University of Washington

In spring the Department of History received the sad news that one of its great friends and supporters, Larry Roseman, had passed away. After just one quick talk with Roseman, you were reminded of why history matters and of the impact that the Department of History can have, and has had, on the broader Seattle community. Roseman's was a warm and familiar face to many. As an Access Program student, he took a staggering 105 courses at the UW, the majority in the Department of History, and he had plans to take many more. He was also an extremely generous donor. In 2017 he created three separate funds for scholars: the Lawrence J. Roseman Graduate Endowment in Ancient History, the Reserve Fund for Excellence, and the Lawrence J. Roseman Endowed Professorship. Professor Joel Walker was the fi rst recipient of the professorship. Roseman's interest in history came a little later in life, following a long and successful career, fi rst in the military in the armored corps at Fort Knox, and then as an engineer at Boeing. He credits his ex-wife, who had a PhD in classics, with sparking the fi rst fl ames of curiosity. He recalled that she would regale him with tales from the past and that it soon became customary that the fi rst thing he would say to her every morning, over a freshly brewed cup of coff ee, was, "Tell me something about history." "So," remembered Roseman, "rather than 101 stories over 101 nights, it was more like 101 breakfasts!" With retirement came the opportunity to indulge this passion more fully, and this was when he began taking Access classes at the UW. "A great reason, and just the motivation I needed, to get out of bed in the morning!" The courses he took over the next 30 or so years spanned the whole of human history. His approach was always chronological, starting with the classics and going right up to the modern day; the last class he took was Professor Anand Yang's HSTAA 203: History in the Age of Trump. If he had to pick a favorite, he'd choose Professor Carol Thomas's class on Alexander the Great. He remembered being greatly inspired and awed by the Macedonian's organizational skills and achievements. And it wasn't just the material on off er that kept him setting that morning alarm. One of the best things Roseman found about being an Access student was the opportunity to meet and talk with young scholars, and for the many that had the privilege to talk with him his passion for the past was nothing but infectious. We are so very pleased that his love of history will continue to live on through his endowments. When asked why he thought history was important and why he wanted to create the fellowships, Roseman looked back on his experiences as a young man and especially to the sage advice of his mother. Growing up Jewish in the 1950s, he faced much antisemitism, but his mother told him that educating himself was the one thing he couldn't be held back from. "She said, 'Son, if you put it into your head, they can't take it away.'" He saw in history a discipline that stretches the mind, fosters critical thinking and analysis, and helps "put the cacophony of the past into an ordered matrix" in a way that can also help us better navigate and understand the present. "I believe that if I can infl uence people to think based on facts, the world will be a better place." With his support and in his memory, the Department of History will continue to do just that. ALUMNI NEWS Hongxuan Lin received the Tan Kah Kee Foundation's Postgraduate Scholarship in support of his dissertation research. Patrick Lozar was awarded the Ford Foundation Fellowship for next year to support his dissertation, "Behind and beyond the Line: Indigenous Communities, International Borders, and Native Identities on the Columbia Plateau, 1850s-1920s." Jesse Meredith had his essay "Decolonizing the New Town: Roy Gazzard and the Making of Killingworth Township" published in the Journal of British Studies, Vol. 57 (April 2018). He also received his PhD for his thesis "Cities of the Plan: Visions of the Built Environment in Northern England, 1960-1985." Xiaoshun Zeng, who is currently completing a dissertation titled "Diagnosing Minorities: Ethnic Hygiene and Nation-State Building in the Early People's Republic of China, 1949-64," was awarded a two- quarter term to the Simpson Center Society of Scholars. A PL ACE FOR ALL LEARNERS: A TRIBUTE TO L ARRY ROSEMAN (1937-2018) Joe Creamer (PhD 2011) accepted the position of fulltime lecturer in the Program in Writing and Critical Inquiry at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Xiaolin Duan (PhD 2014) accepted a tenure-track off er from North Carolina State University. Allan Lumba (PhD 2013) accepted a tenure-track position at Virginia Tech. Eleanor Mahoney (PhD 2018) was awarded her PhD and accepted a two-year National Park Service Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship in the History of Labor and Productivity in Washington, D.C. Huong Nguyen (PhD 2017) accepted a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Haverford College. Shruti Patel (PhD 2017) accepted a tenure-track position at Salisbury University. Marc A. Robinson (BA 2004) accepted a tenure-track position at California Staten University, San Bernardino. Alyson Roy (PhD 2017) accepted a tenure-track off er from the University of Idaho. ROSEMAN (CENTER) WITH DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY FACULTY D E P A R T M E N T O F H I S T O R Y   9 history matters

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