In the group photo shared by Barbara Leary, from left to right: Henry Binford, Michael Sherry, Barbara Leary, Mariah Hepworth and Matthew June.

1950s |1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s |  2020s

1950s

Betty P. O'Brien (BA ’56) - After graduation I received a Library Science degree, served at three Theological Seminaries, and "retired" to Frasier Retirement Community in Boulder CO, to spend almost 30 years developing the resident main library and four specialized branches. In January I will be honored by the naming of the Betty A. O'Brien Libraries at Frasier.

My History Department memory: Probably the English History class with Lacey Baldwin Smith.

Mary O. Brugliera (BA ’57) – I took the course Tutorial Correlative Reading my senior year with the well-known author (The Chicago School of Architecture) and NU professor, Carl Condit.  The course's one requirement was that the readings be on any subject other than one's major or minor.  One book per week, book report weekly, weekly discussion with a faculty member.  Professor Condit introduced me to architecture and the medieval origins of Gothic cathedrals.  Fast forward to 1995.  I became a docent at the Chicago Architecture Center, and gave walking and bus tours of various buildings in Chicago for 25 years. Talk about a positive influence!!

1960s

William A. Hoisington Jr. (BA ’63) - William A. Hoisington Jr. ‘63, Professor Emeritus of Modern European History at the University of Illinois Chicago, published The Politics of Collaboration: Establishing the French Protectorate in Morocco, 1912–1927 (Cornell, 2026).

1970s

John Franklin Reiger (PhD ‘70) - Reiger worked with The Digital Archaeological Record to preserve, and make available, his five published articles on the function of pre-Columbian artifacts from South Florida. He also commented on, and wrote a blurb for, a manuscript on the connection between railroads and the rise of fish culture and sport fishing, which will be published by the University of Nebraska Press. And he continued to edit a manuscript on George Bird Grinnell, "the Father of American Conservation," whose conservation legacy is being systematically dismantled by the current presidential administration and its supporters.

The most memorable history course Reiger took at Northwestern was Professor Richard W. Leopold's course on the literature of American history. Leopold became, and remains, a model for him of what a college history teacher and scholar should be — an individual who possess a passion for history that he or she can share with students, turning them on to the subject and their potential for expanding their own knowledge of the field.

Terrence H. Witkowski (BA ‘70) - I am still Professor Emeritus of Marketing (California State University, Long Beach) and still researching the history of marketing and consumption. Two recent articles are currently online awaiting assignment to an issue. They are "War Toys: Product History and Public Protest" in Consumption, Markets & Culture (Taylor & Francis) and "Marketing Space Adventure Toys and Heroes, 1930s-1950s" in the Journal of Historical Research in Marketing (Emerald).  In June 2025, the second work won the "Best Paper" Award at the Conference on Historical Analysis and Research in Marketing. I also published a review of From Marking Products to Marketing Brands: A Legal Perspective on the History of Brand Marketing by Ross D. Petty (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024) in the Journal of Macromarketing (Sage).

Stephen Herr (BA ’72) - After I received my M.A. in English as a Second Language at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1982, I taught academic English to university students in Jakarta, Indonesia for two years, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for four years, and in Akita, Japan for one year.  After living and working in Asia for seven years, I returned to Hawaii where I taught English at Leeward Community College, University of Hawaii System, in Pearl City, Hawaii.  I was awarded tenure and promoted to Assistant Professor of English, retiring in June 2018.

In my Senior year at Northwestern in 1971- 1972, I met Beth Kupper (WCAS ‘72) in a class.  We have enjoyed our lives together ever since we met.  We live a few hundred feet from the Pacific Ocean in Kaaawa, a small community of 1,300 people on the remote Windward Coast of the Island of Oahu in the State of Hawaii.  We live on a private road with no street lights or mail delivery, 10 miles from the nearest supermarket.

