CAL POLY • COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS • HISTORY DEPARTMENT • SPRING 2010 History Department Honors Barnes, Krieger, Snetsinger This Spring the department is not only celebrating our 40th anniversary, but we are also honoring three men who have been a part of all that we’ve accomplished during the past four decades. We trust that you all share with us in celebrating the many achievements of Professors Tim Barnes, Dan Krieger and John Snetsinger as mentors, friends, researchers, and, most of all, teachers. As late as 1969, there was no separate depart ment for the teaching of history at Cal Poly. The many history courses that were offered here were through the Social Science Department, which also offered courses in political science, geography, sociology, and anthropology. The Cal Poly History Department was founded during the 1969-70 academic year and experienced its first full year of existence during the 197071 school year. Professor Tim Barnes began his career at Cal Poly the very year the department was created. Barnes joined our faculty after receiving his Ph.D. in History from the University of New Mexico in 1969. His excellence in teaching was recognized when he was awarded the University Distinguished Teaching Award in 1978. Dr. Barnes’s scholarship has focused on different facets of Loyalist studies. His book Loyalists and Community in North America, co-authored with Robert M. Calhoon and George A. Rawlyk (Greenwood Press, 1994), has been called “the germi- Making History for Mustang Athletics 2 Alumni Spotlight: Victor Gebhardt Learn By Doing In Spain Student Spotlight: Ilana Winter Scholarship/Award Winners Donation Form PolyLink Information 3 4 4 5 5 5 nal study of Loyalism in the American Revolution.” A revised and expanded edition of this work, titled Tory Insurgents: The Loyalist Perception and Other Essays, is being published this spring by the University of South Carolina Press, and Dr. Barnes has also published several other articles on Loyalist communities during the American Revolution. Professor Dan Krieger, who received his Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Davis, arrived here just two short years after Barnes. Krieger has taught at Cal Poly since 1971. Besides his research and teaching fields of British and Holocaust history, he has written several books on local history, including Looking Backward into the Middle Kingdom: A History of San Luis Obispo County (Windsor Publications, 1987; 2nd edition 1988, with a revised third edition in progress), and War Comes to the Middle Kingdom: Vol. 1 1939-42 (EZ Nature Books, 1991, with Volume 2 in progress). Many of you are probably more familiar with Krieger’s weekly column on history titled “Times Past,” which he has written for the Sunday edition of the San Luis Obispo County Tribune continuously since 1983. Krieger has also served as President of both the California Mission Studies Association and the History Center of San Luis County. Professor John Snetsinger began teaching at Cal Poly in 1970, after receiving his Ph.D. at Stanford University (continued pg. 2) Remember Them When... Retirees (in order from left to right): Tim Barnes, Dan Krieger, John Snetsinger Barnes, Krieger, and Snetsinger continued... in 1969. Dr. Snetsinger was selected as recipient of the University Distinguished Teaching Award in 1992. He is the author of Truman, the Jewish Vote, and the Creation of Israel (Hoover Institution Press, 1974) and editor of Best, Last Hope of Earth: An American History Reader (Kendall/Hunt, 1995). Besides serving as Director of both the International Education Program and the London Study Program here at Cal Poly, Dr. Snetsinger was also a member and Vice President of the Board of Governors of The State Bar of California. Professors Barnes and Krieger are retiring after the end of this academic year; Professor Snetsinger last taught in 2009. It is hard to imagine the shape of our department without these three professors, who all have touched many lives in their time here at Cal Poly. The History Department honored Professors Barnes, Krieger and Snetsinger at our annual awards banquet, which was held on Friday, June 4, in the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center lobby. Making History for Mustang Athletics Dominique Johnson, a history major from Valley View High School in Moreno Valley and transfer from UCLA, led the 2009 Mustangs football team in receiving with 43 catches for 741 yards and six touchdowns after transferring from UCLA. In the game against South