Since 1974, the National History Day non-profit education organization has offered annual year-long academic programs that engages over half a million middle- and high-school students around the world in conducting original research on historical topics of History.

This year’s theme is Debate & Diplomacy in History and the Eastern Washington University Social Studies Education program was pleased to host the Regional History Day Competition in person!

EWU has hosted the regional competition for almost 30 years, and after being virtual due to the pandemic, it was a joy to welcome 149 students from 9 schools in the region to campus to present, connect, and share their love of history.

History Day is a competition that encourages historical research, critical analysis, and civic engagement at the regional, state, and national levels and students present their research in one of five categories: papers, exhibits, performances, documentaries, and websites to a table of judges.

This year there were 41 judges from ten different programs at EWU who volunteered their time. Social Studies Education Majors get the opportunity to participate as judges as well as gain valuable experience in the implementation of inquiry-based education, which better prepares them to address State standards in their future classrooms.

Of the 149 students that participated, 80 students went on to compete in the Washington History Day competition on April 30^th with several taking home prizes and 5 students advancing to the National History Day competition in Washington, D.C. this Summer.

EWU looks forward to continuing to host this event and anticipates more student participants, from more schools, moving forward!

EWU’s Assistant Professor of History and Director of Social Studies Education, Jacki Hedlund Tyler, published her book Leveraging an Empire – Settler Colonialism and the Legalities of Citizenship in the Pacific Northwest.

The book evaluates Oregon’s exclusionary laws related to national issues of slavery, immigration, land ownership, education, suffrage, and naturalization and examines the process of settler colonialism in the Pacific Northwest between 1841 and 1859.

This past Fall, Professor Tyler presented on her book in the reoccurring segment “Past as Prologue” with the Northwest Public Broadcasting, at the Western History Association annual conference, as well as on the panel “Battles for Belonging: Race, Citizenship, and Exclusion in the Pacific Northwest and Nazi Germany” hosted by Oregon State University and sponsored by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Some Praise for Leveraging an Empire:

“This is one of the first works of historical scholarship to explicitly take up the question of settler colonialism in the Pacific Northwest. By bringing together race and gender Jacki Hedlund Tyler offers an intersectional analysis that is also a useful contribution to the region’s scholarship. Scholars working on the American West more generally will also appreciate her argument about the influence Oregon had on the rest of the country.”—Coll Thrush, author of Native Seattle: Histories from the Crossing-Over Place

Bauhaus Exhibition in the JFK Library. Included pieces were written by German students and artwork created and curated by students in the Art Department.

Wunderbar together

For the second time in the past two years, the German program at EWU was awarded a grant from the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany to hold events on campus in conjunction with the Embassy’s Wunderbar together campaign celebrating the German American friendship.

The EWU German program and the Art Department collaborated this past fall on a series of student-centered events from Nov. 4-8 celebrating and discussing 100 years of Bauhaus design.

We explored the lives of the women of Bauhaus. Students from the Art department curated an exceptional and very well-received exhibition on the women of Bauhaus featuring photographs and artifacts along with texts written by EWU art students and German students. Other activities included an art competition with Bauhaus-inspired art that drew many wonderful entries from our students on campus.

Catherine Girard from Art History and German program coordinator Jody Stewart-Strobelt gave a talk at the Women’s and Gender Studies Education Center on Gender at the Bauhaus. A panel discussion with art professors and community experts on Bauhaus was held, and the German club with generous support from the School of Global Learning sponsored a delicious and delightful coffee talk that drew many visitors eager to learn more about the Women of Bauhaus.

Frances B. Huston Award Winners

Every year, each of CALE’s seven departments chooses a student to receive the Frances B. Huston Medallion. This award recognizes graduating seniors who have achieved academic excellence with a 3.75 or higher GPA and who have demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities at Eastern and/or in the community.

These are the Huston Award recipients from CALE for 2018-19 and their faculty escorts:

Art

Tayler Parkin with faculty escort Senior Lecturer Chris Tyllia

Education

Nicole Rigsby with faculty escort Assistant Professor Shelly Shaffer

English

Grace Caraway with faculty escort Associate Professor Tracey McHenry

Modern Languages & Literatures

Chad Edwards with faculty escort Professor Terrance MacMullan

Music

Ethan Seid with faculty escort Senior Lecturer Julia Salerno

Physical Education, Health and Recreation

Harli Spurgeon with faculty escort Associate Professor Garth Babcock

Theatre and Film

Madalyn “MJ” Daly with faculty escort Senior Lecturer Jeff Sanders

Dean’s Excellence Award Winners and Faculty Mentors

Celebrating excellence in student contributions, achievements, faculty inspiration and student mentorship, the Dean’s Student Excellence Award recognizes outstanding graduating seniors who have demonstrated distinguished excellence and achievements within their department, the college, university and the community.

