Frank Blazich, Jr. Publishes New Book
(Posted May 19, 2025)
Congratulations to alum Frank Blazich, Jr. on publication of his new book, "John Hasey, Un Américain dans la Légion." Back in 2017, Frank collected the uniform and records of John F. Hasey, the only American to hold a commission in the Free French Foreign Legion in World War II, and the first American to receive the Order of Liberation. For over 80 years, his 1942 autobiography was only available in English ... until now! He connected with a French colonel and together they got the entire work edited, translated, and published in less than a year.
Melvin Barnes Accepts New Position
(Posted May 13, 2025)
Congratulations to Ohio State history PhD alum Melvin Barnes on accepting a tenure-track position on faculty at the University of Michigan-Flint!
Shawn Conroy Accepts New Position
(Posted May 13, 2025)
Congratulations to Ohio State history alum Shawn Conroy (PhD 2024) on his new tenure-track position at Texas A&M University! Shawn's advisors were David Hoffmann and Nicholas Breyfogle.
Galia Nurko Awarded Emerging Leader Alumni Award
(Posted April 18, 2025)
Congratulations to alum Galia Nurko (B.A., history, 2012) on receiving the Emerging Leader Alumni Award! The award recognizes an alumnus/a in their early or mid-career who has demonstrated distinctive and outstanding achievement in their profession and/or through civic involvement.
Galia Nurko is passionate about the interdisciplinary intersections that shape society, with a particular interest in how technology and its diffusion is impacting economic, social and political dynamics around the world. Her career reflects that passion.
At present, Nurko serves as the director of strategy and development for the Global Cyber Alliance (GCA), where she oversees the organizations’ future growth strategy, which includes business development and partnership. In this role, she supports the development of the organization’s long-term strategy, writing of grants and implementation of projects, including Common Good Cyber. The goal of Common Good Cyber is to fundamentally change how cybersecurity is addressed, moving society from a “law-of-the-strongest” approach to a collective approach that reduces cybersecurity risk for everyone. Read more about Gailia Nurko.
Whitney Dirks Pens New Book
(Posted Dec. 2, 2024)
Alum Whitney Dirks (Ph.D. 2013) has a new book, Monstrosity, Bodies, and Knowledge in Early Modern England, Curiosity to See and Behold, published by Amsterdam University Press. From the Amsterdam Univ. Press website:
In 1680, the poor cottager Mary Herring gave birth to conjoined twins. At two weeks of age, they were kidnapped to be shown for money, and their deaths shortly thereafter gave rise to a four-year legal battle over ownership and income. The Herring twins’ microhistory weaves throughout this book, as the chapter structure alternates between the family’s ordeal and the broader cultural context of how so-called ‘monstrous births’ (a contemporary term for deformed humans and animals) were discussed in cheap print, exhibited in London’s pubs and coffeehouses, examined by the Royal Society, portrayed in visual culture, and litigated in London’s legal courts. This book ties together social and medical history, Disability Studies, and Monster Studies to argue that people discussed unusual bodies in early modern England because they provided newsworthy entertainment, revealed the will of God, and demonstrated the internal workings of Nature.
Frank Blazich Awarded Médaille de la Défense Nationale
(Posted November 18, 2024.)
Congratulations to history Ph.D. alum Frank Blazich who was decorated in November by French General Francois Lecointre with the Médaille de la Défense Nationale at the National World War I Memorial in Washington. The medal is rarely awarded to foreign civilians. He received it for stewarding the museum's partnership with the French Embassy in the United States for its 80th anniversary commemorations of D-Day and the Liberation of Paris along with his other work. Well done, Frank!
New Book, "The Airborne Mafia," by Robert Williams
(Posted November 14, 2024)
Congratulations to alum Rob Williams on the upcoming publication of his book, "The Airborne Mafia," in March of 2025 by Cornell University Press. It is available for pre-order on the Cornell website.
The Airborne Mafia explores how a small group of World War II airborne officers took control of the US Army after World War II. This powerful cadre cemented a unique airborne culture that had an unprecedented impact on the Cold War US Army and beyond.
Stephen Habash Receives 2024 College of Arts & Sciences Alumni Award for Distinguished Service
(Posted March 25, 2024)
Congratulations to Stephen Habash (BA, ancient history and classics, 1974; JD, 1978) on receiving the 2024 College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Award for Distinguished Service. The award recognizes exemplary service to the College of Arts and Sciences, its faculty, students and programs. Find out more about the award.
Carol Anderson Recognized in Office of Diversity and Inclusion Hall of Fame
(Posted March 14, 2024)
Congratulations to Ohio State alum Carol Anderson (Ph.D., OSU Dept. of History, 1995) on being recognized for her extraordinary professional contributions to diversity and inclusion with a place in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion Hall of Fame.