Dakota on November 14, Dominique set a Cal Poly record with five touchdown catches, and his 273 yards (on 13 catches) were the second most in Mustang history. He finished the 2009 season ranked 42nd in the nation in receiving yards per game (74.10), and will start at Z-Back in his final season at Cal Poly this fall. Giovanni Sani, a freshman history major from Central Catholic High in Modesto, is also a member of the Mustangs football team. A 6’5,” 250 pound offensive lineman, Giovanni also played defensive end at Central Catholic, where he was Western Athletic Confer ence lineman of the year and was named to the ESPN/CalHiSports.com all-state small schools first team. a fourth-place finish at the 2010 Big West Conference Women’s Golf Championship at the San Luis Obispo Country Club. In her final round for the Mustangs, Julia scored a 76 with one birdie and five bogeys to finish tied for 11th place with a 19-over-par 235 total. Julia finished tied for second place in the Cal State Bakersfield Spring Invitational in March, and had three other top-10 finishes. Her career average over 84 rounds is 78.23 with 22 top-20 finishes, 16 finishes in the top 10, one round of par or better, a 72 in the 2006-07 season. Dominique Johnson sets Cal Poly football record. Amaurys Fermin, a junior history major from the Bronx and a recent transfer from Hagerstown College (Maryland), was a redshirt on the men’s basketball team in 2009-10. Head Coach Joe Callero says that at point guard for the 2010-11 season, “Amaurys will be a very strong addition to our team on both ends of the court. His size and strength as a point guard will help in the half court as well as in transition.” Amaurys was born in Santiago, Dominican Republic, and led his John F. Kennedy High School team to a New York City Championship at Madison Square Garden. Julia (Heath) Puscheck is a senior history major from Lompoc High School in Lompoc, and this year is finishing her golf career for the Mustangs. She led the Cal Poly women’s golf team to LINKS, Spring 2010 Alexa Lee, a history major from Bermuda Dunes, was the only freshman competing this spring for the Cal Poly women’s tennis team. However, she had a direct influence on the program’s success during the 2009-10 campaign. Playing primarily at the No.5 singles position, Lee recorded a 10-6 record with eight victories coming via sweep. Lee’s impact, however, was more profound with Cal Poly’s doubles game. In teaming primarily with senior Steffi Wong at the No. 2 position, Lee produced a 17-5 doubles record that included victories against nationallyranked programs like UCLA, Dartmouth and Long Beach State. From more than 1,500 doubles pairings in NCAA Division I tennis, Lee and Wong ascended to a season-best No. 59 ranking on March 2, and won second team honors in the Big West Conference. With Lee, Cal Poly advanced to the Big West Conference semifinals, finishing the season with a final record of 16-7 and a No. 63 ranking nationwide. Pat Johnston, who graduated with his degree in History in June 2009, is preparing for his second year as a defensive assis tant coach at Cal Poly, working with the secondary as well as special teams. Johnston was a backup (continued pg. 3 ) 2 Mustang Athletics continued... quarterback for the Mustangs from 2005-07 after a redshirt year, following his father, Craig Johnston, who also played quarterback for the Mustangs. (Pat’s two brothers, Phil and Ken, also play for the Mustangs at linebacker and quarterback, respectively.) Pat’s senior project was on the evolution of the quarterback position in the NFL, and he plans to pursue a master’s degree in education. Alumni Spotlight: Victor Gebhardt How far can a Cal Poly history degree take you? In Victor Gebhardt’s case, 7854 miles, from San Luis Obispo to Nongbua Lampu province in northeast Thailand. inappropriate. Text messages provide the needed anonymity to allow people to ask their questions and thus receive accurate information.” Several months after Victor graduated with his History degree in June 2008, the Daly City resident arrived in Thailand for a two-year stint in the Peace Corps. There, Victor trained for three months in Thai language and culture and in his develop ment project: Teacher Collaboration Community Outreach. Finally, Victor has even been ordained as a monk after spend ing half a month studying Theravada Buddhism at the wat ban (house temple) in his village. He concluded one extremely long e-mail message with the characteristic remark, “That’s pretty much all I’m up to.” Clearly this has been a