I spend much of my time writing in my journal, meditating twice a day, riding my bike, and doing online history lectures at the Great Courses.  We leave Hawaii twice a year: for 15 days in Europe in May and for 15 days on the (U.S.) Mainland in October.

I value the critical thinking skills that I started to develop in the History Department and have continued to work on for all of my life.

William Willingham (PhD ’72) - Oregon State University Press released my latest book in Nov. 2025.  It is entitled Oregon Gold: A History of Mining from the Civil War into the Progressive Era.  It focuses on the economic, social, and political impact of gold mining on Oregon in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  I am also active with several historic preservation organizations.

My graduate courses with Clarence Ver Steeg, Robert Wiebe, and Christopher Lasch were especially memorable.

Charles Zucker (PhD ’72) - A few years ago, when I started writing my book, The Vanishing World of My Chicago Childhood:  Growing Up on the South Side, 1945-1960, I did not know if anyone would buy it – except for friends and family.  So, I was pleasantly surprised when in February 2026, it became the #1 Bestseller on Amazon’s category for Midwest Biographies. My book argues that childhood has changed dramatically over the last seventy years – and not for the better. My neighborhood pals and I played games outside almost constantly when the weather permitted. Sixteen-inch softball, basketball and baseball were among our favorites. We also constructed our own soapbox cars, chased butterflies, and camped overnight in vacant lots. When bad weather forced us indoors, we played a wide variety of board games, listened to music, and read books. In contrast, today’s children spend countless hours indoors playing electronic games on phones and computers, leaving them with precious little time to play outdoors. Ironically, I believe the infotainment revolution started with my generation when TVs entered American homes en masse, marking the beginning of a growing social isolation that has had profound consequences today for both children and adults. As a result, the childhood and the world that I experienced growing up on the South Side of Chicago have largely vanished.  My wife and I reside in San Antonio. We spend our summers in Montana where we enjoy hiking, fishing, kayaking and cycling. We have been volunteer rangers for the last three summer at Glacier National Park.

David Gaynon (BA ’73) - I continue as Curriculum Chair of the Portland Community College affiliate known as the Senior Studies Institute. I recently presented a talk on the German Anti-Hitler propaganda group known as the White Rose and spoke of its relevance to our times. I also occasionally post to my substack account on issues ranging from history to politics to religion.

My History Department memory: American Urban Studies.

Kathleen Sheldon (BA ’74) - I have included a greatly abridged and reduced selection from my memoir for the memories section. My book, The Mackerel Years: A Memoir of War, Hunger, and Women's History in 1980s Mozambique, includes several pages that cover my years at NU: See attached excerpt. 

Philip S Friedman (MA ’76) - Living in Sevilla, Spain, after a five-year legal career and 30 years as a real estate developer, both in Chicago. I continue to attend the Leopold Lectures and NU Alumnae classes on Zoom.

Definitely C-13, the only class I ever took at the ungodly 8 am hour. Prof. Leopold was a brilliant teacher and scholar who inspired me with his devotion to his students and his ability to teach us to analyze and to write. When I came back to Harris Hall to visit, he remembered what year I graduated and where I sat in Harris 108. That class also allowed me to meet some extremely impressive fellow students.

Carol Zink (BA ’77) - After careers in the Navy, in software design, sales, and marketing, and as a high school history teacher, I am happily retired and teaching history and current events to retired people through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Hawaii and New Hampshire. I volunteer as a college counselor for 'first gen' college aspirants, and as a financial counselor to low income people, as well as on church boards and committees in NH and CA. James Sheehan, my German history prof at NU, is a retired Stanford professor and I've taken his continuing study classes at Stanford and gone on a Stanford "World War II Remembered" trip with him. I have five grandkids and live in NH, Hawaii, and California with my husband Richard (GTech 75). We enjoy time with grandkids, hiking, swimming, kayaking, and travel. My Allison Hall friends meet on Zoom several times a year, and we all plan to attend our 50th reunion in Fall 2027.

