Saturday, May 10, 2014

A Farewll to the HPJ Blog


After nearly six years of blogging the adventures of the Department of History, Politics, and Justice, newer platforms such as Facebook have rendered this redundant.  From now on, check out Facebook's Ohio Northern University's Dept. of History Politics and Justice Alumni page for the adventures of HPJ students and faculty.  It is easier to post there, and while I have enjoyed creating and maintaing this blog, it is time to move on to bigger and better things.

Just to close things out, the two gentlemen in the first post have gone on to bigger and better things since 2008.

Jared Hardesty has earned his PhD in History from Boston College and is a newly minted tenure track Assistant Professor of History at Western Washington University.  He didn't stop there, but also won BC awards for Best Dissertation and Best teacher.  He also published an article on Slavery and Abolition, and two academic presses are competing to publish his dissertation.  Even more importantly, Jared married Dana Weigel, another graduate of HPJ.

Justin Dickerson, who earned his MA in History from Loyola University, is now teaching American Studies in Beijing China.  In his spare moments, Justin has managed to travel in East Asia, with his most recent trip landing him at the DMZ that still separates the Koreas.

Since Jared and Justin were the first to have their pictures grace this site, and since they are likely the only two who have continued to follow it over the years, it is only fitting that they are the subject of the final post.

Well done Jared and Justin!

Russ Crawford May 2014

Historical Geography Students Present Their Films


Dr. Wilson's Historical Geography students gathered with community members to present the films on local history that they created during the semester.  Topics ranged from the Blizzard of 78 to the time KISS played ONU.  The videos turned out well and the audience also shared dinner, including Dr. Wilson's world famous gumbo. 

Well done all for bringing ONU and the surrounding community together for food, fun, and film!

Departmental Picnic Signals End of the Semester


The year got underway with a picnic for Freshman at Dr. Alexander's house, and the annual departmental picnic began bringing the year to an end.  Faculty, staff, and students gathered at the Ada Park to share food and fun.  The weather coopetated by occassionally allowing the sun to shine through the clouds, and everyone had a good time.  In the accompanying photo, Professors Wilson, Schuck, and Loughlin answer the age-old question - "how many professors does it take to cook a hamburger?"

Between picnics, it was another eventful year.  Students and faculty presented at conferences, interned in DC, studied abroad, and in general did all of the things that will make our students ready to take their next steps.

Well done to all who have made this another successful year for HPJ!

Professor Wilson's Historical Geography Class Takes to the Field


Dr. Wilson, who likes to remind people that Geography happens outdoors, took his Historical Geography class to visit Spallinger Combine Parts aka the combine graveyard, which is located near Ada.  During the semester, Wilson and students have been traveling in the area around campus to interview local residents and see the sights.  Students will take what they have learned and create videos that will be presented to the univerity and community members at the end of the semester.

 Experiences such as this, with students and community members interacting have added a new dimension to the courses that HPJ offers, and might build stronger links between town and gown.

Well done Dr. Wilson and students!


WWII Class Speaks with Russian Students on the War


The WWII class had the opportunity to speak to students from Perm State National Research University about the Great Patriotic War, which is the common name for WWII in Russia.  The PSU studetns presented information about Soviet propaganda during the war, and the ONU students presented about the Lima tank factory that supplied some of the weapons that the Soviets used to kill 90% of the Nazis who died in WWII.

The opportunity to discuss our common history with students from Russia added a great deal of value to the experience our students had in this course.

Professor Crawford Presents at Popular Culture Association National Meeting


Dr. Crawford made it two presentations in one week when he traveled to Chicago to present his paper "Selling Football To Europe: The Newton Nite Hawks versus the Chicago Lions, 1977" to the PCA/ACA National Conference in Chicago.  A highlight of the conference was a talk by Barbara Eden, the actress who played the jenie on the popular TV show I Dream of Genie.

