Department of History - Northwestern University

ALUMNI News continuedping a cappuccino in a cafe overlookingthe Arno as spends the spring semesterin Florence revising his dissertation intoa book.Guy Ortolano (PhD 2005) recentlyjoined several Northwestern alumni inthe History Department at NYU. Cambridgepublished an expanded versionof his 570 paper last year, so now he’srummaging through his desk trying tofind that 580.Graham Peck (PhD 2001) spent hisfirst summer after leaving Northwesternat Rhodes College in Memphisand since then has been at Saint XavierUniversity in Chicago. He has publishedthree articles on Lincoln and Douglasin the Journal of the Abraham LincolnAssociation and is now on a full-yearsabbatical completing his book manuscriptentitled Abraham Lincoln, StephenA. Douglas, and the Coming of the CivilWar. He and his wife have two daughters,Nicola and Sylvia, aged eight andfour, and watching them grow up is thehighlight of their parents’ lives.Amanda Seligman (PhD 1999) isworking on multiple projects, includingan article about block clubs, an Encyclopediaof Milwaukee, and an introductionto graduate school, the last inspiredby conversations with classmates fromNorthwestern. Now a tenured AssociateProfessor in the history department atthe University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,she also directs UWM’s Urban StudiesPrograms. She has two daughters, Irene(2) and Sophonisba (5), named afterSophonisba Breckinridge, whose scholarshipAmanda first encountered duringher time at Northwestern.Tobin Miller Shearer (PhD 2008)is eagerly waiting for the productionassistants at Johns Hopkins UniversityPress to send him the page proofs ofhis manuscript, Daily Demonstrators:The Civil Rights Movement in MennoniteHomes and Sanctuaries. Once hecompletes the onerous task of generatingan index, the book will be complete andavailable this fall. Shearer is an AssistantProfessor of History and the African-American Studies Coordinator at theUniversity of Montana.Naoko Shibusawa (PhD 1998) is anassociate professor at Brown, where she’sfound that post-tenure life means beingoverloaded with service. In additionto being on department and universitycommittees, guiding undergrads throughBrown’s open curriculum, and agreeingto sponsor a study group for some activiststudents, she is this year’s co-chairof the annual meeting of SHAFR. Sheneeds to start saying “no,” but foundherself saying “yes” to a request fromher former Northwestern professor tobe on next year’s OAH program committee.She has an essay overdue for aCold War anthology co-edited by PetraGoedde (PhD 1995) and a book overduefor Chuck Grench of UNC. But shecontinues to enjoy teaching; a highlightlast semester was having Tim Shannon(PhD 1993) video skype her class todiscuss his book, Iroquois Diplomacy onthe Indian Frontier.Robert Slayton (PhD 1982) is a fullprofessor in the Department of Historyat Chapman University in Orange, CA,and in 2005 became the Henry SalvatoriProfessor of American Values and Traditions.He is finishing a biography ofGeneral William Tunner, commander ofthe Berlin Airlift, for the University ofAlabama Press and is starting work on astudy of the Ashcan School artists.Joel Tarr (PhD 1963) is Richard S.Caliguiri University Professor of History& Policy at Carnegie-Mellon University.Timothy Walch (PhD 1975) is directorof the Herbert Hoover PresidentialLibrary Museum in the president’shometown of West Branch, Iowa. TheHoover Library is one of twelve suchlibraries that are part of the NationalArchives and Records Administration.He recently succeeded in raising close toa million dollars to produce a one-hourdocumentary film on Hoover for broadcaston public television in 2009. Healso was one of the featured commentatorsfor the inaugural episode of theC-SPAN series, “Presidential Libraries:History Uncovered” that was broadcastin 2007. He can be reached by e-mail at:timothy.walch@nara.gov.John S. Watterson (PhD 1970) haslived in Charlottesville, Virginia since1991. He continues to teach part-timeat James Madison University in nearbyHarrisonburg. In 2006, The Johns HopkinsUniversity Press published his mostrecent work, The Games Presidents Play,Sports and the Presidency. His earlierpublication with Johns Hopkins, CollegeFootball, History, Spectacle, Controversy,was also reissued with a new epilogueby the author. He can be contacted atjohnwatterson@comcast.net.James Wolfinger (PhD 2003)recently received tenure at DePaul Universitywhere he continues to teach inthe history department and the historyeducation program. His first book cameout in 2007 (see Alumni Bookshelf ),and his articles have appeared in Laborand the Journal of Urban History, amongother venues. He is currently workingon a history of mass transit in Philadelphiawith the working title of Capital’sQuest: Management, Labor, and the Searchfor Social Control in Philadelphia’s MassTransit Industry. He received a Franklinfellowship from the American PhilosophicalSociety to support this work.13