Jennifer!

Pictured here are Jennifer Staton with her professor Christine Sears and a sketch based on a stage performance of Oronooko, the subject of Jennifer's paper.

UAHuntsville Co-Hosting 2008 Conference of the "Consortium on the Revolutionary Era, 1750-1850"

From February 28 to March 1, UAHuntsville will be co-hosting the 2008 Conference of the Consortium on the Revolutionary Era, 1750-1850, together with Jacksonville State University. Dr. John Severn, Professor of History and Associate Provost at UAHuntsville, is on the Consortium's Board of Directors and was instrumental in bringing the 2008 Conference to Huntsville.

Including among the 100+ Conference participants are several current and former UAH historians. Dr. Severn and Dr. Christine Sears are both presenting papers, as is Carrie Barske, part-time instructor at UAH and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Massachusetts. UAH alum Thomas Reidy, now pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, is also presenting. Dr. Ernest Limbo, visiting assistant professor of history, is chairing a panel, and UAH alum Michele Kinney, now pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Texas-Arlington is chairing a panel for which Dr. Philip Boucher is providing commentary. Click here to see the conference program.

We are pleased to welcome historians from all over the United States and from Europe to Huntsville!