Department of Art History

Department o f H i s t o r y F all 2008 University of California, San Diego Prof. David Luft Retires after 36 years at UCSD Pr of. David S. Luft has retired after 36 years of an during the first six decades of the twentieth ex traordinarily dedicated career at UCSD. Luft century: Robert Musil and the Crisis of European ha s accepted an Endowed Chair, the Thomas Culture: 1880-1942 (Berkeley, 1980; 2d.ed. pbk, Ha rt and Mary Jones Horning Professorship in the 1984); Robert Musil, Precision and Soul: Essays Hu manities, at Oregon State University. and Addresses, co-translated and edited with Burton Pike (Chicago, 1990; pbk ed, 1994); Eros W ith his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1972, Luft came to and Inwardness in Vienna: Weininger, Musil, UC SD as an Assistant Professor in 1972. His Doderer (Chicago, 2003). His point of entry was re search in his first three books treated the the work of a number of leading Viennese authors, in tellectual history of modern Austria, especially who were studied against an ever-broadening backdrop that included German language culture in general and the European modernist tradition in literature and philosophy. - News Bits - Continued on p. 7 Chair’s Column Alumni always return to UCSD to find a changed campus, with many new buildings and new faculty. The UCSD History Department remains in H&SS, but all the Prof. David Noel Freedman Muir College buildings are receiving a face- Passes Away at Age 85 lift with renovation of their exteriors. This past year we welcomed three new colleagues—Tom Gallant in the history of modern Greece and Mediterranean Studies, John Marino, Chair Cathy Gere in the history of medicine and bio-medical ethics, and Mark Hanna in the history of early America and the Atlantic World. This year we are very pleased to be What’s Inside? joined by one new colleague, Nancy Kwak . Class of ’08 Celebrates! in the history of U. S. urban studies and Alex Ruiz, History’s Chief Administrative planning, who is profiled in the current . Faculty Affairs Officer, Retires After 38 Years of Service newsletter. Sadly, our most senior . Graduate Student News colleague, David Noel Freedman, passed away in the spring. In addition, after 36 . Staff Updates years with us, David Luft retired to take up . Tribute to Professor an endowed chair appointment at Oregon David Noel Freedman State University, and our long-term MSO Alejandra Ruiz retired after 30 years as the . What Professors Read mainstay of the department’s daily . Students Star in Their Own Films operations. Dr. Nancy Kwak Joins History Department Continued on p. 8 2 One hundred sixty-three seniors were awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in History in the 2007-08 academic year. History continues Graduate Students to attract more undergraduate students and there are now approximately 400 majors and 100 history minors. Awarded Degrees The 2008 Undergraduate History Honors Program students were Ph.D. Degrees recently honored at a luncheon at the Faculty Club. The annual Rappaport Prize was awarded at the luncheon to honor’s student, Jeremy Brown (Chinese History) Christopher Eichstedt, with honorable mention to Michael Thesis: Crossing the Rural-Urban Divide in Twentieth-Century China Hirshman. Ellen Huang (Chinese History) The Rappaport Prize is presented to the best history essay or thesis Thesis: China's china: Jingdezhen Porcelain and written each year. The Rappaport Prize originated from a memorial the Production of Art in the Nineteenth Century fund established in 1983 for an early member of the UCSD history department, Prof. Armin Rappaport. Matthew Johnson (Chinese History) Thesis: International and Wartime Origins of the The 2008 Undergraduate History Honors Program students, include: Propaganda State: The Motion Picture in China, Christopher Eichstedt: Comandante Cero: Eden Pastora and the 1897-1955 Nicaraguan Revolution Miguel La Serna (Latin American History) Michael Hirshman: The Guns of August, 1804: How the Vizcaya Thesis: The Corner of the Living: Local Power Rebellion Helped Lead Britain and Spain to War Relations and Indigenous Perceptions in Michael Aguirre: National Views, Local Complicity, and Counter- Ayacucho, Peru, 1940-1983 Hegemony: Racialized Subject Formation of Ethnic Mexicans in the Ana Varela-Lago (European History) Imperial Valley, 1915-1928 Thesis: Conquerors, Immigrants, Exiles: The Ryan Archibald: Cuba, Identity, and the Micropolitics of Travel Spanish Diaspora in the United States, 1848- Zachary Brown: Umbanda and the Question of National Identity 1948 Rachael Curtis: A Struggle for National Self-Determination Elya Zhang (Chinese History) Kyle Ellis: Celestial Fire: The History of an Unusual Debate About the Thesis: Spider Manchu: Duanfang as Networkers Great Comet of 1680 and Spindoctor of the Late Qing