University of Washington

The department congratulates Wanjiku Gitahi, for her promotion to the new position, Assistant to the Chair. We were also happy to welcome four new members to our amazing department staff. Josh Apfel, Department Administrator. Josh grew up about a mile and a half south of campus. After spending several years abroad in Cape Verde, by way of the Peace Corps, he returned home, and has worked at UW off and on since 1998. His most recent post before joining the department was in the Department of Global Health at Harborview. Jessica Claycomb, Administrative Coordinator. Jessica earned her BA from UW's Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Department in 2009, and continued her studies and work in Yemen and Qatar. Prior to her current position at UW, she was employed at the Library of Texas A&M University at Qatar for three years. Nell Gross, Academic Advisor. Originally from the east coast, Nell has spent the last three years advising English language learners at City University of Seattle, helping them study English and adjust to life in the U.S. She's excited to take her career in the direction of history, as both her parents are historians of early America. Tracy Maschman Morrissey, Director of Academic Services. Tracy earned her Master's of Counseling Psychology at Notre Dame in 2001, and then worked for several years as a therapist in Dublin, Ireland, where she developed a love of Irish culture and a talent for open-sea swim meets. She joined UW in 2005, and came to History from the Psychology Department, where she was an academic advisor. STAFF NEWS Josué Estrada recently earned his master's degree in history, and is moving full speed ahead with his doctoral work. His dissertation will expand on themes he explored in his MA research: internal migration in the U.S., the complex formation of rural Mexican American communities, the dynamics of voter suppression among Mexican Americans, and the Mexican American movement against voter literacy tests . "Studying Chicano communities in places like Washington State offers new perspective on the struggles for racial equality and cultural identity taking place in the 1960s and 1970s. For example, this research sheds light on the results and limits of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 outside the American South," remarked Estrada. "It also shows that Chicanos were not just challenging literacy tests, but expanding the definition of American citizenship to include their distinctive racial, cultural, linguistic, and transborder identity." For Estrada, the vistas of history opened up as an undergraduate at UW. "In high school, I read perhaps one paragraph about Spanish-speakers—about the early Spanish explorers in the Pacific Northwest. I didn't see myself in history. But at UW, taking classes in Chicano history, it was empowering to see that people of Mexican descent had played a significant role in influencing events in the U.S. and the Pacific Northwest. I wanted to be a part of writing that history." Now as a member of the graduate program, Estrada is already well on his way to that goal. Katja Schatte is a PhD candidate, studying post- World War II socialist societies. Her interests range from Cuba to the Soviet Union, and almost everywhere in-between, but her dissertation focuses on the history of Jews in East Germany, a rarely studied community that survived both the Nazi Holocaust and communist religious repression. Schatte seeks to move past the official narratives of the East German regime and Jewish community leaders, to access the everyday experience of what it was like to live as a Jew in the communist bloc . "With my work I hope to bring together and facilitate different conversations," said Schatte. "For one thing, I want to explore what it means to live in Germany in the twenty-first century, and to challenge the idea that 'unification' is complete. There are still many divisions in Germany—cultural, economic and political. Is there really a need for all Germans to be the same?" She continued, "I also feel that it is important to confront the silences of the past, by highlighting the ways that non-Jewish communities in Germany have sought to avoid uncomfortable memories." After graduate school, Schatte plans to work outside academia, but remain engaged in public scholarship. "I enjoy research, really digging in. But what I enjoy even more is making that information usable—curating it, presenting it, making it available, enabling dialogues. I have already started down this path with my current digital history project, http://beyondtheironcurtain.org, and I plan to do much more in the future." GRADUATE STUDENT PROFILES GRADUATE STUDENT NEWS Ryan Archibald received the W. Stull Holt Fellowship and a 2015-16 Simpson Center Society of Scholars Dissertation Research Fellowship. Ross Coen published his book Fu-go: The Curious History of Japan's Balloon Bomb Attack on America. He was also interviewed for the NPR show "RadioLab" in relation to the book. Josué Estrada presented papers at the Labor and Working- Class History Association Conference in May 2015 and at the National Association of State Directors of Migrant Education Annual Conference in March 2015. Roneeva Keel and Eleanor Mahoney received fellowships to the 2015 Digital Humanities Summer Institute in Victoria, BC. Eleanor Mahoney was also awarded a 2015-16 Simpson Center Society of Scholars Dissertation Research Fellowship, and a Moody Research Grant from the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation. Alyson Roy presented a paper at the International Conference on Ancient Warfare in July 2015. Katja Schatte presented a paper at the Jewish Studies Spring Research Symposium in May 2015. Sarah Zaides received a 2015 Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. D E P A R T M E N T O F H I S T O R Y   11 history matters

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