NEWS
Thompson Rivers University – Open Learning
Rosanne Sia has joined the History faculty at Open Learning and (along with Dr. Norm Fennema) will be teaching A Cultural History of Crime and Justice. Ms. Sia will defend her dissertation in Autumn 2020 at the Department of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California.
Athabasca University
The university celebrates its 50th year in 2020. Its mandate has been to provide distance education and reduce obstacles to students seeking to complete their degrees. AU’s undergraduate History program offers the BA with a 4-year major, a 3-year History concentration, or a minor. Many of our students, however, enroll as visiting students in order to transfer credits to their home institutions. Our 39 online history courses are self-paced and have rolling, monthly registration, which offers students maximum flexibility to balance their studies with family, work, travel, athletics, and other commitments. AU also offers undergraduate and graduate certificates in Heritage Resource Management (HERM). The MA Interdisciplinary Studies (MAIS) includes a history stream.
Okanagan College
The History Department of Okanagan College has adjusted to on-line delivery. Fortunately, the closing of face-to-face classes came at the end of the semester. Each of the five members of the History Department has adjusted in their own way. It is a time of experimentation.
In new developments, a new history course, Hist 320 Rise of Modern Capitalism, has been approved by the Okanagan College Curriculum and Program Review Committee. This is a major step and means it has a good chance of actually being taught in the Winter 2021 semester. The Hist 320 Capitalism course covers the rise of modern capitalism from the voyages of exploration of the 15th century to the voyages of space exploration of the 21st century. It will use the delightful book by Joyce Appleby, The Relentless Revolution: A History of Capitalism as one of its texts.
Howard Hisdal, CD, MA
College Professor
Chair, History Department
Mount Royal University
Professor Nazak Birjandifar joined the history faculty at Mount Royal University in September 2019. Dr. Birjandifar’s research focuses on the history of Medieval and Early Modern Iran, and particularly on the history of the Safavid empire and the region of Gilan.
The Canadian Heritage Photography Foundation
The CHPF is pleased to announce a new edition to our website titled “Photo Gallery” which will highlight various photographs from the archive. This month we are showcasing George Hunter’s early career in Winnipeg. The images were taken in 1943 during the course of his work as a newspaper photographer. They are wonderful depictions of everyday life in Manitoba during the 1940’s and we hope bring a smile to the face of those browsing the images from home during the current Covid-19 pandemic. The CHPF staff are working hard to continually update the images. Nicole (Executive Director – MA History) and Stephanie (Archivist -MA, MI) enjoy protecting and providing these Canadian historical images freely to the public.
York University
The history department is coping with the changes brought on by COVID-19. History courses went digital during the last weeks of the winter term. All summer History courses will be offered online or in a remote format. Also, a group of historians work on a video series entitled “Epidemics in History”. The idea is to create several short videos (5-6 minutes each) on some epidemics. The videos will be posted on the History website.
CHA Member Nancy Hansen
Wrote an op-ed on CBC
Who gets medical care during the coronavirus pandemic — and what does that mean for people with disabilities? | CBC News
Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies
The Wirth Institute is an interdisciplinary research and cultural institute based in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta. It is directed by the Early Modern European historian Joseph F. Patrouch and undertakes many History-related activities. Some of its past events in Academic Year 2019-20, along with some planned activities for Summer and Fall, 2020, are discussed below (with the understanding that changes to future plans may have to be made due to the ongoing public health emergency).
October 4 – Tova Yedlin Lecture was given by Natalie Zemon Davis
November 19 – Toby & Saul Reichert Holocaust Lecture was given by Herman van Goethem
The Salzburg Collection at the University of Alberta. Research – Stay of Dr. Marion Romberg
Guest researchers: Joanna Dobkowska-Kubacka of the University of Łódź (Poland)
The competitions for next year’s doctoral fellowships are currently underway.
University of Alberta
Dr. Crystal Fraser joined the Department as an Assistant Professor on January 1, 2020, cross-appointed with the Faculty of Native Studies. Dr. Fraser is Gwichyà Gwich’in from Inuvik and Dachan Choo Gę̀hnjik in the Northwest Territories.
June 30, 2020 will mark a number of retirements from the Department:
Dr. Lesley Cormack, Dean of Arts and historian of science and technology, who is departing to take up the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor & Principal of UBC Okanagan
Dr. Gerhard Ens, historian of western Canada and the fur trade
Dr. Colleen Skidmore, historian of photography and women photographers in Canada
Dr. Andrew Ede, historian of US science, will retire later in the year.
