This Spring has been jam-packed with so many great events ranging from musical performances, book talks, to interactive learning sessions that helped us understand current events. The biggest and most exciting program we hosted this semester had to have been this year’s Winchell Lecture. Dr. Kathleen Belew joined us from Northwestern University to give us the history behind the contemporary White Power Movement. The FBI identifies racially motivated White Supremacist violence as the number one domestic terror concern today. Unfortunately, the White Power Movement, and the ideas it advances, have now become major factors in our politics, educational policy debates, and social landscape. Dr. Belew, author of Bring the War Home, is perhaps the leading scholar studying modern manifestations of the White Power Movement. Not only did her Winchell Lecture draw a full house, but she taught a special session to history students in Dr. Celinscak’s course on The Holocaust and Dr. Wood’s course on The U.S. Civil War. It was a great learning experience where our UNO history students really shined! They did a great job preparing for the class and engaging with Dr. Belew on important and tough questions.
Even though we’ve been super busy, we’re not sitting still! We are looking forward to welcoming a new Assistant Professor of Latin American History this fall. Dr. Leonard Barleta will be joining us from Stanford University. Dr. Barleta specializes in the history of Brazil and also brings expertise in the growing field of Digital History. We are working on building our digital history tools by creating a lab space in the History Department over the Summer. We are trying to design a space where students can drop in to use technology to create products like websites, GIS maps, infographics, videos, augmented reality, and virtual reality projects to share what they’ve learned in their classrooms, through their own research, and from their experiences in the field as interns. Not only are digital history skills becoming a more important part of our profession, but they are skills that can serve our majors in a wide range of career paths.
Another way we are preparing students for a variety of careers is to help them connect with local Omaha organizations. The Mellon Foundation-funded Tell All the Truth project kicks off in the Fall. The courses in this program bring UNO students into the community so that they can bring their knowledge of the past to the public; learn from community members as part of their UNO experience; and start build relationships with groups and individuals who are tackling important social problems here in Nebraska. In Fall 2023, Dr. Geliga’s History of North American Indigenous Peoples class will be pairing with Inclusive Communities and other local organizations to talk about the problems facing missing and murdered Indigenous women today.
It promises to be a busy Summer and Fall! Hope we manage to squeeze in some sun!
Danielle Battisti, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Chair of History
Featured Faculty News
Dr. Danielle Battisti
Drs. Battisti, Girten (English), Ghosh (English), and Anderson (Sociology) celebrated the inaugural semester of the "Tell All the Truth" project. The project was awarded a major grant by Mellon Foundation. The project pairs students in History and English courses with community partners to examine topics related to social injustice. Dr. Battisti hopes students will be able to share their learning with our partners, and also hopes students will learn from diverse members of the community in Omaha.
Dr. Mark Celinscak
Dr. Celinscak initiated the U.S. premiere of Nobody’s Listening, a groundbreaking, award winning virtual reality experience and immersive exhibition that commemorates the Yazidi genocide committed by ISIS in northern Iraq.
As Executive Director of the Fried Academy, he partnered on a $2.5 million dollar grant to study visual storytelling and graphic art in genocide and human rights education.
As the principal investigator of a UNO Big Idea, the Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center, Dr. Celinscak also took part in the opening weekend of the temporary space on campus, engaging in conversation with artist Samuel Bak and gallery owner Bernie Pucker. (Below, Right)
Dr. Martina Saltamacchia
In April, Dr. Martina Saltamacchia presented her paper “Holy Sepulchers and Holy Nails: Journeying to Jerusalem in Medieval Milan” at the International Research Conference “Religious Renewal in Times of Crises” in Jerusalem, Israel.
Dr. Charles W. King
Dr. King, author of The Ancient Roman Afterlife: Di Manes, Belief, and the Cult of the Dead (2020), has been invited to the Society of Biblical Literature conference in San Antonio in November of 2023. He will take part in a panel debating the merits of a recent book about the role of belief in Roman religious culture. In the interest of keeping track of recent scholarship about the study of death in ancient cultures, he has also begun posting a series of bibliographies online on Academia.edu under the title, “Supplementary Bibliography List Concerning Death, Burial, and the Afterlife in Premodern Periods.” Feel free to check out his recent posts and keep an eye out for new ones! Dr. King is also keeping busy working on a new book, Attila’s Huns: Identity, Authority, and Interpretive Paradigms. For a sneak peak on that research you can check out his related article, “The Hunnic Attack on Persia: Chronology, Context, and the Accounts of Priscus and Thomas” in the Persian history journal Dabir (2021).