New Policies, Amanda Kreitenberg-Tasker: The Exploration of a Psychological 1901-1911 Phenomenon through Oral Testimony Daniel Kurowski: The Struggle of Gender and Homosexuality in M.A. Degrees Berlin, 1871-1933 Emily Lee and Anne Marino Jaclyn Snow: Political Implications of Taglit-Bithr ight for American Politics Travis Weinger: Getting it Right in the Persian Gulf: The Genesis of the Omani-American Security Relationship Sarah Zaides: The Sword and the Spear: Power, Discourse, and Phi Al pha Theta Initiates Israel's New History New UCSD Members Six UCSD History students were recently initiated History Student Wins Undergraduate into the Phi Alpha Theta, an American honor society for undergraduate students, graduate students, and Library Research Prize professors of history. There are over 800 local Michael Hirshman, a History Honors student under the guidance of chapters of Phi Alpha Theta nationwide. Prof. Cynthia Truant, has been selected for the second place prize of Undergraduate students must have a 3.0 overall $500 in the Social Sciences/Humanities/Arts cate gory of the 2008 grade point average, at least a 3.1 in their history UCSD Undergraduate Library Research Prize. courses, and be in the top 35% of their class. The award committee stated, “Michael Hirshman’ s undergraduate New UCSD Phi Alpha Theta members include: research project, entitled The Guns of August, 1804: How the Vizcaya Rebellion Helped Lead Britain and Spain to War, is a publishable Alexandra Doll Jennifer Wang piece of scholarship that incorporates a significant examination of over Christopher Eichstedt Jackie Yu 100 primary, archival documents from the year 1804 with a thorough Justin Wales Sarah Zaides review and analysis of secondary materials.” Congratulations! 3 Jeremy Brown has accepted an Conflict Thesis" in Science and Religion: Warming, and the Social Deconstruction of appointment as assistant professor of Historical and Contemporary Perspectives,” Scientific Knowledge,” was published in modern Chinese history at Simon Fraser and "Esad Efendi, Ibrahim Muteferrika und Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences University in Vancouver. His dissertation, Friedrich Bachstrom: Ein istanbuler (2008), co-edited by Naomi Oreskes and Erik “Crossing the Rural-Urban Divide in Gelehrtenkreis zwischen islamischer Conway. In addition, Shindell’s review of Twentieth-Century China,” won the Jean Fort Tradition und 'europaeische Wissenschaften' David A. Weintraub's book, Is Pluto a Planet? Dissertation Prize, awarded at the 2008 in den 1720er Jahren." A Historical Journey through the Solar commencement ceremony. In addition, System, will be published in Isis later this Brown’s co-edited book, Dilemmas of Victory: Miguel La Serna has accepted a tenure- The Early Years of the People's Republic of track appointment at California State year. University Sacramento in modern Latin China, was published by Harvard this year. Jomo Smith, a second year Ph.D. student in American History to begin in 2009, and will Laura Harkewicz has been awarded a take up a postdoctoral appointment at the the modern Chinese history Ph.D. program, dissertation fellowship from the Science and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in has been awarded a multi-year Jacob Javits Society Program of the National Science 2008-2009. La Serna’s dissertation is Fellowship to fund his graduate studies. Foundation. Harkewicz's dissertation project entitled, “The Corner of the Living: Local is, "The Bravo Medical Program: Radiation Power Relations and Indigenous Perceptions George Solt has accepted a tenure-track Standards, Scientific Uncertainty, and the in Ayacucho, Peru, 1940-1983.” appointment in the Departments of History Legacy of the Cold War, 1954 – Present.” and East Asian Studies at New York Michael Lettieri was the co-winner of the University. His dissertation is entitled, “The Ellen Huang has accepted a two-year UC 2007 H. Stuart Hughes Prize for the best Politics of Ramen: Food, Labor, and Berkeley Chancellor's Postdoctoral graduate seminar paper, “The Wheels of Everyday Life in Modern Japan.” Fellowship in the Department of Art History. Government: Camioneros and Political Her dissertation is “China's china: Culture in Twentieth-Century Mexico.” James Tracy has won the 2008 UCSD Jingdezhen Porcelain and the Production of Student Book Collection Competition Art in the Nineteenth Century.” Kate McDonald has been awarded sponsored by the UCSD Libraries. Tracy fellowships from the Fulbright IIE and the UC won for his collection of and essay on Justin Jacobs published "How Chinese Pacific Rim Foundation to conduct “Darwinism, Evolution, and Religion.” Turkestan Became Chinese: Visualizing dissertation research in Japan during the Zhang Zhizhong's 'Tianshan Pictorial' and

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