Carol earned her PhD in History in 1995 with a focus on 20th-Century U.S. International Relations, 20th-Century African American history, 20th-Century American history, and 20th-Century European International history. Professor Peter Hahn served as her advisor.
Dillon Streifeneder Accepts New Position
(Posted Feb. 26, 2024)
Dillon Streifeneder (PhD 2022) has accepted a tenure-track position as an assistant professor of history at the United States Naval Academy.
Will Rosenberger Wins Hoover Institution Award
(Posted Feb. 12, 2024)
Congratulations to alum Will Rosenberger on winning the Director’s Choice Award at the Hoover Institution’s Summer Policy Boot Camp at Stanford University. Will was graduated in Spring 2023 with a B.A. in history and has since been participating in Teach for America in Cleveland. His winning submission was, "Cumbersome Assessment Process Won’t Fix Ohio’s Education Woes."
Melvin Barnes Featured in WOSU Documentary
(Posted Feb. 12, 2024)
"The Lincoln School Story follows a group of Black mothers in Southwest Ohio as they heroically fight for school desegregation. After Brown v. Board of Education was decided in 1954, the Lincoln School Marchers marched with their children to the white elementary school, demanding admission—only to be turned away. They woke the next morning and marched again. And again. For over two years, they marched in what became one of the longest-sustained actions of the nation’s Civil Rights movement."--Ohio Humanities Website
Will Chou Receives Hudson Institute Fellowship
(Posted May 26, 2023)
Congratulations to history alum, Will Chou, PhD, who will be joining the Hudson Institute as the Japan Chair Fellow later this summer. His work will be focusing on initiatives that support US, Japanese, and partner efforts to build a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific during this pivotal time.
Recently, National Defense interviewed Will for their report on Australia's new Defence Strategic Review, "ANALYSIS: Australia's New Strategic Review Has Big Implications." He observed that the document reflects the US, Japan, and their partners' commitment to shared strategic concepts, interoperability, and industrial resilience, and would create decisions for the Chinese leadership.
Yulonda Eadie Sano and Cherisse Jones-Branch Edit New Book Series, Rural Black Studies
(Posted May 24, 2023)
Ohio State PhD history alums Dr. Yulonda Eadie Sano and Dr. Cherisse Jones-Branch are editing a new book series, Rural Black Studies, by the Univ. of Arkansas Press. The series focuses on the history of rural Black people who opted out of the South’s Great Migration.
Both Dr. Jones-Branch and Dr. Sano are from the South (South Carolina and Mississippi) and have written about African Americans in the rural South in their research. Dr. Jones-Branch, the Dean of the Graduate School at Arkansas State University, is the author or editor of several University Press books, including Arkansas Women: Their Lives and Times(University of Georgia Press), Crossing the Line: Women’s Interracial Activism in South Carolina during and after World War II (University Press of Florida), and Better Living by Their Own Bootstraps:Black Women’s Activism in Rural Arkansas, 1914-1965 (University of Arkansas Press). Dr. Sano is assistant professor of history in the Department of Social Sciences at Alcorn State University, where she teaches courses in American, African American, and world history. Her scholarship on physician Edith Mae Irby Jones and the integration of the University of Arkansas School of Medicine appears in Arkansas Women: Their Lives and Times (University of Georgia Press, 2018)
“The Rural Black Studies series,” write the editors, “will be both multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary, focusing on how race, gender, culture, economy, and agriculture shape our understanding of African Americans in rural communities.”
Find out more about the Rural Black Studies series.
Steve Gietschier Recipient of Henry Chadwick Award
Steve Gietschier has been named a recipient of the Society for American Baseball Research’s 2023 Henry Chadwick Award - an award established to honor the game’s great researchers, historians, statisticians, annalists, and archivists for their invaluable contributions to making baseball the game that links America’s present with its past. Gietschier earned his PhD in History at Ohio State and worked at The Sporting News for many years and then taught at Lindenwood University. He recently retired from teaching and continues to be a productive scholar as evidenced by his new book from the University of Nebraska Press, Baseball: The Turbulent Midcentury Years.
Frank Blazich, Jr. Awarded Prize
(Posted Jan. 13, 2023)
Congratulations to history alum Frank Blazich, Jr. on receiving the Smithsonian Institution Secretary's Research Prize, which recognizes and promotes excellence in scholarship across the Smithsonian. The award is for his work, "Notre Cher Ami: The Enduring Myth & Memory of a Humble Pigeon," and carries a $2,000 prize.