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Sidney Fine 1931-2009 Scholar, Athlete, Communitarian

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Sidney Fine 1931-2009 Scholar, Athlete, Communitarian 2009 Sidney Fine 1931-2009 Letter Sidney Fine, Andrew Dickson White Professor Fine’s teaching career at from Collegiate Professor of History and Michigan lasted for 53 years, believed former chair of the de- to be the record. That the partment, passed away long duration was a direct Chair on March 31st. He result of his popularity leaves his beloved wife as a teacher. When he Dear Friends, Jean, their daughters reached retirement age, he and grandchildren, and was honored with a dinner We approach the coming year in a thousands of grateful in the Clements Library. spirit of tremendous optimism and students. For many About the same time, for- excitement. Despite the tough times decades he taught a mer students in the state for higher education we continue two-semester survey legislature led by Repre- building on our strengths, and with of American history sentative Joseph Schwartz more than 80 faculty we are now the in the 20th century promoted the Sidney Fine country’s largest department of that was famous for Bill which put an end to a history. his good teaching and mandatory retirement age Each year our numbers edge a little attracted hundreds of in Michigan universities further upwards. While always atten- students each term. Photo courtesy of Michigan Daily and colleges; it passed tive to the vital core of what we do, One estimate of the number of stu- by a huge margin. Sidney unretired, our growth comes in large part from dents who passed through his course and continued teaching until age 80. interdisciplinary opportunities, as our over the years is 25,000 to 30,000; Immensely magnetic as a teacher, latest recruits eloquently attest. On the that may be conservative. Many stu- he was also highly productive as a following pages you will meet six new dents electing the course had a parent research scholar, publishing 12 books faculty, each with a joint appointment. who had taken it, and a few families and dozens of articles, on US labor We also hope to complete a stellar had three generations of Sidney Fine history, the history of Detroit and of appointment to our Alice Freeman students. (continued on next page, Fine) Palmer Chair, made vacant last year by the retirement of our distinguished colleague Barbara Metcalf, current Scholar, Athlete, Communitarian President of the American Historical Chris McLaurin has used every minute of his Association. Barbara’s successor will time at Michigan. A heavily-recruited star be appointed 100 percent in History. football player at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s High Our wonderful Eisenberg Institute for School, and named all-state by the Historical Studies (EIHS) continues Detroit Free Press, Chris joined the Wolverines generating extraordinary intellectual in 2005 where he had a distinguished career excitement both inside the department as tight end. In spite of a demanding athletic and out. Its outgoing director Kathleen schedule, he concentrated in History, plunged Canning deserves our most admiring himself into his studies, and won admission to gratitude for making the institute such the Honors Program. The program requires a power house of ideas and activity. three terms of special courses, research in We are sure that Kathleen’s Chris McLaurin in Paris suburb 2008 primary sources and the writing of a thesis. He successor Ronald Grigor Suny, the chose to write on the history of St. Peter’s Home Charles Tilly Collegiate Professor for Boys in Detroit. His work, “Lift Up the Lad: The Struggle of One Group Home Amidst a City in Decline,” won the John A. Williams Thesis Award. ( continued on next page, Chair) (continued on next page, McLaurin) 2009 (Chair’s message continured) teaching, students and admirers, led graduate work. (Sidney was a favorite of Social and Political History, will by David Evans, created the Sidney student of hers, and she was very loyal continue her fabulous work. Please see Fine Excellence in Teaching Fellow- to the department, funding a graduate the EIHS insert in this newsletter with ship honoring students who excel as student fellowship in her will.) He did Ron’s message and calendar of public graduate student instructors. an MA in Ann Arbor, and after serving presentations. Sidney Fine grew up in Cleveland in the Navy during World War II, (for These efforts demonstrate our com- and did his BA at Case Western which he studied Japanese and joined mitment to excellence in education. Reserve, where one of his teachers Naval intelligence in the Pacific,) he re- Last year we graduated 198 seniors as was a Michigan PhD and the only turned to Michigan for his PhD and was well as 17 fresh PhDs, who despite the woman in the History Department, hired as an assistant professor in 1948. terrible job market still secure good Marion Siney, who probably encour- It was the beginning