Orgill and Black Preserve Idaho's History

Kelly Orgill (above) and Carissa Black have been entrusted with additional duties and asked to stay on as full time staff members at the Idaho State Historic Preservation Office, part of the Idaho State Historical Society. As far as grad school goes, Kelly Orgill’s MA work focuses on Idaho identity and environmental issues, and she is working with Dr. Lisa Brady. Carissa Black is not only working full time for the Historic Preservation Office, but is also an intern at the Public Archives and Research Library as part of her MAHR project where she is conducting oral histories and compiling research on Idaho’s conservation movement. Carissa will also be traveling (thanks to funding from the History Department) to Oregon and Washington this summer to attend archival training workshops.

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Kim Cochrane Goes to Russia

Kim Cochrane, who graduated with honors on Saturday, sends this report: "...I am fascinated by Russia's history and culture, and in September I will head to Moscow, Russia for a year to teach English as a foreign language with EF English First. I am excited to live and work abroad, learn Russian, and experience Russian culture. This experience will help guide me toward a career in education, which I plan to pursue after attending graduate school."

News from the Classics

Charles Odahl reporting:

-- Kasey Reed, History Major and Latin Minor graduate (2006), completed an MA in Greek Language and Civilization at The University of Reading in 2007, and is currently working at the Boise Library before going on to more graduate studies in Classics.

-- Mark Hibbard, History Major and Latin Minor graduate (2007), has been accepted into a graduate program in Comparative Linguistics at the University of Leiden for the fall of 2008.

-- Matt Recla, MA in Ancient History and Religion (2006), has now completed his second year of doctoral studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and participated in an archaeological dig at Ephesus, Turkey, last summer.

-- Karen Wadley has completed the first year of her MA program in Medieval History, will be doing museum and site research in Britain this summer (thanks to a travel grant from the department), and will be writing and defending her thesis next year.

Graduation Day

Professors Lisa McClain, Nicanor Dominguez, Nick Miller, and Jill Gill, at graduation, May 17, 2008. It only seems like it took a long time for them to get their degrees.

Congratulations to Susan Emerson!

She hasn't been "our" student for a few years now, but we still claim her: Susan Emerson is graduating this weekend with her Masters in Public Administration. Historian, globe-trotting volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, Network Administrator, TVTV devotee: what comes next?

Other students spotted, but not long enough to snap a photo: Aimee Thacker, Chris Blanchard, Alicia Cowger, Jake Bradford, Dairus Barnes, Joe Rollins, John Rollins.

Summer Plans: Odahl

Charles Odahl always puts his summers to good use. Last summer, he attended the international Constantine exhibition in Trier, Germany (for a book signing of his biography of the emperor); did research in Rome and Tuscany, Italy for a book he is writing on Cicero; and did archaeological and museum research at the ruins of Carthage in Tunisia for a future project. This summer, he is teaching Medieval European History and Medieval Latin Literature in BSU's first five week summer session; completing his book on Cicero and the Catilinarian Conspiracy; and taking some time off for surfing and sailing on the Oregon coast before starting the fall semester and new projects.

Audra Green Heads to Notre Dame

Audra Green, who received her BA in history from Boise State University in December 2006, will head to the University of Notre Dame in the fall on a Gaia Fellowship, which provides for living expenses and tuition for five years. She will study modern Latin American History and Migration Studies. Congratulations, Audra!

MAHR Student News

Todd Shallat reports that many of our students in the Master of Applied Historical Research program have gotten jobs or fellowships "doing what they love:

-- Patrick Taylor has a real job with the National Park Service

-- Alissa Petersen has a cool museum fellowship in Maine

-- Don Anderson got money from Canyon County to do a film of Celebration Park for their new museum

-- Marc Frisk has a job with the Deer Flat Wildlife Refuge, where he is building an interpretive trail

-- Susan Whipple is producing a tourism book for the Snake River Scenic Byway, working via the City of Caldwell and Planmakers, Inc

-- Tully Gerlach has developed some art-history tours, and you can see him on the city streets with mobs of school children

-- Chris Blanchard has been hired as the "production editor" for the new online version of Idaho Yesterdays, working with ISU and the Idaho State Historical Soceity

-- Amber Beierle is now the state's historical librarian in the state historical society

-- Ann Felton has been appointed to the graduate faculty at BSU and will be teaching local history workshops, including a workshop on the past and future of the railroad in Boise, part of an effort to get AMTRACK back."

Whew. More better details as I get them.

Summer Plans: Gill

Jill Gill is scheduled to give a few talks this summer: the first set will be in Sun Valley in July, where she is doing a series of 3 talks on American religious history for a Jewish-Episcopal alliance that brings in speakers every summer on religion-related topics; then, in August, she'll be giving a talk on religion and politics for the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship in Boise. Jill will also continue working her book manuscript into shape for publication, and preparing for a new fall class of graduate students.

Summer Plans: Brady

Lisa Brady will be teaching a workshop June 23-24 on Deserts in World History, affiliated with the Desert Studies Institute, and will be one of the Lead Scholars for the Idaho Humanities Council's summer Teaching Institute on Environmental Literature, "A Word for Nature." Finally, She'll be completing the revisions for her manuscript on ideas of nature and strategy in the American Civil War.

Summer Plans: Miller

Nick Miller will spend much of June working in the National Archives (above) and the archives of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC. He will be using collections related to the apprehension and punishment of (alleged and real) war criminals in Yugoslavia after the Second World War.