Additional Program Info

Faculty Presentations and Publications

Allan Austin  recently published "DC Comics and the American Dilemma of Race" (co-authored with Patrick Hamilton) in George Washington University's History News Network in March 2020. He also recently published "An Age of (Super)Heroes?: Hollywood and the 'Global War on Terror'" in the online magazine Vault of Culture. In November 2019, Dr. Austin published All New, All Different? A History of Race and the American Superhero (co-authored with Patrick Hamilton), University of Texas Press, 2019. The book was recently selected for the John G. Cawelti Award for best textbook / primer in Popular Culture, by the Popular Culture Association of America.

Jennifer Black recently published “Autograph Albums and the Commercialization of Memory in the United States,” in Cultures of Memory in the Nineteenth Century: Consuming Commemoration, ed. Katherine Haldane Grenier and Amanda R. Mushal (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2020), 39-60. In the summer of 2020, Dr. Black helped facilitate an online working group for the National Council of Public History, on Teaching Public History online. She also co-authored a report from that working group for NCPH.

Yanqiu Zheng recently published "The Cultural Politics of Chineseness: The US Tour of Taiwan's National Chinese Opera Theater, 1973-1974" in Twentieth-Century China 45, no. 1 (2020): 46-65.

The Department of History and Government congratulates the following faculty members on winning faculty research and summer research grants for the 2020-2021 academic year:

• Allan Austin– “The Comic-Book Superhero & the Mass Incarceration of Japanese Americans in World War II”
• Jennifer Black– “Branding Trust: Advertising &Trademarks in the US & Consuming Deception: Counterfeit Commodities in American Culture”
• Rebecca Padot –“U.S. Foster Care in the News”
• Christopher Stevens –“Image, Theory and Strategic Relations in the Post-Soviet Space”
• Robert Lucas Williams – “Issue Coalitions, Constituency Preferences, & Legislative Party Influence: A Natural Experiment”
• Yanqiu Zheng – “In Search of Admiration and Respect: Chinese Cultural Diplomacy in the US, 1875-1974” AND “Beyond Culinary Nostalgia:Gender & Food Writings in Postwar Taiwan, 1950-1979.

History in the Making: Collecting and Interpreting the Artifacts of American Life

This webinar will be held via Zoom on October 19th at 7:00pm and will talk about how museums help us think about our contemporary moment, and how they identify and display items that illustrate historical events. Contact Dr. Jennifer Black at jblack2@misericordia.edu to access the Zoom link

You, Me, and History: How Memoir and Storytelling Explain Our Past and Present

This webinar will be held over Zoom on October 26th at 7:00pm and will talk about how our lives are records of history. To access the Zoom link, contact Dr. Jennifer Black at jblack2@misericordia.edu.

Student News

Ashleigh Rose (History-for-Business) is spearheading the effort to market "Public History in the Pandemic" as part of her capstone thesis for Fall 2020. 

Sara Shields is building a digital exhibit on African Americans in the New Deal, as part of her public history coursework for Fall 2020. 

Students in Dr. Black's Introduction to Public History course (Fall 2020), are supporting a major collecting project to document the experiences of the Misericordia community during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The project is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and organized by Maureen Cech, Misericordia's University Archivist. Read more about their work here.

Internship Placements

• 2020- Sara Shields, Anthracite Heritage Museum, Scranton, PA. Kyle Shea, Luzerne County Historical Society, Wilkes Barre, PA. 
• For the summer of 2019, Sarah Sporko worked at the National Federation of the Blind in Baltimore, MD on a paid internship funded by the Soyka Fund for the Humanities. 
• Ashleigh Rose has won a prestigious spot interning with the National Cemetery Association, a division of the Office of Veteran's Affairs (Washington, DC).  
• Sarah Sporko (History / GLNS major) has won a prestigious internship at the National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC, for the spring 2020 semester.

To read more about our interns' experiences, please visit the Interns' Corner Blog.

