DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s

1950s

Betty (Peterson) O'Brien (BA '56) writes: "My life career in library science continues as I celebrate 25 years in retirement as the librarian of the libraries at my residence, Frasier Retirement Community in Boulder, Colorado. We recently upgraded to an online catalog available to residents on their own electronic devices."

1960s

Dominic Candeloro (BA '62) writes: "Recently republished "Reconstructing Italians in Chicago: Thirty Authors in Search of Roots and Branches."  I continue my work as curator of the Casa Italia Library."

Judith Westlund Rosbe (BA '63) Judith Westlund Rosbe BA '63 wrote her sixth local history book about Marion, Massachusetts, "St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church."  It was published by Arcadia Publishing in 2021 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the church's founding in 1871.  Rosbe has been a director, past president, and treasurer of the Sippican Historical Society in Marion since 1978 and is currently the parish historian of St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church in Marion.  She and her husband have been residents of Marion since 1977.  Rosbe is a retired attorney.

David Gerber (BA '66) In 2020, David Gerber completed a second edition of his American Immigration: A Very Short Introduction for Oxford University Press, and published with Bruce Dierenfield, Disability Rights and Religious Liberty in Education for the Disability Histories series at the University of Illinois Press.  He continues to serve on the History Advisory Committee of the Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation.

Patricia Ely Matteson (BA '67) Majored in history and took many courses in German and art history. MBA from NYU Graduate School of Business. Career in marketing and financial services. Lives in Southport, CT. Now semi-retired with PT consulting practice. Big reader of history, biographies and non-fiction. Have traveled to 5 continents and 58 countries. Lived abroad twice. Always try to evaluate issues from a historical and cultural perspective. Wish I could return to NU and take more courses!! Proud to be an NU alum. Love to hear from fellow grads at 203 218 0091 or patmat@optonline.net.

Frank A. Cassell (PhD '68) writes: "Since retiring from a university presidency (University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg), I have refocused my energies on research. One of my books, Suncoast Empire: Bertha Palmer, Her Family, and the Rise of Sarasota, has been selected as the One Book/One Community volume for this year in Sarasota County. Previouly Suncoast Empire, had been awarded the Silver Medal in Nonfiction by Florida Book Awards.  Another book, Creating Sarasota County: Building Roads to Paradise, is featured reading as part of Sarasota County’s Centennial celebration this year."

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1970s

William R. Levin (BA '70)  He received the President's Award for Service to the Arts, bestowed only once previously, by SECAC (formerly the Southeastern College Art Conference) at the organization's 2020 online meeting for his "enormous commitment to the profession and to SECAC." The citation reads in part, "In addition to endowing two SECAC Awards for Research in Art History, Dr. Levin has continued to share his scholarship, leadership, mentorship, and friendship as a faithful conference participant."

John F. Reiger (PhD '70) writes: "As a student at Duke in the early 60's, I witnessed, first-hand, the overt suppression of African-Americans' right to vote and am appalled now by the attempts of Republicans in virtually every state legislature they control to take us back to that terrible time. Seemingly, on all issues, from needed environmental regulations to the expansion of health care, Republicans at both the state and federal level appear to be intent on undermining our democracy and thwarting the popular will. As a result, I spend most of my time these days signing petitions, writing letters and emails, and making phone calls to oppose their nefarious efforts."

Mark Kaufman (BA '71) Finishing up 47 years as an attorney in Atlanta specializing in mergers and acquisitions.  Also write for  two legal publications.

Mary Jo (Wronkiewicz) Schoppa (BA '72) writes: "Have been a licensed Realtor/Broker in Texas for over 30 years.  In March, opened my own company, Veranda Realty Group, along with two partners. We are located in the City of Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas, one of the fastest growing areas in the United States."

Don H. Doyle (PhD '73) writes: "Though still reveling in the first years of retirement at Folly Beach, just outside Charleston, SC, I found the COVID plague an unexpected opportunity to write a book that had been kicking around in my head for a while. This will be a sequel to The Cause of All Nations and it views the first years of Reconstruction in an international context. A short time before COVID, I walked the Portuguese route of the Camino de Santiago with my two daughters, Carrie and Kelly, who were born in Evanston during my graduate studies there. My wife, Marjorie Spruill, has been busy writing and lecturing about the 19th amendment. We long to get back to family and travel when the plague lifts."

Stephen Perry (BA '73) writes: "After graduating from NU, I received a Ph.D. in history from Cambridge University and served 33 years as a pastor in South Dakota. I'm working in retirement on a history of United Methodists in North Dakota and South Dakota, an essay on spatial thinking and decentralization in U.S. history, and a biography of the friendship between my father (who taught at NU) and Walpola Rahula, author of What the Buddha Taught."