Professor Crawford Presents (virtually) in Russia


On April 15, Dr. Crawford presented to the faculty of Perm State National Research University in Perm Russia.  The conference was the XI International Scientific-Practical Conference on Foreign Languages and Literature in Context of Culture held at PSU.  Crawford presented his paper "Telebridging Between Russia and Ohio: Skype Conversations Between Students from Ohio Norther University and Perm State National Research University."  The presentation detailed the telebridges that Crawford and PSU professors have done over the past few years.  These telebridges have considered WWII and the Cold War and have given students at both institutions the chance to consider viewpoints that they do not often find in their text books.

Triumph of the Alumni: Panel Tells Students About Career Paths


Three HPJ alums returned to campus on April 8.  There goal was to share the stories of how they came to work in their current positions.  The panel included Stephanie Crandall (Political Science), Adam Schwiebert (Political Science), and Melissa Kuhn Wheeler (History and Political Science).  Each speaker discussed their background and the moves they made in their careers.  A special point of emphasis for all three was making connections that could lead to career opportunities.

Other information on this event can be found online.  To read expanded resumes for the speakers, see the ONU website.  To hear a recording of the session, click here.

The assembled majors learned that the path to success is not always a straight line, and it was particularly gratifying for faculty members who knew the speakers as students to see how high they have flown.

Well done Stephanie, Adam, and Melissa!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

ONU Model United Nations Team Travels to New York!

Prior to Easter Break, the Ohio Northern University Model United Nations team traveled to New York City to compete at the National Model United Nations Conference.  

Throughout the week, the 13 students worked on solving real-world crises in a simulation setting as representatives of Turkmenistan.  Through all of their hard work, the team brought home a distinguished delegation award, a higher achievement than they have ever previously accomplished at this conference.  

Members include: (Seniors) Daniella Chambers, James Lee, Franklin Howard, Sung Eun Heo, Nahoko Shiojiri, (Juniors) Katie Deeter, Hannah Allen, Mary Miller, (Sophomores) Regine Jean-Michel, (Freshmen) Jeremy Pultz, Taylor Phillips, Arianna Ranieri, and Andrea Sheller.  The team was accompanied by faculty adviser Dr. Kofi Nsia-Pepra, and assisted throughout the year by Professor Trisitin Kilgallon. They look forward to returning next spring and are actively seeking new members!

Congratulations MUN Team! 

Monday, April 7, 2014

Professor Lomax's Military and Society Class Travels to the Air Force Museum


Dr. Lomax recently took his HIST 2501 Military and Society class to the United States Air Force Museum in Dayton.  The museum is a regular stop for that class, and as always, they paused to take a group photo in front of one of the historic airplanes on display there.

Mike King Presents Research at Clement Stacy Memorial Undergraduate Research Conference


Mike King presented his paper on the Ku Klux Klan's educational policy during the Progressive Era to the 2014 Clement S Stacy Memorial Undergraduate Research Conference sponsored by Purdue University-Calumet.  Mike did a fantastic job presenting, and handled the Q&A after his talk with aplomb.  Dr. Crawford accompanied Mike, and also learned a great deal - the best spot to buy pizza in Fort Wayne, for instance.  Mike is currently engaged in his student teaching experience and will be looking for his first career stop soon.

Experiences such as this and the previous Phi Alpha Theta Conference are what separate the HPJ experience from that found at other universities.  The chance to share one's research typically is a feature of graduate school.  We strongly encourage our majors to take advantage of as many of these opportunities as possible.

Well done Mike, and best of luck for your job search!

Monday, March 31, 2014

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 25th 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. 

Thursday, March 20, 2014

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!

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

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, 4th 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!

Friday, February 28, 2014

Professor Loughlin Article Published, In Russian!