These are the 2017-2018 Dean’s Excellence Award Winners and their mentors:

Art

Leslie Kolke with faculty mentor Senior Lecturer Chris Tyllia

Education

Kristin Abshire with faculty mentor Assistant Professor Gus Nollmeyer

Amber Walker with faculty mentor Assistant Professor Gus Nollmeyer

English

Grace Caraway with faculty mentor Assistant Professor Ian Green

Alexandria Nepean with faculty mentor Senior Lecturer Polly Buckingham

Modern Languages and Literatures

Connor Dempsey with faculty mentor Associate Professor Miguel Novella

McKindsay “Kindsay” Dow with faculty mentor Professor Florian Preisig

Music

Taylor Clarke with faculty mentor Professor Kristina Ploeger-Hekmatpanah

Physical Education, Health and Recreation

Drake Chaves with faculty mentor Professor Jeni McNeal and Assistant Professor Katie Taylor

Jessica Sharpe with faculty mentor Assistant Professor Katie Taylor

Theatre and Film

Evan Hoff with faculty mentor Assistant Professor Chase Ogden

CALE Excellence Award Winners

These individuals embody the college’s mission and values. The purpose of the six college awards is to recognize and commend outstanding faculty and staff who have put forth extraordinary commitment to represent their department, the college and the university.

Classified and Exempt Excellence Award

Gail Forsgreen from the Writers’ Center

Faculty Teaching Excellence Award

Catherine Girard from the Art Department

Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activities Excellence Award

Drew Ayers from the Theatre & Film Department

Faculty Service Excellence Award

Katie Taylor from the Physical Education, Health and Recreation Department

Team Excellence Award

The Office of Field Experience in the Education Department: Tim Sedor, Carissa Gran and Jared Cramer

Campus Partner Excellence Award

Adam Klinger from the Information Technology Department

Professor Emeritus

The title Professor Emeritus is awarded to those professors who, upon retirement, are recognized for their excellence in teaching, intellectual contributions and service to the university, college and department throughout their career. This year, Professor Henry-York Steiner was awarded emeritus status.

Professor Henry-York Steiner, English Department

Professor Henry-York Steiner is retiring after sixty-one years of college and university teaching, fifty of which have been here at Eastern Washington University. An alumnus of Grinnell College (BA), Yale University (MA) and the University of Oregon (PhD), he joined Eastern’s administration and faculty in 1968. As dean of Undergraduate Studies (1968-79), he helped create and nurture the programs now known as American Indian Studies, Africana Studies, Chicano Education, University Honors and Environmental Studies. As a deeply respected and popular professor, he has taught 20 different graduate and undergraduate courses, ranging from composition to English and American literature to folklore, mythology, rhetoric, philosophy and religion, environmental studies and recreation.

Hank Steiner is known to students, administrators, faculty and many people in supporting roles over the decades for his intellect, compassion and integrity. He has been a model and mentor to generations of students and faculty. One of his colleagues recently said, “When I grow up, I want to be Hank Steiner.”

Unfortunately, there is only one original. Fortunately, we have had the joy of learning with and from him. In addition, Henry-York Steiner has served 48 years on the 49 Degrees North Ski Patrol and the National Ski Patrol System as a patroller, administrator, instructor and instructor trainer. His wife, Lori, is a recipient of an EWU Alumni Award. It is safe to say that Henry-York Steiner’s contributions to our community and to so many individuals are greater than mere words can express.

Retiring Faculty & Staff

These retiring CALE team members provided distinguished service and exemplified the mission and values of their department, the college and the university.

Lecturer Christina Booth, Education Department

Chris earned her Master of Education degree from Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her areas of specialization are Elementary and Early Childhood Education.

Before coming to EWU, Chris was the director of the United Church of Christ after-school care program and currently directs University Preschool in Cheney. Her hobbies and interests include spending time with her family, going to church and the theatre, reading and traveling.

Senior Lecturer Teiko Stradling, Modern Languages and Literatures Department

Retiring after 26 years of service at Eastern, Teiko Stradling earned two bachelor’s and two master’s degrees from EWU, ranging in subjects from psychology and business administration to teaching English as a second language.