Timothy Walch (PhD '75) writes: "In 2021, I celebrated my tenth year of retirement as director emeritus of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library. I continue as a member of the Iowa Historical Records Advisory Board.  I published what I expect will be my last book, Irish Iowa, in 2019, but I continue to write for a variety of newspapers and magazines on a variety of historical issues. I am pleased to report that I am fully vaccinated and ready to return to normal activities."

Edward Berkowitz (PhD '76) writes: "I am retired from George Washington University and living in Baltimore. I still teach adults at some of the local universities. Chicago University Press published Making Social Welfare Policy, probably my last academic book, in spring, 2020."

Carol Zink (BA '77) writes: "Happily teaching history classes online through Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Hawaii. Not so happily teaching 2nd graders language arts and fractions online. I was a high school history teacher, and teaching the intricacies of European history, essay writing, and documents-based essay writing was far easier than teaching fractions to 8 year olds!!!"

Matt Borman (BA '77) writes: "With the start of the Biden Administration, I am serving under my fourth administration as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration.  Our Bureau of Industry and Security focuses on strategic trade and defense industrial base matters. The analytical and writing skills I learned at NU have served me well in my career.  I follow NU athletics on BTN and NU Sports."

Prof. R. Mark McCareins (BA '78) R. Mark McCareins, WCAS 1978, is a Clinical Professor at Kellogg and recently launched an on-line course through Kellogg entitled, "Business Law for Leaders". Mark also serves as the General Counsel of the Metals Service Center Institute after retiring as the co-chair of Winston and Strawn LLP's Global Competition Group.

Cheryl Johnson-Odim (PhD '78) Recently retired from position of Provost at Dominican University. She appears prominently in the documentary Mandela in Chicago (2021) produced and directed by Ava Greenwell, a professor in Medill School of Journalism. Johnson-Odim's sons established a Promise Scholarship in her name, Cheryl's Scholarship, in Weinberg College. She currently serves on the Weinberg College Board of Visitors and the Block Museum Board of Advisors.

Alan Goldstein (BA '78) writes: "My wife Nancy Neustadt Goldstein (Journalism '78) and I (CAS, History, '78) moved to Napa, CA in 2020.  I started a new law practice in the Bay Area as Law Office of Alan K. Goldstein effective January 1, 2021 (alankgoldsteinlaw.com).  I have specialized in admiralty and maritime law for several decades, practicing in the Midwest and South and now the West Coast as well.  Three adult children living in San Francisco (one a Kellogg alumnus) was a big attraction for us.  It's been a great move.  We are happy to cross paths with NU alumni."

Mark Treger (BA '79) writes: "Retired May 2020 from 18 years teaching marketing strategy and writing at University of North Texas at Dallas, where I  received the "Outstanding Teaching Award" from Society of Business Students, after a Kellogg MBA and 20 years consulting as a principal at Kearney & partner at Accenture. Inspired by brilliant lectures of my friend and former teacher Professor Robert Lerner, who once called me his "brightest student who couldn't write" and by late Professor Wiebe, who wrote my rec for Kellogg. As a pilot, I am enjoying Professor Mike Sherry's work on American Air Power, as I enjoyed his course."

Donald Holsinger (PhD '79) writes: "I retired in 2018 as Professor Emeritus of History after 28 years at Seattle Pacific University.  My chapter "The Road to Ghardaia: Investigating a Community Deep in the Sahara Leads to the Study of Global History" has been published in MENNONITES AND POST-COLONIAL AFRICAN STUDIES (Routledge, 2021).  In it I recount how my experience teaching English in Algeria in the early 1970s led me to Northwestern University's magnificent Program of African Studies and Department of History which, in turn, launched me on a career of teaching and scholarship in African, Middle Eastern, and global history. https://www.routledge.com/Mennonites-and-Post-Colonial-African-Studies/Janzen-Miller-Yoder/p/book/9780367474324."

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1980s

Jim Sanders (PhD '80) writes: "Having failed to arouse interest among investigative journalists in the shady world of emerging market bond deals, I attempted to expand the religious sensibility of my mother-in-law’s Presbyterian congregation-- Church on the Mall, in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania--by videotaping myself reading Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem, God speaks to each of us as he makes us’, I, 59, in Book of Hours.  The video aired in a Sunday morning online service and stirred discussion.  A woman commented favorably during the Zoomed coffee hour, but not so favorably that I felt I could push my luck the following week with “I love the dark hours of my being”, I, 5, even if it was Lent."

Bill Adams (BA '82) writes: "After 26 years as a Marine Corps Officer commissioned through the Northwestern NROTC Unit, including attending law school University of Oregon along the way, I settled in Sonoma County, California, where I practice law.  My wife, Sabine Canto (NU Journalism '85), and I truly savor living in wine country, and would love to hear news of our fellow Cats."

