Faculty News | History Department
Donald Clark is spending part of the month of May 2008 in Korea, where he's been invited to give a series of lectures, two of them keynotes at major symposia. In connection with the Trinity University's capital campaign he was honored by a donor who endowed a chair in Chinese business to be called the Richard M. Burr and Donald N. Clark Chair in Business Administration. Burr and Clark together inspired the donor to launch what became a successful career in trade with China. The donor, who has asked to be anonymous, was one of the first Trinity students to study abroad in the People's Republic of China, in the 1980s. This summer Don is writing a book for the Association for Asian Studies "Key Issues in Asian Studies" series, entitled Korea in World History for general readership and text use in high schools and colleges.
Allan Kownslar, Chair published The European Texans (Texas A and M University Press, 2004), completed two chapters of a book on Women on the Cattle Trails published by Texas A and M University Press, had a book review published in Journal of the West. In addition to his publishing activity, he has made two presentations on what it was like to author The European Texans, and gave fifteen presentations on Iconoclastic Texans for the University of Texas at Austin Elderhostel Program.
Carey H. Latimore, IV, delivered a paper on free blacks during the Civil War at a national conference at the University of Richmond. Latimore is also extremely active in the larger San Antonio Community. He is an associate minister at Mount Zion First Baptist Church, where he is spearheading a ministry of young, educated black men. In addition, Latimore will serve as a guest lecturer and panelist at the 2008 Symposium on “Race and Religion” to be held at the Lilly Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. The event is scheduled for Saturday, May 31 at 9:00 a.m.
John McCusker has just been appointed to the International Advisory Board of the "Dutch Atlantic Connections, 1670-1800" project. Based at the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde (Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies) in Leiden, the project has just been awarded a grant totaling 550,000 Euros by the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) to fund a variety of inter-related studies of the Dutch involvement in the integrated Atlantic world connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas, including the West Indies, during the early modern era (ca. 1500-1800). The KITLV is an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Amsterdam. The board consists of nine members from France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, the United States and Venezuela. Two decades ago the NWO funded part of the research for one of his books.
McCusker has also accepted an invitation to be part of the five-member Comité Scientifique that is organizing an international conference on "The United States Involvement in the Mediterranean during the Late Eighteenth Century and Early Nineteenth Century" to be held in October 2008 at the Centre de la Méditerranée Moderne et Contemporaine, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, Nice, France. The conference is being funded, in part, by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) of France. He will be presenting a paper at the conference.
Alida Metcalf has begun to work on a new book on the German traveler to Brazil, Hans Staden, with former professor of Modern European History at Trinity Eve Duffy.
Char Miller is on leave for 2007-09, teaching in the Environmental Analysis Environmental Analysis and History programs at Pomona College - and having way too much fun! He and Judi have been roaming from beach to desert, mountain to valley (including a fascinating spring break visit to Death Valley National Park with Gary Kates and Lynne Diamond!) When not dabbing on suntan lotion, Char is teaching classes new and old--Water and the West, U. S. Environmental History and Cities by Nature, are among his offerings. This fall, his new book, Ground Work: Conservation in American Culture appeared; he has published commentary in the Christian Science Monitor, the Houston Chronicle, and the Hartford Courant—and a fun one on Hillary Clinton’s predecessor, Cornelia PinchotCornelia Pinchot, and was the historical consultant to the Main Plaza Redevelopment Project, which transformed San Antonio's legendary central square. See his recent essay "Evolving Core."
Other members of the department remain very active, with book and other projects underway. Linda Salvucci has served as Rhodes advisor again this year and is completing a paper on business history. David Lesch has several book projects underway. Anene Ejikeme has developed several new courses. And Terry Smart is working on the history of German Americans in the Hill Country.