The Augustana History Update

Hello history folks!

Welcome to the first History Update of the 2023-2024 academic year! Augustana’s Department of History plans to keep sending updates this year so that everyone—including alumni and students–are aware of what’s happening on campus. 

We are only a few weeks into the Fall semester and already the air has acquired a slight chill, suggesting that Autumn is now truly upon us. Classes are in full swing, but I’m still learning about what our students were up to over the summer. Senior Jon Hutton spent the summer as an intern at the German American Heritage Museum in Washington, D.C., where he researched and wrote biographies of German American veterans as part of an online display. Among the biographies he crafted were those of Aleda Lutz, a flight nurse on six campaigns during WWII, and of Otto Boehler, a Medal of Honor recipient who fought during the Phillippine American War. Here you can see a photo of Jon at the capitol from this summer.

Our new history department intern, Morgan Schroeder, traveled even farther afield–to Berlin--this past June. Morgan visited a number of historical sites, including Sachsenhausen concentration camp, to better understand how Germans approach historic preservation. The rest of the summer involved the crafting of an impressive, 65-page paper about the role of antisemitism in Nazi ideology. Here is a photo Morgan took of the famous Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

Faculty were on the move this summer too. I used a fellowship from the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies to do research in New Mexico and Arizona. I quickly remembered that the reason prices in the Southwest are so low during the summer is because it’s so hot! Here is a photo of myself in front of one of the many research libraries I visited.

In August, Dr. Jane Simonsen had the opportunity to teach at Kobe City University of Foreign Studies (KCUFS) in Japan. She reports that it was exciting to teach U.S. history to Japanese students (she taught a verison of a course she offers here during our J-term). She also took advantage of the museums, landscape, and food in Kobe, Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto. Dr. Simonsen wants students to know that KCUFS would be thrilled to host Augie students during study abroad–indeed, KCUFS offers courses in English if you’re not strong in your Japanese language skills. Here is a photo that Dr. Simonsen shared from her trip.

I should also report one bittersweet event from this summer: our historian of Latin America, Associate Professor Lauren Hammond-Ford, left the college after seven years to take a position as the inaugural Assistant Vice Chancellor of DEI Academic Engagement at the University of Denver. We’re sad to see a valued, thoughtful teacher, mentor, and colleague go, but we’re also proud of her, celebrating her well-earned achievement as she moves into a major leadership role. She leaves as an important figure in Augustana’s own history too. In the spring of 2022, Dr. Hammond-Ford became the first Black woman to earn tenure at Augustana College, an accomplishment that the Augustana Observer rightly celebrated last year.

Speaking of accomplishments, our department graduated a large number of students this past May–20 by my count–and you can read about a few of them in their More Than I Imagined profiles, including Nishal Weems, Stephanie Carreno, and Maja Johnson. During our department’s end-of-the-year celebration in May, we enjoyed bright skies and a delicious buffet in an outdoor space between the Anderson Pavilion and the Brunner Theatre Center. This photo from the event features Dr. Elizabeth Lawrence and graduating senior Madison Watwood, now the proud holder of a BA in history and political science. Madison was just in touch with folks in the department upon finishing an internship with Free the Slaves, an international anti-trafficking nonprofit. 

Unlike that sunny event, our first event of the fall was a rather wet one: a pizza party for our department’s majors and minors, held on the outdoor patio of Carlsson-Evald Hall. The event suddenly relocated after a thunderstorm forced us and our food indoors. You can see the gathering clouds behind us in this photo from the start of the event.

Our history courses this fall yet again cover a wide variety of geographies and eras. Students in my public history course have been exploring local geography and history too. I asked them to visit historic sites and museums around the Quad Cities–and they clearly enjoyed stops at the German American Heritage Center (Davenport), the Buffalo Bill Museum (Leclaire), the Putnam Museum (Davenport), the John Deere Pavilion (Moline), and Black Hawk State Historic Site (Rock Island). Coming up this J-term, our department has courses in the French Revolution and in the portrayal of historic events at the movies (the theme this January: the portrayal of war in film). 

The spring will bring another set of engaging courses, including 300-level courses in Ancient Greece, the 1960s in the U.S., and Modern China. Our department also recently added courses taught by Dr. Mark Safstrom, Associate Professor in Scandinavian Studies, to the list of classes that our own majors and minors can take to contribute to their academic program. One of those for the Spring is SCAN 350: Immigration History, which asks students to dive into collections housed at the Swenson Swedish Immigration Center. Yes, students, even though the course starts with SCAN and not HIST, it definitely counts towards your program in history.

I'm looking forward to Homecoming and Family Weekend in the coming days. The history department is excited to be hosting an open house on Saturday, October 7th. Hopefully, I’ll run into many of you!

That’s enough for now. I’ll be in touch again in a few months with more news. 

Wishing all of you an excellent fall!

Brian Leech
Associate Professor and Chair, Department of History