Graduate Placements

Class of 2020

• Sarah Sporko is Education Coordinator at Eckley Miner's Village, Hazelton, PA. 
• Allison McEllheran, High-school teacher, Our Lady of Mercy School, Rochester, NY.  

Class of 2019

• Gina Cotticchio, Master's in Library Science at St. John's University (Queens, NY).

Class of 2017

• Damien Effird, Self-employed tutor and Social Media Manager for the musical group, The Up and Up (Durham, NC)
• Rebecca Schnable, Claims Representative, Progressive Insurance
• Zachary Stritzinger, Widener Commonwealth Law School (Harrisburg, PA)

Class of 2016

• Rebeka Buczeskie, Widener Commonwealth Law School (Harrisburg, PA)
• Kyle Coslett, Mohegan Sun Arena, Wilkes-Barre, PA
• Ray Ellis, Graduate School (History), University of Nebraska-Kearney
• Patrick Gallagher, Graduate School (Military History), University of Norwich (VT); also working in logistics management
• AJ Mancini, Local government, Avoca, PA
• Mason Moher, Graduate School (History), The New School for Social Research (New York, NY)
• Nicole Negron, Education Coordinator, Eckley Miner's Village (Hazleton, PA); and Graduate School (Museum Studies), Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD)
• Collin Sibilia, Graduate School (History), Villanova University (Philadelphia, PA); also Assistant Coach for Women's Volleyball at the University of the Sciences (Philadelphia, PA)
• Cailey Ware, Villanova Law School (Philadelphia, PA)

Class of 2015

• Jonathan Grybos, Junior High / High-School teacher, Shamokin Area School District (Shamokin, PA)

• Matthew LaPorte, IT Services Assistant, Misericordia University (Dallas, PA)
• Matthew Levine, Graduate School (History), Bloomsburg University (Bloomsburg, PA)
• Brian Quinlan, Social studies teacher, grades 6-8, St. Joseph the Worker School (Orefield, PA)
• Mara Zumchak, Middle School teacher, Saint Thomas the Apostle School (Glen Mills, PA)

Class of 2014

• Catherine Becker, Assistant Director of Admissions at Misericordia University (Dallas, PA)
• Rebekah Evangalista, Doctor of Physical Therapy, Misericordia University (Dallas, PA)

Class of 2013

• Nathan Delmar, Law Librarian at Fordham University (Bronx, New York)
• James Cerulli, Assistant Vice President of Operations Planning, Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad (Port Clinton, PA)
• Patrick Smith, High School Teacher, Marian Catholic High School (Tamaqua, PA)
• Andrew Zesk, Graduate School (Archives), New York University (New York, NY)

Class of 1996

• Nicholena Iacuzio Rushton, Assistant Public Defender, Delaware County (DE)

Class of 1992

• Jill C. Gorman, Attorney, Temple University (Philadelphia, PA)

• Scott Helfrich, Associate Director of Residential Life, Columbia University (New York, NY)

Class of 1984

• Kenneth Wolensky, Historian, Pennsylvania Historical & Museums Commission (Harrisburg, PA)

Class of 1983

• Michael Dunleavy, Governor of Alaska (beg. 2019)

Class of 1977

• Elizabeth Craig Hughes, Executive Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer, Fiduciary Trust International (New York, NY)

MU History Alum Mike Dunleavy (Class of 1983) wins Gubernatorial race in Alaska

Students receive summer research stipends and course credit to work directly with faculty on research as part of the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program. Since 2015, students in history have worked on several public history exhibits with local historical societies to preserve history in the Wyoming Valley.

Students in History and Government have the opportunity to spend a semester in Washington, DC, studying at American University and working at a government or non-profit agency in our nation's capital. The AU program, one of the oldest of its kind in the country, brings students from across the country to DC for semester or summer study each year. Students can choose from a variety of programs to study, including Journalism & New Media; American Politics; Foreign Policy; Religion, Politics, Peace & Security; Justice & Law; International Law & Organizations; and Sustainable Development. While at AU, students participate in a weekly seminar and work as interns in a DC agency. They earn valuable professional experience and course credit to transfer toward their degrees in History. Students interested in the program should talk with their advisor, and visit AU's Semester Away website.