From the ONU website: "Dr. Michael B. Loughlin, professor of history has published an article on French fascism for a university publication in Putin's Russia. That article titled  “The Historiography of French Fascism: Is the Front National a Contemporary Avatar?”  has been translated into Russian for "Beregynia. 777. Owl: The Journal." ("Берегиня. 777. Сова: Научный журнал"). It was accepted for publication on Dec. 15, 2013, and is tentatively set to appear in September 2014.
More recently Loughlin was chosen to deliver a paper titled “An Antimilitarist Journalist Confronts La Grande Guerre: Gustave Hervé and the Origins of a French National Socialism”  at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia for its interdisciplinary conference on "The Legacy of World War I," set for Nov. 14-15, 2014.
Sept. 27-28, 2013, Loughlin, along with Dr. Rob. Waters and Dr. Russ Crawford joined a delegation of ONU students, Erin Kerger, a senior in political science, Amarilla Fair, a senior in history, and Sadie Wiley, a senior in history, at the Midwest World History Association Conference in Springfield, Ohio. They delivered papers dealing with the Holocaust and munitions production. While there Loughlin delivered a presentation entitled "An Ironic Witness to La Grande Guerre: the Wartime Journalism of Gustave Hervé.'"
молодцом (Well done) Dr. Loughlin!

Thursday, February 27, 2014

HPJ “represents” at Greek Awards Banquet!


Members of the History, Politics, and Justice department received a number of awards at the recent Greek Awards Banquet.  They follow a long line of campus leaders in the department. 

Shelby Core and Derek Corea received individual awards for their accomplishments within the Greek community! Gina Grandillo received a new leadership role, while Dr. Alexander was recognized as the Greek Faculty member of the year!

Shelby is a junior majoring in Political Science and minoring in Business Administration. She is also a pre-law student. She is involved with numerous activities throughout the university, including: Phi Eta Sigma, Alpha Lambda Delta, Phi Alpha Delta, The Ohio Northern University Disciplinary Board, and Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority.
Shelby currently serves as the President of her sorority and was recognized at the banquet as  Outstanding Greek Woman of the Year Award.  The Award statement explains:
The Outstanding Greek Women of the Year is given to the ONU Greek women who best exemplify the ideals and philosophies of the National Panhellenic Conference. This award recognized the women in the community that stands for and strives to better the overall Greek image through campus, community, and Greek involvement.

Shelby stated that, “Receiving the Greek Woman of the Year Award is one of the greatest honors I have received while at Ohio Northern University! Since I've been at ONU, Greek life has always been an important aspect in my life, and I've always looked for more ways to get involved and make a difference in not only my sorority, but Greek life as a whole. The fact that my ZTA sisters would even think to nominate me for this award was rewarding in itself, but actually receiving the award, and representing the entire Greek community, is beyond what I ever imagined! I wish to continue to make a difference in the Greek Community and also continue to work to defy the negative stereotypes associated with being Greek.”

Congratulations, Shelby!



Gina Grandillo received the honor of Chief Recruiting Officer for her sorority Kappa Alpha Theta! As Chief Recruiting Officer she is in charge of all recruitment activities including everything from planning events to signing bid cards. She also sits on the Executive Board.
Gina is a Sophomore Political Science and Pew-law major and also has a minor in Broadcasting. She is involved in numerous activities across campus including: Varsity Track, is the Secretary of Campus Organizations for Student Senate, and belongs to Phi Alpha Delta.

Gina is excited for her new role as Chief Recruiting Officer. She said, “I am honored to hold a leadership role and hope to continue to make my chapter grow positively. Our chapter has been recognized for many things this year including first in scholarship overall for sororities!”

Congratulations on your new position, Gina!!






Derek Corea received the New Membership Scholarship Award this year! This award is given to a new Greek life member who exemplifies exceeding scholarship in the classroom and around the university.

Derek is a Political Science major, and also minors in Philosophy. He is involved in Intramural sports, the Rugby Team, Philosophy Club, Phi Alpha Delta, and is currently the Vice President of Membership Development.

Congratulations on your Award, Derek!!






Finally, Dr. Alexander was recognized as the Greek Faculty Member of the Year! He was nominated by Sigma Phi Epsilon.

The Award statement for this particular award states:

The Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year Award is given to a faculty member of the ONU community who exemplifies the ideals and philosophies of the National Panhellenic   This Award recognizes a member of the community who displays outstanding qualities and contributions to the chapter and Greek community as a whole. Employees of the Office of Student Involvement and chapter/faculty advisors are not eligible for this Award.

Congratulations on a well-deserved Award, Dr. Alexander!!