HPJ Bids Farewell to Dr. Wenduo Zhao

Dr. Zhao has been on sabbattical from Beihua University in China since last January, and has been working with students and faculty with HPJ.  Dr. Zhao team taught East Asia Since 1800 with Dr. Crawford and also did a weeks worth of lectures on the Anti Japanese War in Crawford's World War II course.

For the past year, Dr. Zhao, his wife, and son have been part of the HPJ family, and has brought an important perspective to courses that our students often do not have access to. 

We hope you have a good voyage home and hope to have the chance to work with you again!

HPJ and ONU Hosts Phi Alpha Theta Ohi Regional Research Conference

The ONU chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the history honor society, hosted the 2014 Phi Alpha Theta Ohio Regional Meeting on March 22.  The sessions took place in Dicke Hall and ran throughout the day.  More than thirty undergraduate and graduate students from universities across Ohio took part in the conference.

The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Christopher Manning of Loyola University Chicago who spoke on "Hurricane Katrina through the Lens of Oral History" in the Dicke Forum at 1:00 p.m.  Professor Manning's talk is based on interviews and images that he collected after the storm.  He will offer his thoughts on the social and political impact of Katrina as well as discuss the way that oral history allows us to understand events more clearly and fully.

Several HPJ students presented their research at the conference including:

Andrea Herzler, Ohio Northern University

Three Fighters Who Transformed the Image of African American Boxers

Franklin Howard, Ohio Northern University

The “Homo-sex-you-all’ and his Friends: Gay Literature and the Creation of the American Gay Identity in the 1940s

Jessica Dunham, Ohio Northern University

The Louisiana Purchase in the National Press

Amarilla Fair, Ohio Northern University

Building Bridges: Godey’s Lady’s Book, the Cult of Domesticity, and Women’s Education

Tyson Miller, Ohio Northern University

Limited in America: Life on the World War II Home Front

Amarilla Fair and Franklin Howard won Outstanding Paper for their sessions!

HPJ Faculty including Dr. Lomax, Dr. Alexander, Dr. Scott, Dr. Waters, Dr. Loughlin, and Dr. Crawford, along with faculty from Lourdes University, Walsh University, and Ohio Wesleyan University presided over the panels.

Thanks to Dr. Lomax and the Phi Alpha Theta students who worked very hard to make the conference a success!

Crisis in Ukraine

On Tuesday, March 25^th there was a presentation in the Moot Court room in Petit Law School regarding the crisis in Ukraine.

According to the Ohio Northern’s Center for Democratic Governance and Rule of Law, the presentation included the following:

The Ohio Northern University Center for Democratic Governance and Rule of Law presents a panel discussion on “The Crisis in Ukraine: What is Happening and What Does it Mean?”



A four-member panel discussed the recent developments in Ukraine and analyzed the implications for the region and the impact between Russia and the rest of the world. The panel consisted of Galyna Korniyenko, project manager for N3w Normal; Perry Bush, professor of history at Bluffton University; Howard Fenton, ONU professor of law; and Michael Loughlin, ONU professor of history. David Pimentel, director of the Center and visiting associate professor of law, will moderate the panel.

Galyna Korniyenko



Korniyenko, who lives in Ukraine, currently works with local and central governments and disability organizations to educate governments, businesses and community organizations about the challenges that blind people face in everyday life. From 2006-12, she worked in the executive office for the city of Cherkasy, Ukraine, where she acted as liaison between local government and nongovernmental organizations, political parties, law enforcement and mass media; monitored execution of human rights laws; served as secretary of the supervisory committee on parole issues; and advised the executive office on information technology needs and uses. She describes herself as a civic activist, and was involved in some of the early, nonviolent demonstrations in Kyiv in recent months.

Dr. Perry Bush

Bush has taught history at Bluffton University for more than 20 years and, in 2011, was selected as a Fulbright Scholar by the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars to teach at Zaporizhia National University in Ukraine. During 2012 he traveled extensively in central Ukraine and Crimea, participating in conferences and lecturing in Kyiv, Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk and Yevpatoria, along the Black Sea in Crimea.



Dr. Michael Loughlin

Loughlin has taught a class on American foreign policy at ONU for more than 25 years, with a focus on the Middle East including a critical evaluation of recent uses of America’s power in that region. His expertise is modern European history and he has visited Ukraine numerous times. His publications deal with French fascism. Recently he was asked by several professors from Moscow, critical of ongoing fascist-like trends throughout Europe, to contribute an article on French Fascism and its possible relationship to the French National Front of Jean-Marie and Marine Le Pen for a university publication in Putin’s Russia.





Dr. Howard Fenton

Fenton, who has taught at ONU since 1988 is director of the ONU Pettit College of Law’s LL.M. program in Democratic Governance and Rule of Law, a program designed for young lawyers from transitional democracies.  He has consulted on law reform efforts in Ukraine since 1996, including as recently as 2011 and has contributed to two books on administrative justice in Ukraine. Fenton has also served as an adviser to the governments of Georgia, Armenia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Uzbekistan and recently co-authored a guide to administrative law reform for U.S. State Department foreign aid officers.

The presentation’s panel was very diverse and covered a large range of topics relating to this issue. The presentation itself was very thought provoking and an interesting way to look at all sides of what is happening in Ukraine. 

Triumph of the Alumna: Joy (Kessler) King Speaks to Social Studies Student Teachers

In late February, Joy King, who graduated from ONU with a BA in Social Studies Teacher Licensure in 2009, returned to campus to speak with current student teachers and majors about what the Ohio Historical Society had to offer them in the way of curricular materials.  Immediately after graduation, King taught high school Social Studies for four years before moving to Columbus.  She now works as a Creative Learning Engineer for OHS.

She brought a number of materials along with her, including a Museum in a Box, which is a box that contains a number of artifacts that deal with a specific subject such as frontier life, and other historical periods.  She also told attendees about the webinars that teachers can access from OHS.  They also have a History to Go van, and many other resources for Social Studies teachers on their website.

It was great to see Joy again and to learn how her career has evolved.  We will have her back again!

Well done Joy!

Porfessor Nsia-Pepra’s Article Published: examines appropriate mechanism of accountability for War Crimes in Africa

Dr. Kofi Nsia-Pepra,  assistant professor of political science,  is author of an article published in The Air and Space Power Journal (ASPJ), professional journal of the US Air Force,  Vol 4, No. 4, 4^th Quarter,  2013

Titled “Truth and Justice- Appropriate Mechanism of Accountability for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity   in Africa,”  the article examines the  debate and  the dilemma  of choice between  truth commissions and tribunals. It  evaluates  the success of  cases  of  both truth commissions  and tribunals focusing on transitional justice goals of impartiality, accountability, reconciliation and deterrence and finds that  neither truth commission nor  trial  was  on its own adequate to hold  violators  of human rights  accountable.  Nsia-Pepra recommends a hybrid model of truth commissions and tribunal as appropriate mechanism of accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Africa. He says “an adequate model must consider that the operation of prosecution in tandem with truth commissions would satisfy both supporters of truth and trial leading to healing and reconciliation. Both truth and justice are not alternatives but integral parts of a holistic approach to reconciliation and peace. Together, both tribunal and truth commissions create a new paradigm for a society in transition from ravaged horrible past to peace to address systematic abuses of human rights.  A true and lasting peace should comprise a mix of the truth, forgiveness and justice to bridge the gap between the tribunal and truth commissions.”

Well done Dr. Nsia-Pepra!