History majors have the unique opportunity to participate in Misericordia’s Study Abroad / Study Away programs. In the past several years, MU developed several new partnerships to enhance the study away choices for our students. Students may choose to study abroad or away for a semester or summer session, and credits earned during the semester / summer away can be applied toward the Misericordia degree. Recent students in the major have traveled to Australia, Ireland, Montreal, and Washington, DC to earn course credit and valuable professional experience. More information about Misericordia’s Study Abroad / Away Programs can be found here

The History Program has been very successful in placing students in internships in the local area. Past history students have worked with the National Park Service at the Steamtown Historic Site, at the Lackawanna Coal Mine, the Anthracite Heritage Museum, Eckley Miner’s Village, Luzerne County Historical Society, the Misericordia Archives, the Greater Pittston Historical Society, the National Federation for the Blind (Baltimore, MD), and the National Archives and Records Administration (Washington, DC).  Pre-Law students are required to complete two semesters of internships at a qualified law firm. Students have the opportunity for paid internships on and off-campus. Read more about our students’ internship experiences by visiting the Interns’ Corner blog.  For more information on history internships, interested students should contact Dr. Black.

Students in the History Program have a variety of opportunities to work on special projects with faculty, with members of the community, and with other students.  Such projects include working on exhibits locally and on campus, volunteering for history-related events, taking oral histories from members of the community, and organizing special events for the community.  Many of our students’ local history projects are featured online at MU Local History Projects.

 

Each year, the History and Government Department brings important speakers to campus to enrich the learning experiences of our students. Some of these may be former government officials, some are well-known authors or scholars, others have had extraordinary experiences they share with our students. Generous funding from the Soyka Fund for the Humanities often helps to make these opportunities available for History and Government students.

Past speakers have included Frances Townsend, Homeland Security Advisor to President George W. Bush (2013), and Tim Jarvis, Environmental Scientist, Author, and Polar Explorer (2015).

In the 2015-2016 academic year, the department will host Deni Bechard, award-winning journalist and author in September 2015; and Dr. Randall Miller in November 2015, who will speak on behalf of the activist group Historians Against Slavery.

The History Department offers several service-learning courses that give students the opportunity for experiential learning and participation in service to the larger community. These courses are intended to deepen students' understanding of ideas and themes presented in the classroom and encourage students' development as engaged citizens. Recent service-learning placements have included a range of local organizations, including the Greater Pittston Historical Society, the Scranton Anthracite Heritage Museum, the American Red Cross, the Humane Society of Lackawana County, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, Kids Café, and the Peace Center.

The Misericordia University campus is beautiful, and Dallas is a peaceful community conducive to a focus on learning; in addition, the college's proximity to major east coast cities provides great opportunities for cultural enrichment. Students can have memorable experiences that bring courses alive. Trips for academic groups and clubs can make the Misericordia experience that much more special. In the past few years, history faculty and students have traveled to Philadelphia, Seneca Falls, Gettysburg, and New York City. In addition, history faculty have traveled with honors students on trips to Boston and Washington, D.C.

 

The Department of History and Government sponsors two student clubs: the History Club and the GLNS Club. Each year, these clubs participate in a variety of fund-raising and service projects. Service projects in the past few years have included activities such as collecting oral histories for the Back Mountain Historical Association, participating in Bowl for Kids' Sake, and judging projects at the local History Day competition. In addition to these activities, the club presents a great opportunity to get to know your fellow students, majors and non-majors alike, in an informal and welcoming atmosphere. All students, regardless of major, are invited to join these student clubs. Interested students should contact the department chair for more information.

Students who meet the academic requirements will be invited to join Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society. Undergraduate students must complete at least 12 semester hours in History (4 courses) with a GPA of at least 3.1 in History and have a GPA of 3.4 or better overall. Membership in the society provides opportunities for students to publish their work in the society's journal, The Historian, and to present at regional and national meetings.