Dr. James Clark
Dr. Clark attended the annual Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Conference last December. He chaired a panel entitled "Anticolonial and Anti-Imperial Mobilizations" and also presented a paper, "Literary Narratives, Music, Material Culture." Pictured right: Dr. Clark presents for one of the Immersion Seminars organized by the Center for Afghanistan Studies (CAS).
Dr. Mark Scherer
In February, the United States military shot down several high-altitude objects, including a Chinese spy balloon. Cal Larsen, a reporter from KETV News, reached out to Dr. Scherer to discuss a similar, local incident from 1945.
Cole is one of our outstanding graduate students and a current teaching assistant. In December, Cole represented the department's M.A. program at the National Council for the Social Sciences Conference. He also won the Virginia Dare Shuflata Graduate Award for excellence in history. We checked in with Cole as he approaches graduation. He talked about his passion for history and his goals as a scholar and life-long learner. He said the program has allowed him to shine as an academic, but the biggest impact "the program had on me has been the network of professors, mentors, and colleagues supporting scholarship inside and outside of the classroom."
Cole plans on pursing a PhD and intends to study how minority communities navigated an expanding American Empire in the late 19th century. He will be presenting his master’s thesis this Summer. "I recommend this program to anyone who has a passion for history and the tenacity to create meaningful scholarship in their field. My research has allowed me to forge my own path, something my mentors at UNO encouraged through their expertise in American social and cultural history, race relations, and research. My advice to prospective students is, dive in."
Alexa Anderson
Alexa is a history major and anthropology minor, graduating this semester. She spent this semester finishing up her undergraduate courses and working as an intern at the Sarpy County Museum. She said, "I thoroughly enjoyed my time as an intern for the Sarpy County Museum and learned how to work directly with local history and primary documents to construct an enticing narrative for the public. My goal in life is to make a difference in my own small way through sharing history, and I truly feel as though my time here has helped that become a reality."
Our monthly "Lunch & Learns" were back for the Spring Semester! Hosted by the History Graduate Program Chair and our office of Dual Enrollment, these lunches provide students professional advice, career development opportunities, and updates in the field.
February 8th
Students learned about writing articles, preparing lesson plans, and more, for the newly adopted Portfolio Option for Master of Arts degree completion.
March 8th
On March 8th, students heard from Criss Library Archives & Special Collections, Assistant Professors
Claire Du Laney and Lori Schwartz to learn more about public history.
April 5th
Students learned best practices for applying to conferences, presenting, and networking.
History Department Awards Ceremony
We held our 2022-2023 Department of History Awards Ceremony at the Milo Bail Student Center on April 20th. During this event, we celebrated our students’ hard work and achievements. It was great to see students, guests, faculty, and emeritus faculty turn out to honor student accomplishments.
Congratulations to all our winners!
George B. Lake Memorial Prize Raul Perez
Frederick W. Adrian Award Jordan Ring
Shuflata Undergraduate Award Alexa Anderson
Shuflata Graduate Award Cole Stormberg
Sam Fried Memorial Prize Lauren Linton
Frances Fried Award Antonio Plascencia Claire Holdforth Lauren Rindfleisch
Jerold Simmons Scholarship Katie Dykstra
Timothy S. Dunning Scholarship Jonathan Boothe
Jo Ann Carrigan Scholarship Treygan Russell (22'-23')
Michael Gutierrez-Madrigal (23'-24') Katie Dykstra (23'-24')
Shuflata Master's Fellowship Will Kennedy Jr.
Featured Alumni News
Ellie Lowderman (M.A. 20')
Ellie Lowderman currently works as an analyst researching national security issues. Ellie credits the research, presentation, and analytical skills she gained as an MA student and Graduate Teaching Assistant with enabling her to excel in her position. She encourages undergraduate and graduate students to consider applying to contractor analyst internships if teaching is not their primary career choice. Reflecting on her time at UNO, Ellie is thankful for the wonderful faculty who she said went above and beyond to share their expertise, and who offered boundless encouragement and support to students applying for research grants and other scholastic opportunities. Before she started her current position, Ellie worked for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation and the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library. She and her husband recently welcomed their first child in early 2023.
Dr. Jeffrey McDonald (M.A. 2010)
Dr. Jeffrey McDonald authored a number of books and articles in religious history, most recently a chapter titled, "William Jennings Bryan, The Round Table Club, and Religious Freedom," in The Gospel and Religious Freedom (Baylor University Press, Summer 2023).
