July 30, 2008
With the start of the Fall 2008 term, OSU’s History Department enters a new and exciting era. Owing to retirement and family considerations, many familiar faces will be gone from Milam Hall, while several new faculty will take their place. Joining the ranks of emeriti are Paul Farber, who chaired the department for the past seventeen years, and Mary Jo Nye, Horning Professor of Science and the Humanities. Mary Jo follows in the footsteps of her husband, Bob Nye, who retired last year. Other longtime faculty members who left this past year are Mo Healy and Ron Doel. Both have found comfortable berths at their spouses’ institutions, Mo at Lewis and Clark and Ron at Florida State.
Two new hires will assume the Horning Chairs in Science and the Humanities: Anita Guerrini, formerly of the University of California at Santa Barbara, and David Luft, formerly of the University of California at San Diego. David specializes in European intellectual history, particularly fin-de-siècle Austria. Anita’s principal field is early modern European science, and she is also interested in environmental studies. Anita will be joined next year in Corvallis by her husband, Michael Osborne. Mike, an expert on French colonialism and science, teaches at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
The department is especially pleased to announce that this fall Stacey Smith, a recent Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin and a specialist in the history of the American West, will join our faculty. On a similar note, congratulations go to fellow Americanist Ben Mutschler for his recent promotion and tenure as Associate Professor.
Finally, the department welcomes to Oregon two historians who will be fellows at the OSU Center for the Humanities during the coming academic year: Matthew Lassiter of the University of Michigan, and Christopher Phelps from Ohio State. Matthew studies the history of suburbia, while Christopher’s project is entitled “The Strike: A History of Ideas.”
As always, the Department History sponsors a wide range of lectures and activities geared to the larger academic community and the general public. This year’s George Carson lecturer will be Edmund “Terry” Burke of UC Santa Cruz, who will talk on French explorers in North Africa. In conjunction with the History Department, the Horning Fund will mark the bicentennial of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of the Species with a number of programs this year. Additional events will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of oceanography as a field of study at OSU.
Other department programs include the American Culture and Politics Lecture Series, the annual Holocaust Memorial Week commemoration, and the Chun Chiu lecture in Chinese civilization. Details will be made public at this website as they become available.
If you have any questions about studying at Oregon State University or would like information about any of our events, please don’t hesitate to contact me or the department.
Jon Katz
Professor and Chair
jkatz@oregonstate.edu