Fast Facts and Outcomes

History majors at Misericordia University gain excellent training in the liberal arts, and have several specializations in history in the professions available to them. Our courses are intellectually stimulating, and can include experiential learning and professional opportunities.

What makes our History program stand out from all the rest:

We combine traditional liberal arts education with the opportunity for rigorous professional training. What’s more, students have the opportunity for paid professional work in the humanities through several on-campus and off-campus programs. These features are not available elsewhere in the region:

• Unique Bachelors to Master’s programs in: Organizational Management and Business Administration.
• Specializations in History in the Professions: Public History, History for Business, and History & Media specialties.
• Minors in: History, Public History, and Social Studies.
• Students have pursued Graduate studies in: History, Law School, Business, Social Sciences, Library Science, Information Technology, Medicine, and more.
• Graduate School acceptances at the following Universities: Johns Hopkins, Bloomsburg University, George Washington, Villanova, The New School for Social Research, and Widener Commonwealth Law School.

Program History degree options:

• Bachelor of Arts in History
• Bachelor of Arts (Public History Specialization)
• Bachelor of Arts (Citizenship Secondary Education Certification)
• Bachelor of Arts (History for Business Specialization) 
• Bachelor of Arts (Pre-Law Specialization)
• Bachelor of Arts (History & Media Specialization)
• Bachelor of Arts (Pre-DPT Specialization)

Job Opportunities for History degrees include the following fields: 

• Middle & High School Educators
• Social media management
• Public relations
• Web maintenance
• Business management
• Library Science
• Editing and publishing
• Information Management
• Historical preservation firms/agencies
• Professional writing and journalism
• Corporate archive/record keeping
• Grant-writing
• Government agencies/public interest
• Cultural Tourism
• Museum work: prepare exhibits; education; and public outreach

Opportunities and activities available:

• Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)
• Faculty-Directed Research and Field Trips
• History Club, GLNS Club & PHI ALPHA THETA Honor Society
• Study Abroad/Away/Service-Learning
• Semester in Washington, D.C.
• Speakers and Masters Classes
• Paid Internships, including one at the National Federation of the Blind in Baltimore, MD

History alumni have obtained employment at:

• Elementary and Special Ed Teachers
• Professors/Instructors at Universities
• Middle and High School Teachers
• College Administrator – SUNY
• Librarian – Historical Institutions
• Writer – for Governor Milton Shapp
• Owner/CEO – Assoc. American Publishers
• CW2 Aviator – United States Army
• Historian – PA History & Museum Comm.
• School Board of Directors
• Assistant Public Defender – Delaware County
• United States Government
• Department of Homeland Security
• Pennsylvania State Police
• McKean County Juvenile Probation
• Luzerne County Courts
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission
• International Student Exchange
• United States Department of Justice
• Manager–U.S. House of Representatives 
• VP/CCO - Fiduciary Trust International
• Maximas Federal Services
• Numerous students went on to be Lawyers

HISTORY LINKS

The following list includes links to professional organizations, archival repositories, and other websites of interest to History Majors.

• Quaker Project in the News
• Center for Nursing History at MU 
• The American Historical Association
• National Archives and Records Administration
• American Association for State and Local History
• Pennsylvania State History
• Exploring the West: Maps from Columbus to Lewis and Clark
• National Women's History Project
• The Martin Luther King, Jr Directory
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
• Monarchs of Britain
• Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library & Renaissance Culture
• This Day in History
• Organization of American Historians
• National Council on Public History
• Smithsonian
• Library of Congress
• Pennsylvania Historical Assoc.

Faculty Presentations and Publications 2017-18

Jennifer Black published, “Gender in the Academy: Recovering the Hidden History of Women’s Scholarship on Scrapbooks and Albums,” in the Fall 2018 issue of the journal, Material Culture. In April 2019, Dr. Black presented her paper "Policing Fakes: Early Trademark Regulation in the US," at the Spring Research Seminar of the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society hosted by the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, DE. This November, Dr. Black will present "'The Genius of Pictorial Advertising': Images and Consumer-Centered Advertising in the US, 1830-1900" at the Commercial Pictures and the Arts and Technics of Visual Persuasion conference in Delaware.

