Departmental Items of Note
Many Texas seventh-grade public school students are currently studying Texas history from a textbook co-authored by Dr. Arnoldo De Leòn.
After being retired since 1997, Dr. H.D. Watkins returned to the department to teach in 2004 as a Visiting Assistant Professor of History.
Dr. Charles Endress retired from the History Department in May 2004, then assumed the position of Interim Dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts (May 2004-May 2005), and is presently teaching half-time in the department.
Mr. John Eusebio Klingemann will join the department in June 2007. He is presently on a Fulbright-Garcîa Robles Fellowship for Mexico conducting research on his dissertation, a study of the Villistas and the Mexican Revolution. During the fall of 2006 and spring of 2007, Professor Klingemann delivered a series of lectures both in Mexico and the United Sates. Among presentations given were "Los consules norteamericanos en Chihuahua , 1910-1920" before the Supremo Tribunal del Estado de Chihuahua (December 2006) and "The United States-Mexico Border: The Significance of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo" before the Mexican American Studies Program students at Sul Ross State University (February 2007)
Dr. Guoqiang Zheng is in the final stages of readying his manuscript titled "Conflict, Contact, and Co-Existence: Chinese-American Relations 1948-1960" for review by an academic press
Dr. Dennis Pate is currently compiling a comprehensive bibliography on nuclear history. Dr. Pate, who reads English, French, German and Italian, will track down all the relevant literature published in these languages up to 1962, the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis. His intent is to put this massive compilation on line
Arnoldo De León wrote the Foreword to Barry A. Crouch's, The Dance of Freedom: Texas African Americans during Reconstruction, Larry Madaras ed. ( Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007). It is a tribute to Dr. Crouch, now deceased, who taught De LeÓn at ASU in the late 1960s
Dr. Brian D. McKnight, who replaced Dr. John Wheeler in August 2006, has now completed about half of his new book titled "We Fight for Peace": Twenty-three American Soldiers--Prisoners of War and Communists. Currently, Dr. McKnight is writing a chapter to be included in a collection of essays on the Civil War in Kentucky and Tennessee
Dr. Shirley Eoff's essay titled "San Angelo Army Air Field Bombardier School: Military and Civilian Interaction in World War II" was published as the lead article in volume LXXXII (October 2006) of the West Texas Historical Association Yearbook. Dr. Eoff also presented a paper entitled "Into the Lion's Den: Political and Press Reception of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition Entry into the Peace Process" to the 2006 Western Conference on British Studies meeting. In April 2007, she presented a paper entitled "Ms. Oma Bell Perry: Hill Country Rancher and Philanthropist" to the Texas Women's History Network Conference
R. Gary Pumphrey will assume a tenure-track position in the department as an Assistant Professor of Geography starting in August 2007
Dr. David P. Dewar will assume a tenure-track position in the department as an Assistant Professor of History starting in August 2007. His field of concentration is Colonial and Early US History
Mr. John Klingemann presented a paper titled, "Que viva Pancho Villa!: The Social Composition of the División del Norte," at the April 2008 conference of the West Texas Historical Association held in Canyon, Texas .
Graduate Student Shannon Sturm presented a paper titled, "When Patriotism Turns Ugly: Anti-German Sentiment in Runnels County, Texas, 1917-1920," at the April 2008 conference of the West Texas Historical Association held in Canyon, Texas. Amy Fields, an undergraduate student, also presented her paper titled, "Volkerwanderung: Two Roads to German Assimilation in San Angelo, Texas."
Dr. Shirley Eoff, Professor of History, was recently elected as President of the West Texas Historical Association for 2008-2009. As president, she will oversee the organization devoted to preserving and chronicling the history of the region. Duties during her one-year term will include overseeing WTHA financial affairs, coordinating the 2009 annual meeting and insuring the preservation of West Texas history. Professor Eoff joined the ASU faculty in 1981. Her areas of specialization include 19th and 20th Century Britain and Contemporary U.S. History, but she has been a long-time member of the WTHA, and currently serves on its Board of Directors, out of a commitment to the preservation of local and regional history and a desire to serve the local community.
In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the study of Texas and Tejano History, Dr. Arnoldo DeLeon was named a Fellow of the West Texas Historical Association at the annual meeting held in Canyon, Texas, on April 3-5, 2008. Dr. DeLeon was one of three distinguished scholars and teachers in the initial group to receive this prestigious honor.