Eric Stromayer (BA '82) writes: "Since March of 2019 l have been Ambassador to Togo.  My wife Susmita and I are enjoying Lomé, the country, and its people.  Despite the stresses of COVID I am enjoying being back in West Africa.   After Peace Corps in Sénégal out of NU in ´82 and assignment to the region (and elsewhere) as a Foreign Service Officer, West Africa has been an important part of my life for almost 40 years now.  The challenges and rewards have been many, and rich."

Christopher Patusky (BA '85) writes: "My wife Kiernan and I are just completing the third and final building of our winery and tasting room complex in Upperville, Virginia, called "Slater Run Vineyards", about an hour west of Washington, DC.  It has been a ten-year effort to get here, and so we are happy to report that it is about finished.  We are always happy to see Northwestern alumni and hope to host an alumni reception in 2021.  Our website is www.slaterrun.com."

Carl Brownell (BA '86) writes: "After working in high schools for 33 years teaching primarily European and African History (my content focus as an undergrad at NU), I will be retiring in June of 2022.  It has been a great career inspired by the fantastic professors I had at NU:  Lacey Baldwin Smith, Carl Petry, Peter Hayes, Tom Heyck, Tim Breen, and John Rowe.  I raise a glass to a historical life (and the History Bowl competition I organized between students and faculty)!"

Paula Michaels (BA '87) Paula Michaels's co-edited book Gender and Trauma since 1900 appears in April 2021 with Bloomsbury Academic Press. She continues to serve as head of the history department at Monash University and this year began a two-year term as Past President of the Association for Women in Slavic Studies.

Esther Yin-ling Spodek (MA '88) writes: "In April 2020 I published the novel, WE HAVE EVERYTHING BEFORE US (Gibson House Press) and have been visiting book groups on zoom this past year, discussing writing and publishing in a pandemic."

Hal Walker (BA '88) Hal Walker is a musician living in Kent, Ohio. He performs concerts, works as a teaching artist in schools, and is the music director of the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Kent. On January 1st of 2020, Hal took the advice of a 5th grade student and posted his first video on TikTok.  Since then, playing all original music, Hal has gained over 500k followers and 10M likes on that platform.  (Follow @banakula) Also, he is the host of a weekly live show on YouTube called “This Moment in Music” — a laid-back musical exploration of the creative process.

Doug Poland (BA '88) Doug Poland is a partner at Stafford Rosenbaum LLP in Madison, Wisconsin, and co-chair of the firm’s Election and Political Law Team. Doug also serves as the Litigation Director of Law Forward, Inc., a nonpartisan, nonprofit law firm focused on preserving representative democracy in Wisconsin. Doug has 26 years of litigation experience in state and federal courts nationwide. Doug served as lead trial counsel for plaintiffs who successfully challenged Wisconsin legislative districts in court in 2012 and 2016, and for plaintiffs who obtained an extension of the absentee ballot return deadline for the April 7, 2020, Wisconsin spring election.

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1990s

Ross Jaax (BA '90) Ross has been living and working in Southeast Asia for the last 20 years. His current base is Jakarta, Indonesia, where he works for the Asian Development Bank as Senior Technical Consultant, advising the Indonesian government on rural and agricultural development investments. He's married to Erlina Budiaman and has 3 grown step-children.

John Humphrey (BA '92) John recently started a position as Senior VP at Cathexis, a veteran-owned small business.  He will be responsible for the firm's business growth strategy development and lead all business development efforts.

Aaron D. Weiss (BA '92) After completing a 25-year career in the Marine Corps, Aaron resided in Vietnam for two years and founded the GrüneStrasse Backpack Co to design and manufacture backpacks for Bike to Work commuters.  After a successful Kickstarter launch in 2020, GrüneStrasse has sold Bike to Work backpacks across the United States and 14 countries.  Aaron now lives with his family in McLean VA.

Mary Franklin (Other '95) writes: "On 10/24/20, I received the inaugural Seymour Diamond, MD, Advocacy Award from the National Headache Foundation. And, I retired from the National Headache Foundation on 11/3/2020, after 50 years in headache medicine."

Nicole Hudgins (BA '96) writes: "I have just risen to the rank of full professor (of history) at my institution, the University of Baltimore: http://www.ubalt.edu/index.cfm."

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2000s

Mathew Todd (MA '00) Matt has been working at Northern Virginia Community College since 1999. He recently was seduced by the "dark side," i.e. academic administration.  Matt is now the Dean of College Libraries and Academic Support Services.  NOVA is the second-largest community college in the nation, with six campuses and a robust online curriculum.

Geoffrey S Deibel (BA '02) Geoffrey Deibel is in his third year as assistant professor of saxophone at Florida State University. His students have placed in several regional and national solo and chamber music competitions, and he is behind numerous projects commissioning new works for the instrument. His work in history at NU continues to inform his scholarship in music.

