November 10th, 2009
November 9, 2009, was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The event was celebrated on the George Mason University Fairfax campus with the destruction of a replica of that wall, built earlier in October by students and faculty. Throughout the process of wall-building and demolition, Dr. Marion Deshmukh has been instrumental in organizing a wide range of programs. From moderating a panel discussion during the Fall for the Book festival with German journalists and scholars Dieter Dettke, Thomas Kline-Brockhoff, and Oliva Schoeller to swinging a hammer at the wall replica, to inviting German novelist Peter Schneider to speak at GMU, she has been tireless in her efforts to further our understanding of this monumental event.
For further information, please check out the Center for History & New Media’s site Freedom Without Walls.
June 15th, 2009
Several department telephone extensions will be changed at the end of this fiscal year (June 30, 2009). The faculty list on this website will note the new telephone numbers. For easiest contact, please consider contacting faculty members directly using their GMU email address.
May 13th, 2009
Congratulations to Rob Townsend for his successful defense of his dissertation on April 29. His dissertation, titled “Making History: Scholarship and Professionalization in the Discipline, 1880 – 1940,” was completed under the mentorship of Roy Rosenzweig and with Peter Stearns serving as advisor. Also serving on Rob’s dissertation committee were Rosemarie Zagarri and Rosemary Jann.
April 27th, 2009
Congratulations to two of our undergraduate students for receiving college-level recognition for their academic excellence. Megan Fowler, a double major in History and Theater, received a College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean’s Challenge Award. The Dean’s Challenge Award recognizes students who have excelled while taking academically challenging courses and have contributed to the Mason community through research or outreach. Sana Mirza, a double major in History and Art History, received the Outstanding Research Project award at CHSS’s Undergraduate Research Symposium. Her project examines the political implications of the creation of a mosque by Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII, as well as the preservation of Orthodox Christian churches and the incorporation of Byzantine forms in Ottoman architecture by Sultan Mehmed II, and places them within larger artistic discourses. Congratulations to Megan and Sana!
April 27th, 2009
Congratulations to doctoral student Kevin Shupe, who has been selected to participate in the prestigious Western History Dissertation Workshop at Yale University. This workshop is organized by the Howard R. Lamar Center for the Study of Frontiers and Borders. Shupe’s dissertation is entitled, “Geronimo Escapes: Envisioning Indianness in Modern America.” Using Geronimo and his public performances as a focal point, he examines the changes in the representations of American Indians from the end of the Indian Wars through the first decade of the twentieth century. His dissertation looks at images and discourses surrounding anthropology and the social sciences, commercialism and popular culture, religion and reform, frontier mythology and political ideology.