of an exceptionally positions. We are constantly looking aged him to think of Michigan for long and successful career. for ways to enrich the quality of our undergraduate and graduate programs, Our donors continue to help the Michigan History Department maintain especially with a view to the new chal- its position as one of the top ten programs in the country. Thank you! lenges of international education. With We welcome your ongoing or new support of these important funds: that in mind, we secured funding last • The History Graduate Student Fellowship Endowment (serves year for a May Seminar on “Thinking graduate students in all areas of study) and Teaching in Global Dimensions,” • The Sidney Fine Graduate Fellowship for Excellence in teaching spearheaded by Kathleen Canning (honors the late Professor Sidney Fine and supports outstanding and the Eisenberg Institute, in which graduate students) Douglas Northrup partnered with Bob Bain of the School of Education to lead • The Feuerwerker-Young Endowment for the Study of the some 25 faculty and graduate students History of China (established by students of Professors Albert Feuerwerker and Ernest young to support graduate students in in an intensive exploration of forward- Chinese History) looking possibilities. This was a splendid first step toward an energizing Please mail gifts to: University of Michigan History Department process of curricular innovation. c/o Joan Wolf, 1029 Tisch Hall, 435 S. State St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109 If you have any questions about giving, please phone (734) 615-0874. All of the above could only occur thanks to the generous support of our (Chris McLaurin continued) alumni and friends and the collective Perhaps even more impressive than Chris’s community work resulted in his commitment of faculty and graduate Chris’s accomplishments in athletics winning a competitive fellowship in students, backed by the indispensable and scholarship is his commitment 2008 for a trip to Paris with Humanity skills and goodhearted collegiality of to community service. Profes- in Action, a foundation that sponsors our terrific staff. sor Regina Morantz-Sanchez, who international educational programs directed his honors thesis, says, engaging student leaders in the study of With warmest regards, “Though unquestionably a leader, human rights and the causes of intoler- Chris is also a delightfully engaging ance. person, gentle, respectful of others, Having graduated from Michigan, Chris caring and kind. He has performed will continue to use his considerable a wide range of service on cam- Geoff Eley talents to help make the world a better pus….he is a Big Brother, …and (Sidney Fine continued) place. He has won a Fulbright Scholar- works closely with St. Peter’s Home ship, and plans to move to Johannesburg Michigan, race relations and aging. for Boys.” His experience at St. Pe- in October to work with the University Sidney earned many honors in his long ter’s led him to create, with ten other of Witwatersrand on a program in col- and distinguished career, including the students, a non-profit outreach initia- laboration with South African Russel Lectureship, one of the high- tive which seeks to provide youth in est awards the university bestows, the non-profits. Chris’s project will involve foster care with positive student role determining best practices for The To- Guggenheim, and honorary degrees models from the university, assist- from several universities. He was morrow Trust and Cotlands, two organi- ing them to reach their full potential zations working with AIDS orphans. especially proud of having earned the socially and educationally. For this Golden Apple Award for outstanding and other contributions, Chris was We wish him continued success, and teaching, because it is awarded by awarded the Martin Luther King feel certain he will continue to make the the students. In recognition of that Student Diversity Award. most of his life. 2009 Alumni News benefits, as well as helps them set sity of Rochester Press in 2008. goals/plans for their future. Rachel is Rose Mary Sheldon (PhD 1987) is Michael Abelson (MA 1966) is a diver going back to school to get her masters Head of the Department of History at with the New England Aquarium in in library and information science at the Virginia Military Institute and has Boston and harmonica player for the the University of Pittsburgh. published her fourth book Operation Dirty Mac Blues Band. Mark R. Jacobson (BA 1990) com- Messiah: St. Paul, Roman Intelligence, Thomas W. Burkman (PhD, 1975) pleted his PhD at the Ohio State and the Birth of Christianity, (London: research professor in Asian Studies at University in 2005. Mark was then Vallentine Mitchell, 2008). the University at Buffalo, has received recalled to active military duty and Joel Thurtell (MA 1968, PhD 1970) a residency fellowship from the Joan spent a year in Kabul, Afghanistan retired in 2007 as a Detroit Free Press B.
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