Dr. Black also recently finished mentoring a student exhibit on the changing scope of Main Street Pittston, PA, which you can read more about here. Dr. Black was also recently recognized by Proclamation of Recognition by the City of Pittston, for her work with the Greater Pittston Historical Society and MU students. She published two articles in 2017: “Exchange Cards: Advertising, Album-making, and the Commodification of Sentiment in the Gilded Age,” Winterthur Portfolio 51, no. 1 (2017): 1-56; and “Citizenship and Caricature: Teaching the American Past with Images,” in Art & Public History: Approaches, Opportunities, and Challenges, ed. Rebecca Bush & K. Tawny Paul (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017), 47-70. In April 2018, Dr. Black will present a paper at the annual meeting of the Business History Conference.

Christopher Stevens published an article on the Libyan Debate on June 20, 2017 in the Diplomacy and Statecraft Journal. The study argues that the "coercive diplomacy perspective needs slight modification to account for the Libyan case."

Stevens, Christopher A. 2017. The libyan debate: Coercive diplomacy reconsidered. Diplomacy & Statecraft 28 (2) (04/03): 320-43.

The Department of History and Government congratulates the following faculty on receiving research grant funding for 2018-2019:

• Dr. Allan Austin, “The Limits of Racial Sympathy: Popular Culture & Remembering the Wartime Exile & Incarceration of Japanese Americans”
• Dr. Jennifer Black, “Branding Trust: Advertising & Trademarks in the US, C. 1830-1920”
• Dr. Rebecca Padot, “The Active Shooter Policies of Colleges in a Post 9/11 Era”
• Dr. Christopher Stevens, “Image Theory & Strategic Relations in the Post-Soviet Space”
• Dr. Luke Williams, “Parties Matter, Even When they’re Weak: Party Battles in the Progressive Era”

The Department of History and Government congratulates the following faculty on receiving research grant funding for 2019-2020:

• Dr. Allan Austin, for "Finding (White) Redemption in Japanese American Confinement: Snow Falling on Cedars and Historical Narratives of Exile and Incarceration."
• Dr. Jennifer Black, for "Branding Trust: Advertising & Trademarks in the US, 1830-1920."
• Dr. Rebecca Padot, for "The 2018 Tax Law and the Impact on Nonprofits."
• Dr. Yanqiu Zheng, for "In Search of Admiration and Respect: Chinese Cultural Diplomacy in the US, 1875-1975," and "'Chinese' Food in Postcolonial Taiwan: Business and Narration, 1954-1979."
• Dr. Luke Williams, “Parties Matter, Even When they’re Weak: Party Battles in the Progressive Era”
• Dr. Christopher Stevens, for "Image, Theory and Strategic Relations in the Post-Soviet Space."

Speakers and Events 2018-19

September 4th, 5:00pm - 6:00pm

GLNS Club Fall Kick-Off
Mercy Hall 379
Food will be provided

September 18th, 8:30am - 12 Noon

Constitution Day!
Banks Lobby
Student Poster Presentation and Judging

October 1st, 6:30pm

“Missing Me One Place, Search Another’: Keywords, Digital Archives, and the Search for the Next Great American Novel,” a lecture presented by Zachary Turpin, Ph.D., who found not one, but two lost books written by Walt Whitman: “Life and Adventures of Jack Engle,” a Dickensian city mystery novel, and “Manly Health and Training,” a hair-raising, kitchen-sink wellness guide for urban men, through archival research. Dr. Turpin will explain how, far from being in the final days of great literary finds, we are entering a new era of digital sleuthing and discovery. He will name two more lost Whitman novels that may be out there, and will show the audience where and how to begin looking for them.
Dr. Turpin is assistant professor of American Literature at University of Idaho, and a Kluge Fellow of the Library of Congress. Sponsored by the Soyka Fund for the Humanities at Misericordia University.
Alden Trust Room 219, Sandy and Marlene Insalaco Hall
Free/Open to the Public!
Contact R. Lucas Williams, Ph.D., at rwilliams1@misericordia.edu, 570-674-3047.