My History memory: I took an Arab-Israeli Conflict course with Prof. Carl Petry. It was very informative, and I have used what I learned in that course both in my high school teaching and my online OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) teaching.

Betty Olivera (BA ’77) - I retired as Deputy General Counsel of Huron Consulting Group after more than 18 years of service.

My History Memory: History of US Foreign Policy, with Richard Leopold.

Mark McCareins (BA ’78) - In addition to his ongoing faculty appointment at Kellogg, Mark continues to serve in the leadership of the Antitrust Section of the ABA and was also recently appointed to serve as an NGO to the International Competition Network (ICN) by the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division; the ICN is comprised of representatives of competition and antitrust enforcement agencies from about one hundred forty (140) countries.

1980s

Brian Posner (BA ’83) - In 2025, I was honored to be named a Life Trustee of Northwestern University.  That year I was also appointed to the board of Dyne Therapeutics, a Massachusetts-based biotech company, in addition to my longstanding service as a director of Bermuda-based insurer Arch Capital.  My wife, Lauri, and I have lived in London for the past three years where we may regularly be found enjoying great jazz late into the evening at Ronnie Scott's in Soho.

Most memorable History courses (plural) were those on American foreign policy taught by Nathan Godfried and Henry Binford's classes on US urban history.  As an aside, both were incredible outfielders on our summer league softball team!

Robert Goldrich (BA ’84) - Hi it's great to connect with NU's amazing History Dept. and WCAS alums! I've been working in Israel on economic development projects (Bloomberg Philanthropies) and with non-profits (pro bono). I've been there nine times since October 2, 2023 and the experiences  have been meaningful and impactful. My projects have focused on helping create jobs across diverse groups of Israelis in the north and south (Jewish, Arab, Bedouin and Druse).

Stephen Reichard (MA ’84) - Finished and self-published my memoir this year, From Becoming to Being: A Memoir and Manifesto for the End of Times. Probably needs a little more editing but it’s fun, well-written, moves along, and contains a few stories from NU days, which were politically formative.

My masters colloquium with John Rowe. We met in his basement for three hours every week. Just the four of us and John and we’d end each session with a glass of sherry.

Daniel Sack (BA ’84) - Daniel Sack is still deputy director of the Division of Research at the National Endowment for the Humanities. Despite what you've heard, the NEH still exists and is still making good grants. We are proudly serving the humanities and the American people. Dan is contemplating his next book, however, most likely a retirement project.

1990s

Tim Bale (MA ’90) – Tim teaches Politics at Queen Mary University of London, where he writes on UK and European party politics and elections.  Last year saw the paperback publication of his The Conservative Party after Brexit: Turmoil and Transformation and this year, along with his co-authors, he’s published The British General Election of 2024. 

So many of my graduate courses were great and I got to audit some fascinating undergraduate courses too, not least one on British intellectual history taught by Bill Heyck.  Ultimately, however nothing could compare to being supervised for my dissertation (on interwar anti-communism) by the great Bob Wiebe.

Steven G. Galpern (BA ’92) - In June, Steve Galpern was named Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Analysis at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research after serving as director of its Office of Analysis for Near Eastern Affairs since 2021.

My History Department memory: Carl Petry’s three-part Islamic civilization series and Peter Hayes’s history of modern Germany. I couldn’t choose between the two!

Anne Hoisington Hutchinson (BA ’92) - Anne Hoisington Hutchinson (Northwestern University MA ‘98, University of Illinois Chicago PhD ‘16) works in education, but she returned to history research and writing when she collaborated with her dad, William A. Hoisington Jr. ‘63, on The Politics of Collaboration: Establishing the French Protectorate in Morocco, 1912-1927. 

Tanmeet Sethi, MD (BA ’92) - I was published in the New York Times (Modern Love, Dec 12 2025) and had my first book (Joy Is My Justice: Reclaim Yours Now) published with a Big 5 publisher (Hachette, 2023). My essay can be read at this gift link and my book is available at any bookstore in all formats.