transformative experience for Victor, who has taken the exposure to Southeast and East Asia he gained in several History courses in directions that are truly beneficial to others. As he explained, “The expe rience is so much more than what I can explain. I have the privilege to live in this land so far away from home, a place I now consider home. Everyday challenges me in wholly new ways and every day I learn and grow. To me, this experience is hardly about teaching English or attempting development projects. It’s about getting one or two people to realize that ‘different’ can be ok, that it isn’t something that inherently needs to be feared. It’s about learning to function within an entirely new set of rules using an entirely different language. It’s about learning who I am and striving to become who I want to be.” He related by e-mail, “We are paired with two co-teachers and spend two years teaching English with them in their class rooms. The goal of the project is less to teach students English and more to teach teachers how to teach English, so that they can continue when we leave. The focus is on sustainability, capacity building, and participatory education. (Did I say ‘Learn By Doing’?) I’ve been at my site in Nongbua Lampu province for a year now and am starting to see some real progress with my co-teachers.” Victor continued, “I was approached to work on a composting project by one of my co-teachers. Soil here in Northeast Thailand isn’t very rich (in fact it’s quite dusty) due to the arid climate. The students have a school garden that they tend for a career and technology class. We’re going to introduce composting to the students for use in the garden. If it is successful, I hope to use the students to train local farmers in how to compost. I am also working on a library project. One of my schools has a new library with a fair number of books, but they keep the library locked most of the time. I am trying to work with a counterpart on a cataloging system for the books and trying to get the library to stay open for 30 minutes a day. In return, I will get them appropriate level English books from an organization called Books for Thailand.” Alumnus, Victor Gebhardt, teaches English to students in Thailand. Victor is also involved with work in Thailand on a national scale. He is working with global initiative groups dedicated to informa tion communication technology and HIV issues to try to imple ment a sex education text message hotline. “This is a project that has been implemented successfully in both the Philippines and Namibia,” he explained. “The idea is that running a phone hotline can be too expensive and too personal for countries where talking about sex education can be considered culturally LINKS, Spring ‘10 3 Learn By Doing - In Spain The Cal Poly in Spain Program is now in its eleventh year. The History Department, through the participation of Dr. Paul Hiltpold as the Resident Director on six occasions, has been active in supporting this “Learn By Doing” adventure. Last year, the program had its largest number of students, fortyfive. Among the group were two History majors, Kelsey Austin and Emily Davis. Dr. Paul Hiltpold with student, Kelsey Austin This fall Hiltpold and other Cal Poly faculty members offered courses ranging from History and Humanities, to International Business and European Agricultural Production. The University of Valladolid, the host institution, again offered nine different levels of language instruction along with providing the immersion experience that is essential to any foreign program. Cal Poly students live with Spanish families in Valladolid after spending the first week of the Fall Quarter in Madrid and central Spain. Later in the quarter, the group takes three Saturday excursions, visiting Burgos, Salamanca and Segovia. Students also have weekly excursions within Valladolid to sites like the Cathedral, the Museum of Roman Archaeology (Museo de Valladolid), the Moorish Arch in the Covent of Las Huelgas Reales, and the famous plata resque sites of St. Paul’s Church and the College of St. Gregory, which houses the best museum of polychromatic sculptures in Spain. Austin described her experiences in Spain as “life-changing.” She reflected that, “the whole three months was surreal, to study history in a classroom and then go physically see the buildings and sites we discussed in class, to have the opportu nity to travel, to live with a Spanish family and attend a Spanish university was altogether an unbelievable and unique experience I'll treasure for