Lane Demas (BA '02) Currently a professor of history at Central Michigan University. Authored two books on the history of race and sport: Game of Privilege: An African American History of Golf (University of North Carolina, 2017) and Integrating the Gridiron: Black Civil Rights and American College Football (Rutgers, 2010).

Joseph Bubman (BA '03) Joe was a co-recipient of the 2020 Melanie Greenberg U.S. Peacebuilding Award of Excellence for his leadership of Urban Rural Action, which brings together Americans across geographic, political, racial, and other divides to build relationships, strengthen collaboration skills, explore different perspectives, and take action together on issues that impact all communities. https://www.allianceforpeacebuilding.org/afp-publications/afp-2020-mcg-press-release.

Collin Hansen (BA '03) Collin Hansen was promoted in January 2021 to vice president of content and editor in chief of The Gospel Coalition, one of the largest Christian websites in the world. He also published his latest book, Gospelbound: Living with Resolute Hope in an Anxious Age (Multnomah). His Gospelbound podcast in April 2021 featured an interview with Morty Schapiro and Gary Saul Morson. In January 2022 he'll begin teaching cultural apologetics as an adjunct professor at Beeson Divinity School of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.

David Lourie (BA '04) David Lourie is a practicing attorney and recently published a book titled Seven Scientifically Proven Techniques to Negotiate More Effectively.  It is a practical book designed to quickly benefit readers in their everyday lives by empowering them with techniques to make them excellent negotiators and conflict resolvers.  The book is available on Amazon (author name David Bryant).

David Collins (PhD '04) David is enjoying a year's research leave from the History Department at Georgetown University as a senior fellow at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies. His research project is entitled "Disenchanting Albert the Great: Magician or Scientist, 1200-1800?" He hopes to finish his monograph by year's end.

Ariel Alexovich (BA '05) writes: "Since 2015, I've worked at the United Nations in New York, working to build partnerships with Member States and stakeholder groups to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Specifically, right now I work at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, where I coordinate a monthly, public Global Policy Dialogue Series (https://www.un.org/en/desa/policy-dialogue) aiming to help countries recover better from the COVID-19 pandemic."

Guy Ortolano (PhD '05) Guy Ortolano is disoriented by how far he just had to scroll down just now to select his "Year of Graduation."  In 2020, he was promoted to professor of history at NYU.  In 2019, he biked overnight from central London to the North Sea - the Dunwich Dynamo, which took more than 12 hours.  He spent the pandemic teaching kindergarten and making a website, guyortolano.com.

Sarah Miller (Other '06) Sarah Miller, (B.S. Sec Ed), is a 6th grade teacher of 19 century American history. She has used much of what she learned at Northwestern to teach students about issues such as segregation, redlining, and the development leading significant volunteer work in the areas of housing and social justice.  She is an Ed.D. candidate at Antioch University for May 2021 start.

Lauren Greenwood (BA '07) Married Patrick James Schaefer on September 5, 2020 in a very intimate ceremony in Nashville, TN.

Rhiannon Stephens (PhD '07) Rhiannon Stephens is currently completing an MA in Climate and Society at Columbia University on an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation New Directions Fellowship.

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2010s

Danni Solowsky (Brancaccio) (BA '10) Ms. Solowsky (née Brancaccio) earned her J.D. cum laude from University of Georgia School of Law in 2016. In March 2021, she accepted a new position as an Associate Attorney with the Bernard Law Firm practicing business and employment immigration law. She and her husband recently bought a house in Osprey, Florida, where they live with their two cats Lola and Nyan and their two rescue racing greyhounds Anubis and Samwise.

Tulsi Patel (BA '11) writes: "Recently joined Johnson & Johnson in their consumer practice, leading digital marketing and ecomm strategy. I'm focusing on CRM (email, loyalty) and mobile couponing and web shoppability across Skin Health and Self Care."

Celeste McNamara (PhD '13) Celeste McNamara’s first book, The Bishop’s Burden: Reforming the Catholic Church in Early Modern Italy, was published in 2020 by The Catholic University of America Press.

Natalia Rodrigues (BA '13) Natalia recently returned to U.S. after living and working for six years in Singapore. In August, she will join the MBA Class of 2023 at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management of Cornell University as a Roy H. Park Leadership Fellow.

Isabel Robertson (BA '17) writes: "These days, I'm producing podcasts in my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio - one of the podcasts I make was recently nominated for Best Politics or Opinion Podcast in the first annual Ambies Awards! I also fact-check StoryCorps segments for broadcast on NPR (where I constantly use the research skills I learned from Northwestern's history department!).

In addition to my work as a producer and researcher, I serve on the Board of Directors of the ACLU of Ohio. I'm currently chairing the Strategic Planning Committee as we determine our priorities and values for the next several years, which has been challenging and incredibly fulfilling."

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