These follow the retirements of several colleagues in 2018 and 2019:
Dr. Andrew Gow, historian of medieval and early modern Europe
Dr. Jennifer Jay, historian of Song-Yuan China
Dr. Susan Smith, historian of medicine in the US
Lastly, it is a sad duty to report some deaths of history faculty members:
Dr. Guy Thompson died suddenly on May 10, 2019, at the age of 54
Dr. John Herd Thompson died on July 13, 2019, in British Columbia
Professor Emeritus Robert (Bob) Hett passed away in Edmonton on April 6, 2020, at the age of 92. See obituary.
St. Thomas University
New awards for students:
David Lister Myles Prize in History ($250), to be awarded annually to a senior History student for excellence in material history, experiential learning, or public history. David L. Myles (1938-2019) was a respected public historian active in historic preservation, archival holdings, and museum curatorship.
Rusty Bittermann World History Prize ($250), for a junior History student in world history; in honour of Rusty Bittermann, who was the driving force in developing a world history curriculum at STU from 2000 to 2015.
New courses:
Bonnie Huskins is offering a new course in the fall semester of 2020: HIST 2233 Pirates and Piracy and World History, surveying the history of piracy from ancient times to present-day Somalian pirates.
Karen Robert is presenting a new course in winter 2021: HIST 3483 People Power in Latin America, which examines the rich and diverse history of non-violent movements for social change in Latin America since the early twentieth century.
In winter 2021 Carey Watt is trying out HIST 2243 History of Modern Middle East, covering the history of the Middle East (Southwest Asia), c. 1800 to present, and with UNB PhD candidate Adam Nadeau he has developed HIST 2283 The Indian Ocean and the World, which explores the social, political, and economic history of the Indian Ocean world during the early modern period c.1450 to 1750.
University of Victoria
Dr. Wendy Wickwire won British Columbia Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing second prize for At the Bridge: James Teit and an Anthropology of Belonging, UBC Press and was shortlisted for theRoderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize to recognize the author(s) of the book that contributes most to the enjoyment and understanding of British Columbia. Her book also made the short list or honorable mention list for the Basil Stuart Stubbs prize, the $10,000 Wilson Institute book prize and is a finalist in the running for the Ryga Award for Social Awareness which will be announced in June.
Dr. Jenny Clayton won British Columbia Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing third prize for her book The Lieutenant Governors of BC.
Dr. Patricia Roy – British Columbia Medal of Good Citizenship, 2020.
Dr. Jordan Stanger-Ross – University of Victoria Humanities Award for Research Excellence, 2019
Dr. Rachel Cleves – election to the Royal Society of Canada, College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, 2019
Dr. Georgia Sitara – University of Victoria Gilian Sherwin Award for Teaching Excellence, 2019
As one response to the Corona crisis, in March the History Department did a fund raiser and raised $5250 in two weeks, $3,600 which went to Our Place, a homeless shelter, enough to feed five meals (2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, one supper) to a community of about 1,600 people.
OPPORTUNITIES
Okanagan College
The History Department will have a temporary college professor position opening on our Vernon Campus for the Fall 2020 and Winter 2021 semesters. It will consist of 3 courses in the fall and 2 courses in the winter which will make it a 5/8 position. It does have the possibility of becoming on-going and could even expand. Our college is in an area of population increase. The Okanagan Valley is also the finest wine appellation in Canada. The courses for Fall 2020 are: Hist 112 Canada to 1867, Hist 115 Contemporary World 1900 to World War II, and Hist 216 History of British Columbia. The courses for Winter 2021 are: Hist 122 Canada since 1867, and Hist 125 Contemporary World from World War II to the Present.
PUBLICATIONS
John Belshaw, Chelsea Horton & Sarah Nickel. Histories of Indigenous Peoples and Canada, is an open textbook.
PearlAnn Reichwein & Karen Wall. Uplift: Visual Culture at the Banff School of Fine Arts. UBC Press, 15 September 2020.
Donica Belisle. Purchasing Power: Women and the Rise of Canadian Consumer Culture. University of Toronto Press, March 2020. 262 pp.
Donica Belisle. “Eating Clean: Anti-Chinese Advertising and the Making of White Racial Purity in the Canadian Pacific.” Global Food History 6, no. 1 (March 2020): 41-59. 18 pp.
Mitchell L. Hammond. Epidemics and the Modern World. University of Toronto Press, 2020.
Whose workspace is this?
Send your answers to Michel Duquet (mduquet@cha-shc.ca) by 15 May with “office” in the subject line;
a winner will be drawn from among those who answer correctly. There will be prizes!