Tuesday, October 23rd, 6 - 8PM

GLNS Speaker Panel: Lieutenant Meditz, Detective Schaffer
Insalaco Hall 218/219

Tuesday, October 15, 4pm-5:30pm

History Program Welcome Back Event

Tuesday April 21, 12:30pm-1:45pm

GLNS Senior Celebration

Speakers and Events 2017-18

September 14, 9:00am

Dr. R. Luke Williams presents a master class on Aaron Kaufer.
McGowan Room, Bevevino Library
Click here for more information on the master class on Aaron Kaufer.

September 19, 12:30pm - 1:30pm
Constitution Day Panel Discussion: "A Review of Trump's
First Year in the Presidency"
McGowan Room, Bevevino Library
Click here for more information on this panel.

September 29-30 2017
Digital Humanities & Pedagogy Symposium
Funded by the Soyka Fund for the Humanities

• Friday 2:30-5:30pm Technology Workshops, INS 218-219
• Friday 7pm Keynote Address: Digital Humanities in the Classroom / Dr. Michelle Moravec, McGowan Room, Bevevino Library
• Saturday 8:30a-2:30pm, Teaching Workshops, INS 218-219

For more information on the Symposium and to RSVP, click here.

October 16-19, 2017
Reformation Anniversary Panels
Insalaco Hall
Dr. Christopher Stevens will speak in Panel I on October 16th at 7:00pm about The Lessons of the Thirty Years' War: Then and Now
For more information on the Reformation Anniversary Panels, click here.

January 16, 2018
A series of film screenings and discussions will be held during the week of January 16, 2018, in commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. More information about these events can be found here.

March is Women's History Month

Check out the Women's History Month tab for more information and events!

March 17, 2018
National History Day Region 2 Contest
8am-5pm, Insalaco Hall
Read more about the History Day event here!

Student News

Sarah Sporko (History / GLNS major) has won a prestigious internship at the National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC, for the spring 2020 semester

Ashleigh Rose (History for Business major) will be interning with the Office of Veterans’ Affairs, Digital Media Group for the 2019-2020 academic year

Sarah Sporko (History / GLNS major) was selected to be a SURF fellow for the 2018 session, for the public history project “Anthracite Photographers, Photographers of Anthracite”

In July 2018, History major Briana Scorey presented a paper at the Eighteenth International Hemingway Conference in Paris, France.

Sarah Sporko (GLNS / History) was awarded a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) for 2018, to assist Dr. Black in preparing an original exhibit for the Anthracite Heritage Museum (Scranton, PA).  The exhibit, Anthracite Photographers, Photographers of Anthracite opened on December 1, 2018 and is currently on display at the Anthracite Heritage Museum. Sporko’s research was also featured in The Carbondale News.

History Majors Present Research at the Pennsylvania Historical Association Annual Meeting.

In October 2017, history majors Briana Scorey and Amber Kelley presented research posters at the Pennsylvania Historical Association conference in Scranton, PA.

Nicole Negron (class of 2016) recently accepted the position of Education and Volunteer Coordinator at Eckley Miners' Village and Museum.

Quaker Project in the News

Intern's Blog

Misericordia places students in professional internships across the region. Follow their experiences through our special interns' blog.

In the spring of 2016, GLNS major John Eisenhauer (class of 2017), studied foreign policy at American University in Washington, DC, as part of MU’s Semester in DC program. John is shown here with Congressman David Jolly of Florida. While in DC, John also interned in Jolly’s office in the House of Representatives.

GLNS Major Recalls Meeting with Justice Scalia

Students Collaborate with Center for Nursing History to Preserve Regional History