Deepa Purohit (BA ’92) - Following the 2023 Off Broadway debut of my play "Elyria," I was awarded the 2023 Laurent Hatcher Foundation's Citation for Excellence in Playwriting and the 2024 Hermitage Greenfield Prize, a two-year commission to create a new work that is a hybrid installation performance piece. It asks, "What does is mean to live and die with dignity in the US navigating a medical system that operates on a central tenet: to prolong life?" I've also adapted my play "Elyria" into a TV series. Both the play and the TV series reflect stories inspired by the migration of my own family members over generations, from India to Africa to the UK and then to the US (specifically my hometown, Elyria, Ohio).

The most memorable course was my American history course that focused solely on the year 1776.

Rachel Selinfreund Barkow (BA ’93) - My book, Justice Abandoned: How the Supreme Court Ignored the Constitution and Enabled Mass Incarceration, was published by Harvard/Belknap in 2025.

My History Department memory: Robert Wiebe's History of the United States was a game changer. I became a history major after that and wrote an honors thesis with him my senior year. He was a legend.

Wayne H. Bowen (PhD ’96) - Wayne Bowen is Professor of History and Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies at the University of Central Florida, with campus-wide leadership over general education, academic appeals, and high impact practices.

Amanda Seligman (PhD ’99) - Amanda Seligman co-authored an article in The History Teacher titled "Staging Historical Reenactments on Twitter: History, Methods, and Ethics." The American Historical Association awarded it the 2026 William and Edwyna Gilbert Award for the Best Article on Teaching History.

A couple of years ago, on the occasion of Henry Binford's retirement, I published an essay in tribute to his humane teaching.

2000s

David K Johnson (PhD ’00) - David Johnson was recently appointed chair of the history department at the University of South Florida. This year he also launched a local history project, LGBT Tampa Bay History: Telling Our Stories, which includes a website and social media presence. He was honored for this work with a "Voice of Equality" award from Equality Florida.

Jeff Manuel (BA ’01) - In October 2025, my new co-authored book was published by the University of Oklahoma Press. Ethanol: A Hemispheric History for the Future of Biofuels documents the linked history of ethanol fuel in the United States and Brazil.

Charlotte Brooks (PhD 2002) - I'm currently professor of history at Baruch College and the CUNY Graduate Center. My fourth book and first for a more general audience will be out in March. The Moys of New York and Shanghai: One Family's Extraordinary Journey Through War and Revolution (UC Press) follows the six Moy siblings back and forth across the Pacific and through the Jazz Age, the Depression, two world wars, the Chinese Civil War, and the Cold War.

Autumn Swinford (BA ’04) - After serving as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps for 20 years, I retired from military service in December 2024.  My husband and I are enjoying traveling the world and spending more time with friends and family than was ever possible when we were in the Marines.

My History Department memory: Early American History with T. H. Breen. Having my entire course grade based on four two-page papers was nerve wracking, but it prepared me well for the concise writing required in my military career.

Guy Ortolano (PhD ’05) - Guy Ortolano is chair of the History Department at NYU. Guy continues to run NU History Hoops, a college basketball pool soon entering its 24th year. The most recent winner was Justin Behrend (PhD 2006). If you'd like to join us, email Guy at go10@nyu.edu.

My History Department memory: "Issues and Concepts in Women's and Gender History," with Alex Owen

Etan Harmelech (BA ’05/MSJ ’06) - Etan Harmelech was named the new Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications at AARP Foundation, the charitable arm of AARP devoted to ending senior poverty. Etan was previously the SVP of Marketing and Communications at Hillel International, the world’s largest Jewish campus organization.

My History Department memory: History of Terrorism.

Haley Flannery (BA ’09) - In April 2025, I opened All My Friends Books, an independent bookstore located in Cortland, NY. We offer a curated selection of books for readers of all ages and interests. I particularly love buying for and curating our history section, as I am and forever will be a history nerd.

