UNO History Connection

From the Chair

Greetings from the History Department at UNO! This is the first of what we anticipate will be annual newsletters. Given that it’s the first, we decided to look back over the last two years instead of just one. Probably the stand out for me over that time period was the way that all the faculty and staff in the department rose to the challenge of the covid-19 pandemic. A great deal of effort and extra work went into ensuring that students experienced as little disruption as possible.

Over the last few years, the department has also been privileged to be the recipient of two new student awards. The Carrigan Scholarship was created by former faculty member Jody Carrigan to provide scholarship funds for History graduate and undergraduate students. The Timothy D. Dunning Scholarship was created by the family of the late Mr. Dunning to provide scholarships for History undergraduates.

Finally, a brief note to say it has been a personal privilege to chair the department for the past few years. Although this first newsletter will also be my last as chair, the department will be in the good hands of Dr. Danielle Battisti beginning in August, 2022.

John Grigg, Chair

UNO Department of History

Susana Geliga joined the department in fall of 2021 with a joint position in Native American Studies and History. She earned two bachelors from Oglala Lakota College and her M.A. and doctorate degrees from UNL. Susana teaches Native American History with an emphasis on Native American Women and the construction of Native American identities in the early 20th century. She previously taught Lakota language and culture in the Rapid City school system and at Oglala Lakota College in Rapid City. Susana is also the creator of the Little White Buffalo Project, a Lakota language and cultural non-profit program.

Mark Boxell comes to us as our Western Environmental Historian. He earned his B.A. from the University of Evansville, M.A. from Colorado State University, and his doctorate from the University of Oklahoma. His dissertation was entitled: “Red Soil, White Oil: Petroleum and White Supremacy in the Progressive-Era United States.” He has taught at the University of Tulsa and Rose State College. Mark will join the department in the fall of 2022.

The Department bids a fond farewell to Denny Smith after 20 years of service, (2002-2022). Denny has taught Native American history for both the Department of History and the Native American Studies Program. He also served as the Director of NAMS from 2013-2016.

Faculty Publications

Student & Alumni News

Two of our master’s program students have been accepted to the Ph.D. program at the University of Iowa. Maddison Kuncl will start her Doctorate in History this coming fall, and plans to study twentieth century American history with a potential focus on women and gender. Scott Neill will also be starting his Doctorate in History this fall and plans to study 17th and 18th Century colonial North America and its connection with the broader Atlantic World, northern borderlands and indigenous peoples of Canada and northern United States.

History major and Ancient Mediterranean Studies Minor Andrew Malcolm recently completed (May, 2022) a 3D imaging development for the Durham Museum, where he worked with Becky Putzer. His project involved photogrammetry of 6 ancient coins (dated 480-121 BCE), for which he created both an immersive virtual reality program, as well as a more dialed-down online option for viewing the coins, available here. Andrew also presented a talk to the Durham staff, “Preserving Ancient Coins with Photogrammetry.” The Durham will be using Andrew’s work as part of the Byron Reed Collection.

Alumnus Cameron Carney (HIST BA, 2019) recently received a full tuition scholarship to Creighton Law and will be attending in the fall.

Drop us a line! We would love to know where our graduates are, what they have been doing, and how their education in history has been of value to them. Contact us at history@unomaha.edu.