Dr. Michael L. Lawson (M.A. 1973)
Dr. Michael L. Lawson, received a Robinson Memorial Award from the South Dakota State Historical Society for "his highly influential book, Dammed Indians Revisited, and his service to the South Dakota History journal for over 45 years."
Dr. Marlene Meyer (B.A. 1959)
Dr. Marlene Meyer learned to love studying history under the mentorship of Dr. Paul L. Beck and Dr. Thomas N. Bonner. For the past 15 years Dr. Meyer has been working on a biography of Dr. John Collins Warren and hopes to complete the draft by the end of 2023.
Congratulations to our 2022-2023 graduates!
Bachelors
Alexa Anderson
Ammon Baird
Martha Cannon
Stephanie Durr
Katie Dykstra
Benjamin Goeser
Nicholas Hallett
Leila Haq
Eliot Johnson
Jack Jones
Unity Mafilika
Andrew Malcom
Minna Martin
Richard Mears
Aleksander Miller
Robert Montag
Jacob Moran
Jeffrey Preston
Treygan Russell
Wyatt Smith
Nicholas Sobotka
Anna Stevens
Connor Tucker
Ryan Vannornam
Masters
Alabdulla Abdulrhman
Corina Clemenger
Trey Giesenhagen
Alivia Hoxmeier
Zane Jensen
Katlyn Kneifl
Maddison Kuncl
Michael McNally
Scott Neill
Anne O’Neill
Timothy Powers Jr.
Steven Shanahan
Please tell us more about where you are now. We'd love to feature you in our next newsletter!
This year's Winchell Lecture, “Understanding White Supremacy: Decoding the Actions of the White Power Movement,” was a huge success! Dr. Kathleen Belew’s talk was powerful and insightful. We are so glad there was such great turnout; one of the best parts of this year's Winchell Lecture was the audience. There were such great questions from our students and community members, we wished we had time for more!
Dr. William Pratt, Emeritus
On February 8, 2023 in the Milo Bail Student Center, Dr. Pratt discussed his book, After Populism: The Agrarian Left on the Northern Plains 1900-1960. The event was attended by faculty, staff, emeriti, alumni, and friends of the department.
Barlaam and Josaphat. Buddha: A Christian Saint?
Over 350 people attended the Medieval/Renaissance Studies event Barlaam and Josaphat. Buddha: A Christian Saint? at St. Cecilia Cathedral on Feb. 17 and the pre-concert webinar with music historian Katarina Livljanic. In this candle-lit powerful multimedia performance, Ensemble Dialogos brought to life the incredible story of Barlaam and Josaphat, incarnated by voice and instruments following the path of this story from one medieval language to another.
Bettina Joy de Guzman
The Ancient Mediterranean Studies Program (AMS) was determined to come back from Covid in-person with a bang. On April 17-19, with the support of the History Department, as well as Art History, English, Music, Philosophy and Religious Studies, AMS brought to Omaha internationally known musician and Classicist Bettina Joy de Guzman (https://www.bettinajoydeguzman.com/).
Bettina presented, “Lamenting Women: the Voices of War’s Victims,” in the Community Engagement Center for AMS students and the public. She discussed how ancient authors such as Homer found ways to paint sympathetic portraits of slaves and prisoners of war in works, such as the Iliad, that otherwise lionized war and warriors. She also talked about reconstructing ancient music and instruments for the Music Department’s senior Convocation class.
Finally, she closed out her programming with a 2-hour concert for the public on aulos (a type of pipe), ancient lyre, and singing in ancient Greek (with translations) at Hanscom Park United Methodist Church.
Bettina tells us she left town as a firm fan of Omaha, especially the food scene, and has been singing our university’s praises to friends and followers.
The Revolution Will Be A Remix
Dr. James Clark welcomed Dr. Shervin Malekzadeh of Colgate University to campus in May. His presentation focused on Iranian protests from September of 2022 to early 2023, and the conditions in the country that caused them. He took a historical view of those events, tying the current tragedy to the optimism of 2009-2019, a period in which Iran's democratic movement was making concrete, if incremental, gains.
Watch for our Fall Newsletter
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We are so grateful for the generous support of our friends and extended community members, thank you! If you'd like to learn more, please email us or visit the University of Nebraska Foundation website.
University of Nebraska at Omaha, Department of History, ASH 287, 6001 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE 68182, 402.554.2593
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