March 9, 2007: History Majors present papers at International Conference

Clemson students (left to right) Liz Averyt, Josh Bell, Brynn DeHay, and Andrew Hand presented their senior seminar papers before a riveted and packed throng at Our Past Before Us: The Search for the South Carolina Upcountry. The papers were part of a session entitled "Big Questions in Small Places." Congratulations are in order!

May 4, 2007 -- History Department tenures old faculty

Congratulations are in order for Professor Criss Smith, who was tenured and promoted this spring.

April 30, 2007: PROFESSOR EMERITUS STEIRER SHEDS SHORTS, TEE-SHIRT; SIGHTED IN MARYLAND IN A TUX!
Incredible if True

April 2, 2007: Historians Set New Records in Clemson's Presidential Road Race

Professors Mack, Chico and Masters candidate Peeples actually finish race, setting new departmental standard

Rachel Chico and Pam Mack with President Barker, above, and below with History graduate student Reed Peeples. The 5k Presidential Road race, held on Saturday, March 31, benefits the University libraries. The previous departmental landmark was achieved by Steve Marks, who set the standard in 2002 by driving his Honda Accord over most of the course before pulling over with a flat.

We have had several inquiries. Let it be said that Professor Mack is in costume, while Professor Chico is sporting her usual weekend garb.

May 10, 2006 -- Postcard from Tunisia

James A. Miller, Clemson's popular geographer, will be returning to campus in the fall after spending the last three years in Tunisia as the director of CEMAT, an American research center in Tunis. Professor Miller, whose Kuba art website is certainly worth a virtual tour, is profiled in the current issue of Clemson World.

May 10, 2006 -- History Department hires new faculty

Four new faculty members will join the History Department in the fall semester, 2006. The Department, which normally relies upon Megan and Andy Burns to make these important decisions, conducted (in all seriousness) thorough national searches and is very excited about the results. We not only looked for superior historians; we looked for superior teachers and colleagues. We hope students will agree that we found them.

Amit Bein will come to us from Princeton University, where he has just completed his Ph.D. A specialist in the Ottoman Empire, he will teach courses in that area as well as upon broader topics in Middle Eastern history.

Rachel A. Chico has just finished her Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley. She is an expert in Latin America and especially modern Mexico. Dr. Chico will teach most of the courses formerly taught by Joseph L. Arbena, who retired in December after a remarkable 40-year career at Clemson. (We say most, not all. The Department's loyal cadre of Red Sox fans has not sufficiently vetted her loyalties to determine whether she will be allowed to teach Professor Arbena's very popular History of Baseball course.)

Jacob Hamblin (no, not that Jacob Hamblin, this Jacob Hamblin) has been teaching at California State University at Long Beach. He has a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He will teach courses in the history of science and technology.

Michael S. Silvestri, who is well known to many recent Clemson graduates as the director of the AAH Advising Center, as well as for his possession of the very rare (and pink dust-jacketed) Terrorism in Bengal series, will join the Department full-time as its resident expert on the British Empire.