Professor Tom Glick Retires After Four Decades at BU
Professor Thomas Glick will retire on June 30, 2013 after more than four decades at BU. A prodigious scholar (the author, co-author and editor of 30 books and hundreds of scholarly articles), who has won every award the discipline offers (including Guggenheim, NEH, National Science Foundation, and Fulbright fellowships), Tom Glick is distinguished not only by the voraciousness of his quest for knowledge, but especially by the breadth of his achievements. Tom’s scholarship spans diverse fields: Medieval Spain, the reception of Darwin, the history of medieval technology, the work of Albert Einstein, food history. His interests run even wider—from contemporary politics to historical preservation (he is president of the Northeast Chapter of the Society for the Preservation of Old Mills). And amid this phenomenal output across an astonishingly broad range of fields, Tom somehow found the time and energy to serve two terms as department chair and even as acting director of the American & New England Studies program.
For over forty years, Tom has enriched the intellectual life of this university with the breadth and depth of his knowledge, his wry humor, and the infectious pleasure he took in the work of a historian. He frequently reminded us of just how fortunate we were to have our avocation as our vocation, and he really meant it.
Professor Anna Geifman Retires
Professor Anna Geifman has retired after 23 years on the BU faculty. Born in the Soviet Union, Anna Geifman emigrated to the United States as a child and, except for a stint as a Ph.D. student at Harvard, has spent her entire adult life at BU. She took her B.A. in 1984, joined the faculty in 1990, and departs now for a research appointment at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. A talented cook and formidable chess player, Anna raised two children as a single mother, both of whom emigrated to Israel (where he daughter now serves in the IDF).
Professor Geifman’s scholarship focuses on terrorism in revolutionary Russia and on the modern phenomenon of terrorism more broadly. She is the author of numerous articles, the editor of several collections and the author of three books: Thou Shalt Kill: Revolutionary Terrorism in Russia, 1894-1917,; Entangled in Terror: The Azef Affair and the Russian Revolution; and, Death Orders: The Vanguard of Modern Terrorism in Revolutionary Russia. That most recent book brought together Geifman’s longstanding interest in psychological approaches to history, her expertise on revolutionary Russia, and her experiences living in contemporary Israel, developing a comparison between pre-revolutionary Russia and contemporary perpetrators of terrorism. Colleagues will remember Anna for the passion she brought to her teaching and scholarship
Professor Schulman Wins Inaugural Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Education
At the CAS Faculty Meeting on May 15, 2013, Professor Bruce Schulman received the inaugural Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Education. The award recognizes a member of the CAS faculty whose commitment to excellence in graduate teaching, mentoring, and/or curriculum development has contributed significantly to the quality of education in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Over the course of his twenty-six years as a faculty member, Professor Schulman has directed the dissertations of twenty-six successful doctoral candidates and served as second reader for fifteen more. Among them are more than two dozen tenured and tenure track faculty members at universities around the United States, two museum curators, and two independent school instructors. Between them they have published twenty-six books and numerous articles.
Professor Chernock Interviewed by BBC
Professor Arianne Chernock appeared on BBC Radio for an interview discussing Prince Harry’s U.S. Visit. Click here for the full audio.
Professor Chernock Appears on Sky News (UK)
Professor Arianne Chernock appeared on Sky News (UK) for an interview discussing Prince Harry’s U.S. Visit. Click here for video.
Promotion of Professors Blower and Chernock featured in BU Today
You can access the full story here: http://bit.ly/10meDOZ
History 200 Book Prizes Awarded
On May 7, 2013, Hi 200 Professors Arianne Chernock and Diana Wylie (who taught with a jointly developed syllabus) awarded book prizes for outstanding final projects in their sections at a gala ceremony in Room 304. The first recipient, Joseph Beebe, won for “Pinpointing the Success of Theodore Roosevelt, the Candidate.” In this remarkable research guide, Beebe uses the Theodore Roosevelt collection at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center to make some astute and timely observations about the origins of modern political campaigns. By carefully analyzing Roosevelt’s mass-produced election pins from 1900-1912– the images chosen, slogans adopted, and graphics employed – Joseph convincingly demonstrates that this collection could be used to show a key shift in the way that politicians “ran” (as opposed to “stood”) for office. As Joseph shows, TR made “personality” the centerpiece of his campaigning, using his own character to transcend political party and ideology. TR was also the first perpetual presidential campaigner, always running for office. The election pins capture these developments, and provide a clear window into the formation of contemporary American political culture.
Katie Angelica won the other HI 200 prize for an essay entitled “The Immeasurable Impact of an Individual: an overview of the Nora Saltonstall Papers and Photographic Collection.” To complete this project, Katie read deeply in and widely around this archive located at the Massachusetts Historical Society. Nora Saltonstall was a privileged Bostonian who volunteered to serve the Allied war effort in France during World War One. Katie concludes, Nora’s “determination, her intelligence, and her strength reflect the changing roles of women in the early twentieth century.” In recognition of Katie Angelica’s own determination and intelligence, the history department is pleased to present her with the prize.
Professor David Fromkin to Retire
David Fromkin, Professor of International Relations and History, will retire from Boston University, effective June 30, 2014 and that he will spend AY 2013-14 on terminal sabbatical. Please join us in wishing Professor Fromkin a pleasant and productive retirement.
Four History Students to Receive Humanities Awards
Graduate Students Christine Axen and Amy Noel as well as Undergraduate History Concentrators Christopher Barnes and Matthew Lavallee and have been selected to receive student awards funded by the Boston University Center for the Humanities. The awards will be received at a ceremony at the BU Castle on Tuesday May 14th. Please join us in congratulating these students on their accomplishment.
Graduate Student Matt Pressman Publishes Article on 1919 in Journalism History
Matt Pressman’s article, “Black and White and Red All Over?: Reassessing Newspapers’ Role in the Red Scare of 1919 appears in the current issue of Journalism History
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