Teiko served as an adjunct instructor of Japanese at EWU for eight years and a lecturer of Japanese for another eight years before her promotion to senior lecturer of Japanese in 2010. In her time at EWU, she has coordinated with various folks to bring different scholars to campus, like calligraphy specialists, Japanese educational system specialists, DNA scholars and Japanese poetry specialists.

Debbie Moradi, Art Department

A key administrative classified member of the Art Department, Debbie Moradi is retiring after 30 years of service at Eastern.  She plans, organizes and coordinates the daily operations of the different art programs. Debbie has held 14 different jobs during her time at Eastern. She believes that this flexibility has proved to be challenging in a good way and has afforded her the opportunity to work among some remarkable people. Her favorite positions have been in the Art and Physics Departments. She says that the EWU students are the reason she loved working here, and it was always a privilege to help them no matter what department she found herself in. In her spare time, she loves to tat, knit and sew.

CALE 2019 Awards Ceremony Photo Album

Summer 2019

The College of Arts, Letters and Education is always excited to share some of the successes of those affiliated with the college, including students, faculty, staff and alumni. Below are just some of those amazing accomplishments.

Art

Student:

Destiny Vaught will be interning at Entity magazine in Los Angeles for a month this summer.

Erika Symonenko will lead tours of the Campbell House as a volunteer for the Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane.

Alumni:

Madeline McGinn has secured a position in the print lab at the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan.

Modern Languages and Literatures

Faculty:

EWU philosophy professor Terrance Macmullan presented at the Lilac City Comicon in June. He was offered a place on the official program and gave a talk about cosmologies of the Force from the Star Wars series in the Spokane Convention Center.

Alumni:

Dane Anderson graduated from EWU in 2018 with a BS in Biology and a minor in French. After graduating, he conducted some field studies and continued working on gaining more knowledge on how diseases spread. He kept growing in his French proficiency with help from Sara Preisig, worked in a French bakery in Walla Walla and took on a few other odd jobs. Now he has been accepted for an internship at the recently founded University of Paris-Saclay, which is quickly becoming a leader in the area of science and technology, and will be moving to France for two years.

Music

Student:

Musicfest Young Artist Competition

• James Marshal won the Strings Division and performed Walton’s Viola Concerto with the Spokane Symphony at the Fox Theater in May.
• Cedric Bidwell-Williams won the gold medal in the Romantic Division/Chopin.
• Christian Skok won the gold medal in the Impressionism Division/Debussy.
• Davis Hill won the silver medal in Contemporary Division/Schwantner.

Spokane Symphony Orchestra

EWU Senior James Marshal won a position in the viola section of the Spokane Symphony Orchestra. He is now the youngest member, joining 13 other EWU alumni who are members of the Spokane Symphony Orchestra.

Mid-Columbia Symphony Orchestra

EWU Kim Snow won a horn position with the Mid-Columbia Symphony Orchestra.

Sponsored by EWU’s Department of History, World War I at 100 will give the campus community an opportunity to learn more about one of history’s most devastating conflicts.

Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019
Screening of “Gallipoli” (1981)
By Peter Weir, starring Mel Gibson
2-4 p.m. | Patterson 128

Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019
Panel Discussion on The Legacies of the Great War
2-4 p.m. | Patterson 128

Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019
Screening of “Black and White in Color” (1976)
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
2-4 p.m. | Patterson 128

Photo: From the Photograph Collection IX (COLL/966), United States Marine Corps Archives & Special Collections; some rights reserved.

As part of the Federal Government of Germany’s campaign Wunderbar together, EWU hosted a campus week filled with events and activities exploring the topic of Integrating Immigrants. The Wunderbar together campaign runs through the end of 2019 and focuses on the deep-rooted ties between the US and Germany.

The campus week, which ran from Nov. 5-9, was sponsored by the German Embassy in Washington DC and the College of Arts, Letters & Education at EWU. Senior Lecturer and Program Coordinator for German, Jody Stewart-Strobelt applied for the funding and organized the week to coincide with the 25^th anniversary of the EWU-University of Passau exchange program.

Events included a week-long exhibit in the JFK library depicting lives of immigrants in Germany since WWII, a talk on populism in Germany by Professor Karsten Fitz of the University of Passau, a reception for alumni of the exchange program, several film screenings, a talk by the German Embassy representative Claudia Schneider, and a panel discussion with on Immigration in Germany.  EWU Philosophy professor Kevin Decker moderated the panel discussion which featured short presentations by panel members Karsten Fitz and Claudia Schneider along with EWU professors Ann Le Bar and Kristin Edquist.

