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Co-Chairing a WHA 2020 conference panel: “What’s My Job? A Public History Gameshow”

I am looking forward to co-chairing, with Rebecca Wingo, this important session highlighting the variety of Public History professions in an exciting format at the 2020 Western History Association’s 2020 conference (#WHA2020).

Within the academy, there is still a divide between professional academics and academics in other professions. This panel seeks to demystify any misperceptions about what public historians in a variety of fields actually do for a living — in a gameshow format! Think of “What’s My Line” or similar biographical gameshows of yesteryear where, in this case, the audience comes to appreciate the nuances of the work historians do in the public sphere. Included on the panel are the following presenters:

  • Nicolai Kryloff, Historical Research Associates, Inc.
  • Justin Henderson, Regional Heritage Partnerships Program Manager, NPS
  • Jeff Pappas, New Mexico State Historic Preservation Officer
  • Roberto Martinez, State Historian of New Mexico
  • Tara Travis, Museum Curator, Mesa Verde National Park and Yucca House National Monument
  • Zebulon Miracle, Curator of Curiosity– Gateway Canyons Resort
  • Jeremy Johnston, Historian, Buffalo Bill Center of the West

Iron Chef Pedagogy Competition

(L-R) Emily Johnson (History), Douglas Seefeldt (History), and Deborah Mix (English)
(L-R) Emily Johnson (History), Douglas Seefeldt (History), and Deborah Mix (English)

On Friday, April 12, 2019, Emily Johnson (History), Douglas Seefeldt (History), and Deborah Mix (English) teamed up to participate in the Iron Chef Pedagogy competition as part of the Ball State University Provost Faculty Summit.

Combining the concepts of popular TV chef battles, such as Iron Chef and Chopped, faculty teams from across campus formed to see who could create the best “recipe” for teaching and learning challenges. Each team received a theme (main ingredient) – a teaching and learning scenario to explore in the classroom that was complicated with “secret ingredients” (instructional technology tools).

While our team didn’t win, we did have fun participating!

Digital History Panel at Ball State University Student History Conference

I chaired a panel at the 21st Annual Department of History Student History Conference on Friday, February 23, 2018 at Ball State University titled, “Doing Digital History.” The panel included current M.A. students Nate Adams, Katy Evans, Anna Kinnen, Jake Klinger, Frank Lacopo and Brendan White presenting their digital history research projects from my HIST 661: Digital History Seminar along with graduate alumnus Hayden Shaw presenting his CRPR 698: Creative Project in a 6-minute lightning round format.

  • Nate Adams, “Forgotten Saddles”
  • Katy Evans, “Construyendo la Mujer Nueva: The Image of the Revolutionary “New Woman” in Mexico and Nicaragua during the Global Sixties”
  • Anna Kinnen, “To Condemn or to Praise: A Digital Analysis of Seventeenth-Century Funeral Sermons Regarding Women”
  • Jake Klinger, “Ensuring Loyalty: How Black Recruitment Impacted Kentucky During the American Civil War”
  • Frank Lacopo, “Speaking of Conversion: Tracing the Roman Casa dei Catecumeni, c.1500-c.1600”
  • Hayden Shaw, “Following the Raven Banner”
  • Brendan White, “Ball Workers in Muncie, 1888 to 1929”

The panel had comment from Professor James Connolly, George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of History, Director of the Center for Middletown Studies, and Co-Director of the Digital Scholarship Lab. The session was well attended and the panelists engaged with the audience in a fruitful question and answer period.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. I will use this space to post links to items I find of interest and occasionally offer my own comments on trends in Digital Humanities. Please feel free to comment and repost. Enjoy!