January 2021 Newsletter
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Dear friends and alumni,
2020 was a wild year in Rolla, as it was everywhere. We are surviving, but we all look forward to a time when normal classes can resume. As testimony to our flexibility and perseverance, half of our faculty earned 2019-20 Outstanding Teaching Awards. Congratulations to Profs. Behrendt, DeWitt, Huber, Pope, Schramm and Sheppard.
I am thrilled about a new fellowship honoring Dr. Lawrence Christensen and the opening of the Collaboratory. Dr. McManus received the highest literary honor in the field of military history; Dr. Sheppard earned one of the highest faculty honors in the entire University of Missouri System, and Dr. Gragg, although technically retired, was one of the busiest people on campus with his new S&T history book and the university's 150th anniversary kickoff. You can learn more in the stories below.
There were many other things to celebrate. Gen. Bo Mahaney, Hist’85, and Rachel Forester, Hist’11, published articles in the Missouri Historical Review, and Mahaney won the journal’s article award. Lucas Sochinski, Hist’20, was the first S&T history major to win a national Phi Alpha Theta paper prize. Dr. Ahmad and Dr. Krolikowski won inaugural faculty awards from the College of Arts, Sciences, and Business. Dr. Fogg was named a fellow of the Paris Institute for Advanced Study. Dr. Sheppard co-edited Communities of Knowledge Production in Archeology. And Dr. DeWitt was promoted and earned tenure!
As difficult as 2020 was, I am thankful for the opportunity to work with so many talented, dedicated, and good-hearted faculty, staff and students. And I am so grateful for the continued generous support of our alumni.
Sincerely,
Michael Bruening, Ph.D.
Interim Chair, History and Political Science
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Michael Bruening’s coronavirus rendition of “I Will Survive” is a YouTube hit gone viral. His humorous guitar and vocal mix provided comic relief for teachers everywhere who had to move at warp speed to move their in-person classes online due to the pandemic.
McManus and Sheppard earn high honors
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John McManus, Curators’ Distinguished Professor of history, received the Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History for "Fire and Fortitude: The US Army in the Pacific War, 1941-1943." The $50,000 prize honors the best book on military history in the English-speaking world. And associate professor Kathleen Sheppard won the 2020 UM System President’s Award for Innovative Teaching. The Wikipedia editing project she used in her History of Science class has generated articles viewed over 8 million times. Sheppard also employs other innovative teaching strategies, such as gamification studies.
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Lawrence Christensen was a beloved member of the S&T history faculty for over three decades, but he was also a friend and mentor to Cordell Smith, Hist’88. This past fall, Smith gave $250,000 to S&T to establish a faculty research fellowship in honor of the late Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor of history and political science. Smith is deputy director for acquisition policy in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization in Washington, D.C.
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S&T’s Collaboratory, a new 1,150-square-foot digital humanities lab, will open soon for students and faculty to use the latest technologies — podcast recording equipment, 3-D printers, touch-screen presentation boards, and more — to engage with the past and display their findings. Stay tuned!
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Larry Gragg, Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus of history, has authored "Forged in Gold", the story of S&T’s 150-year history. Five years in the making, this handsome 289-page coffee-table-style book weaves iconic events with historical photos to commemorate Missouri S&T’s significant influence on the world.
Phonathon calling starts soon
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In history and political science, students learn to ask the questions that matter most. For many, the first step on their learning journey is scholarship support.
Our annual phonathon is underway. We hope you’ll take the time to speak with the student caller and consider a scholarship gift. Your support will honor the great teaching Missouri S&T provides, helping our future leaders make history.
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Connect with Missouri S&T's
History and Political Science Department
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136 Humanities and Social Sciences
500 W. 14th St., Rolla, MO 65409
Copyright 2020
Curators of the University of Missouri
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