The History of Modern Europe with Prof. Joel Mokyr was the most challenging and rewarding history class that I took at Northwestern. And it's hard to forget, given the work it took to prepare for each class and the engaging (and sometimes downright thrilling!) discussions that Prof. Mokyr led.

2010s

Ryan Kenney (BA ’16) - Kenney joined American Exchange Project, the nation's first and only free domestic exchange program for high school students. Founded in 2019 by David McCullough III, the program sends graduated high school seniors on a two-week adventure: one week traveling to an American hometown culturally, politically, and socio-economically very different from their own, and one week hosting students from across the country in their own community. Kenney coordinates the growth of the nationwide network of over 100 participating schools across 43 states. The aim is to engage 250 schools by the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. To learn more, reach him at rkenney@americanexchangeproject.org.

My History memory: Conservatism in the Americas with Professor Geraldo Cadava. From Heather Cox Richardson's To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party to selections from Conservative Parties, the Right, and Democracy in Latin America, it’s clear in retrospect that this class prepared me more for my career and citizenship than any other.

Azeta Kola (PhD ’16) - My Book: Demetrio Franco, The Life of Gjergj Kastrioti, known as Skanderbeg. Edited and Translated by Azeta Kola. Publisher: CRRS, Victoria College in the University of Toronto, May 2025.

My History Memory: The European Renaissance

Barbara Leary (BA ’16) - After teaching History and Spanish in New York City, I moved to El Paso and am now going into my fourth year teaching in the El Paso Independent School District as a third grade Dual Language teacher. This year I am a Mentor Teacher for a student seeking a teaching degree at the University of Texas-El Paso.

Graham Anderson (BA ’18) - I completed my MBA at Wharton and an MA in International Studies at Penn in 2024. One of my academic highlights of grad school was dropping into a graduate history class on the Enlightenment. In 2025 I got married and moved from San Francisco to New York City, where I'm working in technology as a Product Manager at Adobe.

I loved Kevin Boyle's Honors Thesis seminar, our symposium, and Lauren Stokes' (my thesis advisor!) class on Transnational Migration as well as advising.

2020s

Diana Metz Argüello (BA ’20) - I will be graduating from George Washington University Law School in Spring 2026 and joining Latham & Watkins LLP as a full-time associate in the fall!

My History Department memory: Sex After Shakespeare with Professor Sowerby!

Tomo Kanda (BS ’23) - After graduating from NU in 2023, I initially worked as an engineer at a shipyard, but I decided to switch careers and join the Japanese Navy (JMSDF). I graduated from the Maritime Officer Candidate School in March 2025 and became an ensign. I now lead more than 20 sailors who look to me as their leader. Very excited for more to come!

Asher Martin-Rosenthal (BA ’24) - After graduating from Northwestern as a history major, I quickly discovered that I couldn’t give up writing. Six months ago, I started a weekly history blog on Substack, where I write about strange, surprising, and unique moments from the past. I’m proud to say that in that time it has attracted over 5,000 total readers.

Many of the topics I cover grew directly out of what I studied and researched at Northwestern. Pieces have ranged from the Great Molasses Flood of 1919 to the unlikely, and surprisingly dramatic, history of Tupperware.

The blog gives me an excuse to keep doing what I loved most as a student: digging through sources, following odd narrative threads, and trying to make the past feel alive for people who didn’t sign up for a history class outside of their required distros. It has been a reminder that there is a real audience for history, and it has given me a way to continue engaging with the discipline outside of an academic setting.

If you're interested, please check out The Past w/ Ash on Substack.

My favorite course was The History of American Technology, which I took in the fall of 2023 with Professor Ken Alder. The class approached history through the lens of everyday objects, and Professor Alder encouraged us to spend the entire quarter researching one of our own. By the end, we had each traced the full history of a seemingly ordinary, and often delightfully random, item. I personally learned more about slot machines than I ever thought possible. It was an incredibly rewarding experience.

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