An original video created by Stewart-Strobelt and her students during their month-long faculty-led study abroad in Passau this past summer was also shown. The video showcased interviews with several refugees/immigrants living in Passau and was also featured in the library exhibit.  The German club and the School of Global Learning hosted Kaffee Klatsches throughout the week in the School of Global Learning lounge in Hargreaves for students to drop in and get to know what the German program at EWU has to offer. The campus week was wunderbar indeed!

Join us for the 2019 Shaping Germany Campus Week Nov. 3-8!

Frances B. Huston Award Winners

Every year seven students are chosen by each of CALE’s seven departments as the recipients of the Frances B. Huston Medallion. The Frances B. Huston Award is awarded to graduating seniors who have achieved academic excellence (3.75 or higher GPA) and have demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities at Eastern and/or in the community.

These are the Huston Award recipients from CALE for 2017-18:

Art

Joel Gaytan with Faculty Escort Mr. Roger Ralston

Education

Kelsey McCune with Faculty Escort Assistant Professor Gus Nollmeyer

English

Tania Nunez-Guzman with Faculty Escort Professor Rachel Toor

Modern Languages and Literatures

Jeremiah Serrell with Faculty Escort Professor Chris Kirby

Music

Wyatt Wireman with Faculty Escort Professor John Marshall

Physical Education, Health and Recreation

Erin Locke with Faculty Escort Assistant Professor Carri Kreider

Theatre and Film

Mica Pointer with Faculty Escort Senior Lecture Jeff Sanders

Dean’s Excellence Award Winners and Faculty Mentors

Celebrating excellence in student contributions, achievements, faculty inspiration, and student mentorship, the Dean’s Student Excellence Award is awarded to outstanding graduating seniors who have demonstrated distinguished excellence and achievements within their department, the college, university and the community.

These are the 2017-2018 Dean’s Excellence Award Winners and their mentors:

Art

Student Olivia Evans with Faculty Mentor Associate Professor Jenny Hyde

Education

Student Sunshine Hunt with Faculty Mentor Assistant Professor Allison Wilson

Student Taylor McDevitt with Faculty Mentor Assistant Professor Allison Wilson

English 

Student Katelyn Domitrovich with Faculty Mentor Professor Johnathan Johnson

Student Aubrey Hamilton with Faculty Mentor Assistant Professor Sean Agriss

Modern Languages and Literatures

Student Annsley Buller with Faculty Mentor Assistant Professor Miguel Novella

Student Rachel Musser and Faculty Mentor Associate Professor Gina Petrie

Music

Student Brenden Bachaud with Faculty Mentor Julia Salerno

Physical Education, Health and Recreation

Student Emily Dunston with Faculty Mentor Assistant Professor Katie Taylor

Student Naomi Eastland with Faculty Mentor Associate Professor Garth Babcock

Theatre and Film

Student Austin Hobbs with Faculty Mentor Assistant Professor Elisha Miranda

CALE Excellence Award Winners

These individuals embody the college’s mission and values. The purpose of the six college awards is to recognize and commend outstanding faculty and staff who have put forth the extraordinary commitment to represent their department, the college, and the university.

Classified and Exempt Excellence Award

Ms. Kate Peterson from Get Lit!

Faculty Teaching Excellence Award

Professor Gus Nollmeyer from the Education Department

Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activities Excellence Award

Professor Kathryn Baldwin from the Education Department

Faculty Service Excellence Award

Professor Natalia Ruiz-Rubio from the Modern Languages and Literatures Department

Team Excellence Award

Education Department

Campus Partner Excellence Award

Office of Grants and Research Development

Professor Emeritus

Professor Emeritus is awarded to a professor upon retirement in recognition of their excellence in teaching, intellectual contributions, and service to the University, College, and Department throughout the professor’s career at the university.

Professor Sally Winkle

Modern Languages and Literatures Department & Women’s and Gender Studies

Professor Jane Liu

Education Department

Professor Philip Weller

English Department

By Vickie Shields

Michael Conlin, PhD, is a professor of history and current president of the United Faculty of Eastern (UFE). I recently caught up with Professor Conlin, to discuss his new book, One Nation Divided by Slavery: Remembering the American Revolution While Marching toward the Civil War.

VS: Why was it important for you to take on this subject matter at this time?

MC: The American Civil War still looms large in the national consciousness. Some of the issues it has raised still remain to be resolved, i.e., the discrimination and ill-treatment of African-American, and the places of liberty and race in our national identity. I was struck by the plasticity of nationalism and national identity in the antebellum (pre-Civil War) era of the United States. Both slaveholders and abolitionists claimed the mantle of the Founders and both groups did so perfectly legitimately. 

