IT HAS BEEN FOUR YEARS since the Department of History produced an issue of Making History. In spring 2020, as we began work on that year’s edition, the world turned upside down. COVID-19 had been spreading across the globe and, by March 2020, it reached the level of a global pandemic. All campuses were closed and the Ohio State community was informed that spring break would be extended for a second week, after which all instruction would shift to virtual.
The COVID pandemic presented us with extraordinary challenges. Faculty, staff, and students suffered health crises, as did our family members. Those of us with children at home had to juggle work and family in new ways. We struggled to overcome the logistical challenges of teaching our courses online, and we quickly learned that techniques that may be effective in a small seminar are poorly applicable in a large survey. Faculty researched online teaching and our Digital Media Specialist, Laura Seeger, engineered new ways for us to communicate and share strategies. Budgetary uncertainties then led to a complete freeze on all discretionary spending. Research trips were cancelled as we tightened the proverbial belt as far as it would go. Still, we taught more than 13,000 students in academic year 2019-20. The following year, we taught more than 13,100.
Thousands of student reports and data from official evaluations indicate that our instructors worked hard to teach and support our students. I have shared with many audiences that the Department of History has more winners of the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching than any other unit on campus, and watching my colleagues navigate the unprecedented challenges of these past few years leaves no doubt in my mind as to why that is. The Ohio State University Department of History recruits faculty who are top research scholars and also exceptionally talented and extremely dedicated classroom instructors.
The hard work of navigating the pandemic necessitated putting a few things on the back burner. Unfortunately, that included Making History. I’m delighted that we can now bring this back to the front as it’s been too long since we’ve been able to reconnect with our alumni and other friends of the department. Quite a lot has happened in Dulles Hall these past few years, not the least of which is a dramatic renovation of our main office space. You can read about that and quite a lot more in the pages that follow.
These past several years, we have had to say goodbye to a number of valued colleagues. John Brooke, Phil Brown, Jane Hathaway, and Lucy Murphy announced their retirements. Sadly, on December 19, 2021, we lost Tom Ingersoll to illness.
We have gained a number of new colleagues as well, including four colleagues in endowed positions. Associate Professor Ori Yehudai joined us as the Schottenstein Chair in Israel Studies; Associate Professor Yiğit Akın is our inaugural Carter V. Findley Professor of Ottoman and Turkish History; Assistant Professor Lydia Walker has joined us as the inaugural Seth A. Myers Professor of Global Military History; and Professor Christopher McKnight Nichols is the Wayne Woodrow Hayes Chair in National Security Studies. We are also pleased to have welcomed Associate Professor Marian Moser Jones in a joint appointment shared between History and the College of Public Health. Additionally, Assistant Professor Amanda Respess has joined the faculty on our Marion campus, and in autumn 2023, we welcomed three new assistant professors: DeAnza Cook, María Hammack, and Ryan Fontanilla.
One thing that hasn’t changed these past years is the popularity of our courses. In academic year 2021-22, we taught more than twice as many students as our closest Big Ten competitor. We have remained highly active research scholars as well, and many of our recent scholarly achievements are highlighted in the following pages.
Go Bucks!
Scott Levi
Professor and Chair Emeritus