the rest of my life.” In the future, Hiltpold hopes that Cal Poly might host a comparable program for Spanish students who want to study English and American culture here in San Luis Obispo. He has begun talks with the dean of the program in Valladolid and Cal Poly’s English Department and Continuing Education to begin the program in the coming year. For more information, contact Professor Hiltpold at philtpol@calpoly.edu. Student Spotlight: Ilana Winter Senior History major Ilana Winter explored the history of weddings, Ilana Winter with her exhibit "Bells, Belles, and fashion, and women’s social roles in Beaux: Wedding Traditions of SLO County, an exhibit that opened on Friday, April 1870s-1950s" 16th at the History Center of San Luis Obispo County (formerly known as the San Luis Obispo County Historical Society and Museum). The exhibit, “Bells, Belles, and Beaux: Wedding Traditions of SLO County, 1870s 1950s,” features twenty historic wedding dresses, along with wedding photographs, wedding cake toppers, and even a piece of wedding cake from 1912. senior projects, Winter The exhibit represents the culmination of Winter’s senior project, which she has been working on for more than a year. Winter was offered the role of guest curator for the exhibit after she interned at the History Center in Spring 2009. As the guest curator, Winter was responsible for researching the broader LINKS, Spring 2010 historical context, choosing the exhibit’s theme and core arguments, writing all the text panels, and attending to the hundreds of other details that are invovled in such a major undertaking. Throughout the process, she worked closely with Kimberly Alfaro, the executive director of the History Center, and the History Center’s Exhibit and Textile Committees. Although it required many more months of work than students typically dedicate to their was happy that she chose a more hands-on approach. “Having the opportunity to curate ‘Bells, Belles, and Beaux’ was an incredible experience; I not only was able to apply the ‘Learn by Doing’ philosophy to history, but also I was able to apply the material I learned in classes to a project for the community,” said Winter. 4 Student Spotlight continued... For Winter, the senior project experience was more of a begin ning rather than a culmination. She hopes to draw on her experi ence at the History Center as she pursues a career in the museum world. Winter reflected, “Now I am more driven and passionate for my career path thanks to my senior project. It’s not just the energy and excitment from pulling together eight months of research to produce a fabulous exhibit, but also the cultivating of skills from teamwork to concise textual editing, that makes this whole experience so worthwhile.” in November. If you find yourself in SLO, stop by the History Center at 696 Monterey Street and see the fruits of Ilana’s hard work! Scholarship/Award Winners The History Department would like to congratulate scholarship and award winners for the 2009/2010 academic year! This summer, she has an internship lined up at the Museum of Performance and Design in San Francisco where she will have a curatorial apprenticeship and act as the main docent for their featured exhibit, “Somethin’s Happening Here: Bay Area Rock’n’Roll 1963-73.” The “Bells” exhibit will be up for a year. However in order to protect the delicate textiles, the twelve dresses currently on display will be rotated out for a different set Caroline Cornell Keith Goodwin Bree Highhouse Amanda Herman Elizabeth Metelak David Fox Emily Cassie John Beck Erin Newman Ilana Winter Emily Davis Gregory Rogers Online Donation - Please visit www.giving.calpoly.edu Enclosed is my check made payable to History Dept/Cal Poly I would prefer to charge my (Circle): Card #_________________ Expires_______ Signature_______________________ MC Visa AmExp Discover Recurring - I would like to make my pledge payments in installments of $___________ Monthly/Quarterly/Yearly (circle one) Matching Gifts Program - Can your employer/company match your gift? Contact Linda Stark at Cal Poly for gift matching information lstark@calpoly.edu or 805-756-2713 The Newsletter of the History Department College of Liberal Arts California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, CA 93407-0324 Phone: (805) 756-2543 Email: hist@calpoly.edu LINKS, Spring 2010 Fax: (805) 756-5055 Website: www.cla.calpoly.edu/hist 5 The Newsletter of the History Department College of Liberal Arts California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, CA 93407-0324