VS: Why is our understanding of the period leading up to the Civil War important to understand in the context of the American Revolution?

MC: It demonstrates the centrality of slavery to American national identity right from the beginning and persisting in important ways up to the present day. The Founding Fathers bequeathed a mixed legacy to subsequent generations. On the one hand, they justified their rebellion against the British monarchy on the grounds of natural rights. They also took effective steps to limit and even ban slavery in some areas: e.g., the end of American participation in the Atlantic slave trade in 1808, the prohibition of slavery in the Northwestern Territory in 1787, and the gradual abolition of slavery in the Northern states (1780 to 1803).

On the other hand, all 13 original states were slave states. Many of the political and military leaders of the United States were slaveholders. The new United States government took several steps designed to protect the right of certain Americans to own some of their fellow human beings, culminating in the various protections for slavery in the U.S. Constitution. This fundamental tension between liberty and oppression was present throughout the American Revolution and has persisted to the present day.

In the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s, white Southerners grounded their defense of slavery, which culminated in the secession and rebellion of 11 states in a perfectly legitimate understanding of the historical legacy of the American Revolution. At the same time, antislavery Northerners and enslaved Southerners advocated abolitionist measures hearkening back to same American Revolution.

VS: What did you discover about the contradictions inherent in our Founding Fathers, Washington, and Jefferson?

MC: Both Jefferson and Washington neatly personified this fundamental tension between liberty and slavery, between freedom and oppression. Jefferson was the author of several thoughtful denunciations of slavery. In the mid-19th century, Abolitionists used the stirring words from the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, as well as his misgivings about slavery in Notes on the State of Virginia, to claim the mantle of the Sage of Monticello. Jefferson also took concrete antislavery actions as a statesman. Jefferson was largely responsible for keeping slavery out of the Northwest Territory via the Northwest Ordinance (1787) and Jefferson signed the Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves in 1807. Washington freed his slaves at great cost to his heirs and privately expressed dismay with slavery.

At the same time, slaveholders in the mid-19th century claimed that Jefferson and Washington were one of them: a benevolent slave master who looked after his slaves in a paternalistic way. In fact, both Jefferson and Washington cruelly exploited the labor of their slaves complete with harsh punishments, chronic deprivations, and division of nuclear families by slave sales. Despite their high-minded public rhetoric and private misgivings, they profited handsomely from the misery of their slaves.  Of course, Jefferson also had a coerced sexual relationship with his slave Sally Hemings. While Washington did manumit his slaves, he only did so after he had died so that he benefited from their labor for his entire life. Moreover, he did this privately. Had the Father of his Country freed his slaves in a public and noteworthy fashion his example would have been a powerful one for other slaveholders to follow. Lastly, Washington signed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 into law and hounded a fugitive slave, Ona Judge, to the fullest extent permitted by the law and then some.

In the end, the words and deeds of these two slaveholding Founders offered something for both opponents of and advocates for slavery in the mid-19th century to make use of when they argued about the place of slavery in their understandings of American national identity.

VS: Your book takes on the concept of “competing histories” and bias in memory of historical events. Why is this approach important?

MC: Historians are constantly revising history. Oscar Wilde famously said, “the one duty we have to history is to re-write it” and he was correct. History is not one grand narrative. Instead, it is a bunch of competing narratives that contradict each other (and sometimes themselves). I argue that the “history wars” of the 1840s and 1850s over slavery and the Founders is quite similar to the “history wars” fought in the 1990s and 2000s over the Enola Gay exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution or the recent brouhahas over Common Core and the AP history test. The act of remembering and misremembering (and forgetting) historical events is ongoing. What is included is important but what is left out is sometimes more important. It is important for us to remember that history is not dead and dusted. History is not static. It is alive and dynamic. I like to say that I and my colleagues in the EWU History Department “make history” every day.

VS: For fun, I am told you and Emeritus History Professor Dick Donley had the same doctoral advisor. Tell me about that.

MC: Dick Donley was one of Robert W. Johannsen’s first graduate students and I was one of his last. Our time at the University of Illinois was separated by 32 years! We both have fond memories of his mentorship and the University of Illinois library (the third largest academic library in the U.S.). Although I did not meet him until the end of my first quarter at EWU, we have become fast friends and good colleagues. Dick has kindly read One Nation Divided by Slavery and my current book project tentatively entitled Constitutional Conflict. Dick has a sharp eye for awkward syntax and a mastery of the historiography even as an emeritus professor. He is also is more gentle than our PhD advisor, who once returned a chapter of my dissertation with the comment “It reads like an encyclopedia article.” He did not mean that as a compliment!