A Message from the Chair
In Japan, it is always correct form to begin a letter, personal or professional, with an observation about the seasonal changes taking place outside one’s window. This week I notice that the sky has developed that high, intensely blue quality that lets me know that summer is coming to an end. There still is time to enjoy warm evenings outside but, at least in Chicago, best not to wait much longer! The students are now returning, bringing the crisper days of autumn with them.
In Harris Hall, we are getting ready for the next school year. In what I think of as the unacknowledged label of every working parent’s true practice, “Drag Your Daughters to Work Yet Again Day,” the Liu girls have adjusted all the nametags for the mailboxes to accommodate arrivals and departures. We are especially pleased to welcome Ştefan Cristian Ionescu, who will be starting as the Theodore Zev and Alice R. Weiss-Holocaust Educational Foundation Visiting Associate Professor in Holocaust Studies this month. His research centers on some of the darker chapters of 20th-Century Romanian history. Dr. Sarah Carson will also be joining us for a two-year stint as a Post-doctoral Fellow in the Science and Human Culture Program. She earned her Ph.D. at Princeton University and is a historian of climate science, focused on South Asia.
I also wanted to highlight faculty who are not housed in Harris Hall but are members of the History faculty in this issue of the newsletter. Some have been at Northwestern for decades while others are recent arrivals; collectively they do much to enrich our community. S. Hollis Clayson, Professor of Art History and Bergen Evans Professor in the Humanities, Professor Robert Orsi of Religious Studies, and Taco Terpstra, Associate Professor of Classics, deserve special mention for their new books. Holly has just celebrated the publication of Illuminated Paris, from University of Chicago Press, Bob’s latest accomplishment is The Madonna of 115th Street, Yale University Press, and Taco is the author of Trade in the Ancient Mediterranean: Private Order and Public Institutions, from Princeton University Press. Other historians on campus include Shana Bernstein, Clinical Associate Professor of Legal Studies, Joanna Grisinger, Associate Professor of Instruction in Legal Studies, and Ajay K. Mehrotra, Professor of Law, who collectively extend our expertise into legal history, while Professor Martha Biondi and Associate Professor Sherwin Bryant make their home in the Department of African American Studies. Associate Professor J. Michelle Molina and Professor Robert Orsi spend their time in the Department of Religious Studies, while John Evans Professor Barbara Newman holds her primary appointment in the Department of English. Daniel Greene maintains his connection to our department despite his busy schedule as President and Librarian of the Newberry Library, while Sarah Cushman spends most of her time as Director of the Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University. Lane Fenrich, Assistant Dean and Distinguished Senior Lecturer, Elizabeth Lewis Pardoe, Director, Office of Fellowships, Harriet Lightman, Senior Librarian for Research & Engagement, NU Library, and Joseph Ferrie, Professor of Economics, round out the list. I am pleased to say that all of them frequently join us at departmental events. We already have a full schedule for the fall, as you will see from this newsletter. And please bookmark our website's News section to quickly find the latest information.
Best wishes for the new school year!
Laura Hein, History Department Chair