History Channel Awards Grant to John Kvach and Community Partners

Dr. John Kvach recently learned that that the History Channel has awarded him
and his community partners a grant to pursue a project studying local participation in the Civil War.

The purpose of the grant is to enable the creation of an online historical resource and exhibit area that preserves the public and private memories of Civil War-era individuals who lived in Madison County, Alabama, between 1861 and 1865. Tenth grade students from Huntsville High School (HHS), in conjunction with upper-level undergraduate and graduate history students from the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), will conduct primary source research in the Special Collections
Department of the Huntsville/Madison County Public Library.

This research will be used to create a website from which the public can read and explore period documents such as diaries, letters, and photographs; explore their community's involvement in the Civil War; and challenge individuals to adopt, research, and post their findings on a Civil War-era individual from Madison County. This project will be both the intellectual foundation and public portal for Madison County's planned commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War that begins in 2011.

As part of its overall mission to preserve and engage local history, the Huntsville/Madison County Historical Society (HMCHS) will oversee the project. Professional historians and archivists will guide students in the preservation, interpretation, and digitization of these records during the 2009-2010 school year. At the end of the school year, a week-long summer institute, sponsored by the UAH and HMCHS, will allow students to bring their individual projects together and collectively create an online resource dedicated to the preservation of local Civil War history within the broader context of state, regional, and national histories.

The project is an important step in the development of the UAH Huntsville History Department's Public History offerings, and will involve UAH history students and several community organizations, including Huntsville High School, the Huntsville/Madison County istorical Society, the Huntsville/Madison County Public Library, and the Railroad Depot Museum.

Congratulations to Dr. Kvach and the organizations that partnered with him!

Molly Johnson Awarded Tenure & Promotion

The Department is pleased to announce that UAH awarded Dr. Molly Johnson tenure this past spring and promoted her to associate professor. Molly specializes in the history of contemporary Germany and this past fall published a book, Training Socialist Citizens: Sports and the State in East Germany. Since coming to the university, she has taught 11 courses, and two of those classes included travel to Germany. Her peers acknowledged her classroom prowess and popularity by awarding her a UAH Foundation Distinguished Teaching Award in 2007. Loved and respected by her colleagues and students, Molly greatly deserves her new status. Congratulations Dr. Johnson!

Publication by Amanda Ringer, New Graduate Student in History

Amanda Ringer, a new graduate student in the history department, recently had an article published in The Graybeards, a national magazine dedicated to preserving the memory of the Korean War. “Children, Closure, and Korea” is a personal story about her grandfather’s return to Seoul fifty-five years after serving in the Korean War. Amanda reflects on her own feelings as she watched her grandfather confront and explore his past.

With a law degree from the University of Mississippi and additional graduate work at the University of the South, Amanda hopes to blend her prior experiences with her passion for history. She will focus on southern history while at UAHuntsville.

Congratulations on the article, Amanda, and good luck in your future studies!

Student Newspaper Profiles Two History Majors on "Balancing College, Kids, and Life"

The Exponent, UAHuntsville's student newspaper, recently featured an article profiling History majors and UAH students Veronica Ferreira and Dawn Suiter, both of whom have studied full-time at UAHuntsville while also raising children. History major Sarah Fisher wrote the article.

Veronica has majors in History and in Sociology and a minor in Women's Studies, and she plans to graduate in Spring 2010. Dawn majored in Secondary Education Social Science and has now completed all requirements and will graduate in August.

Please click here -- http://exponent.uah.edu/?p=500 -- to read the interview with Dawn and Veronica.



The first picture above is of Dawn with her husband Jerry and children Geoffrey, Megan, and Amanda. The second picture is of Veronica with her four children, Karley, Timmy, Lilian, and Cecelia.

Germans Visit Summer Class

On Wednesday June 17, 2009, three citizens of Germany -- who grew up in communist East Germany and who had just begun their university studies when the wall came down in 1989 -- participated in a panel discussion in Dr. Molly Johnson's summer class, History 479/579, "Europe in the Twentieth Century: Special Focus, The Cold War, 1945-1991."

Pictured here from left to right see Jana Sachsinger, Katrin Rebiger, and Bill Rebiger. (Katrin and Bill's son Simon was an exchange student at Huntsville High School in 2008-2009.)

UAH students asked the panelists a wide range of questions pertaining to topics as varied as the Stasi (the East German secret police), the Free German Youth organization, their views of the positives as well as the negatives of East German communism, their participation in resistance activities and demonstrations in 1989, their memories of shortages of consumer goods in East German times, the phenomenon of nostalgia for East German communism, etc. Bill Rebiger commented afterwards to Dr. Johnson that he was extremely impressed by the questions the students raised. Hurray for UAH students!

Many thanks to Jana, Katrin, and Bill for sharing their insights and experiences and enriching the class experience for all students.

Memorable Travel to Rome for Dr. Richard Gerberding's Course on "Rome: The Eternal City"

From Thursday May 14 to Monday June 1 2009, thirteen History students, Classical Studies students, and students representing other UAH majors traveled to Rome, Italy, as part of Dr. Richard Gerberding's Global Studies 199/History 399 course on "Rome: The Eternal City." This is the fourth time Dr. Gerberding has offered this course for UAH students, and it was once again a resounding success.

After a semester's worth of lectures in Huntsville, students benefited from additional lectures in Rome as well as the opportunity to see and interpret historical sites for themselves, including: St. Peter's Basilica; the Roman Forum; the Palatine; the Coliseum; the tomb of Augustus; the Ara Pacis; the Circus Maximus; the Catacombs; the Parthenon; the Basilica of Maxentius/Constantine; the Capitoline Museum; the church of San Clemente; the Castelo Sant Angelo; Santa Maria Maggiore; the Villa; the Vatican Museums and St. Peters; the Villa Borghese; Piazza Navona; the Victor Immanuel Monument; Mussolini’s Sports Stadium (Foro Italico); and the Milvian Bridge. Students also took excursions to Pompeii, Capri, and Florence.



Pictured here are two groups of students in Rome, one group next to the Trevi Fountain and another group on the way to the Opera.

The History Department is delighted these students got to experience such an amazing opportunity and encourages all History majors and minors to consider future Global Studies/History courses.

Three UAH History/Education Students Participate in Workshop on Teaching the Holocaust

On Friday May 8, 2009, three UAH History/Education students -- Kim Willis, John Milling, and Eddie Kimbrough -- participated in "Echoes and Reflections: A Multimedia Curriculum on the Holocaust," a Continuing Education workshop held at Athens State University for area teachers and teachers-to-be. The workshop was organized by the Anti-Defamation League, the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, and Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, with funding from Dana and Yossie Hollander and the Braun Holocaust Institute-Glick Center for Holocaust Studies.

Students participated in six hours of workshops and also received extensive curricular material tied to Alabama Education Standards, including multiple lesson plans on themes as varied as Anti-Semitism, the Ghettos, Jewish Resistance, and Children. Participants also discussed innovative ways of using literature courses as well as history courses to teach the Holocaust.

Particularly impressive to participant John Milling were the oral interviews that were done for the project. According to John, "They are a great primary source. It is fascinating to see the emotions people have and the intricate details people remember after more than sixty years. During their conversations, you can see on their faces that they are reliving their past in their memory. It is very sad to see how they are still affected by those events. That is something you miss by merely reading a personal account."

Pictured here are John and Kim with a copy of the curriculum materials they received at the workshop.

The history department commends Kim, John, and Eddie for seeking out this opportunity and hopes future History/Education students will also participate in similar workshops.