Congratulations to our PhD student Ariel Schnee, who was awarded the Irene Ledesma Prize by the Coalition for Western Women’s History at the Western History Association meeting last month. 1/2

Join us in congratulating Ronnie A. Grinberg, whose book Write Like a Man was named an NYC Big Book Award Distinguished Favorite in the Religion Nonfiction Category! Explore this book here: hubs.ly/Q03LztL00

Congratulations to Dr. Du Fei for having been selected as one of five participants for the biennial Wallace Johnson First Book Program offered through the American Society for Legal History. 1/4

Congratulations to PhD candidate Justin Stuart, who has received the American Historical Association’s Albert J. Beveridge Grant, which supports research in the Western hemisphere! 1/2

DISTRIBUTE SYLLABI LIKE A CHAMPION TODAY

The Department of History is sad to share that Professor Emeritus David Levy passed away last week surrounded by his family.

Hey OU students! Looking for another class for fall? We have some great ones with seats remaining. HIST 3993 Evolution of Martyrdom with Dr. Shepkaru and HIST 4003 with Dr. Schapkow are both Western Culture GenEds! 1/3

Congratulations to Dr. Ronnie Grinberg, who has been selected for the Faculty Investment Program by OU’s Research Council! This will aid her next project, “No More Nice Girls: Women’s Liberation, Cosmopolitan Jews, and the Remaking of American Intellectual Life.” 1/2

Congratulations to history major Mikayla Taylor, whose paper, “Maria Izquierdo and the Woman’s Role in Mexico,” won first prize in the 2025 Latin America and the Caribbean Paper Award from the Center for the Americas in the Boren College of International Studies. Great work!

Congratulations to all of our graduate students who completed their degrees this semester! First up: our five newly minted Masters of Arts: 1/10

Congratulations to Dr. Elizabeth Grennan Browning, who has been awarded the OU Arts and Humanities Forum Public Fellowship for 2025-2026! 1/4

Congratulations to Master’s student Hope Cunningham and PhD candidate Zane Brown, who have been selected as Jack Haley Fellows at OU’s Western History Collections for Summer 2025! 1/3

Congratulations to our PhD candidate Tom Kahle, who has been named the Merrick-OU Press Graduate Publishing Fellow for 2025-2027. He will work with the editorial staff of the Press during the fellowship.

Congratulations to Dr. Melissa Stockdale, who has been awarded the Franklin Grant from the American Philosophical Society. She will use the grant to conduct research on her current book project, Monumentally Divided.

Congratulations to Drs. Du Fei and Jennifer Holland, who have both been awarded Arts and Humanities Faculty Fellowships through the OU Arts and Humanities Forum! 1/3

On this, the first day of spring, we would like to take this opportunity to remind all of you to rotate your mattresses. Every six months is optimal.

Congratulations to Dr. Lewis Eliot, who has been awarded a Junior Faculty Fellowship through the Research Council for work on his second book project, “The Forgotten Slave Port: Cape Town and the Slave Trade, 1795-1910.”

Congratulations to Dr. Kathleen Brosnan, who is the recipient of the inaugural Provost’s Manuscript Finishing Fellowship, awarded through the OU Arts & Humanities Forum. 1/2

Congratulations to all OU History students who participated in the recent Oklahoma regional Phi Alpha Theta conference at Southwestern Oklahoma State University! Pictured: OU undergrads Will Alvey and Izzy Wilson with two conference judges. 1/4

Congratulations to Dr. Sarah Eppler Janda (OU PhD ‘02), who is being inducted into the Oklahoma Historians Hall of Fame at the Oklahoma Historical Society Awards Banquet this month! 1/3

Graduate student Taylor Cozzens published an article, “Workers in the Field and Lawyers in the Court: Environmental Justice, Poverty Law, and the California Rural Legal Assistance,” in the Winter 2025 Pacific Historical Review. Great work, Taylor! online.ucpress.edu/phr

Congratulations to history major Sofia Givens, who has been awarded a grant from OU’s Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program for her capstone project, “A Comparative Look at the Memorialization of the Arctic Convoys,” under the direction of Dr. Melissa Stockdale. 1/2

Congratulations to Dr. Sarah Hines, who published the article “Ecology and Energy in Latin America” with the Latin American Research Review. You can find it at this link: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

The OU Department of History presents the Fred Harris Lecture featuring Princeton historian Professor Liz Ellis. Professor Ellis is Peewaalia and an enrolled citizen of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. 1/3

Congratulations to graduate students Jim Bland, Winn Carroll, and Adam Krečí, who had book reviews published in an issue of Civil War Book Review! repository.lsu.edu/cwbr/vol26/iss…

We are saddened to learn of the passing of Bill Nations, a former Norman city council member, mayor, and state representative. He received a degree in history from OU. www.oudaily.com/news/norman-...

Hey Normaniacs! Early voting for our municipal elections on Feb. 11 is Feb. 6 (tomorrow!) and Feb. 7. If you live in Wards 1, 3, 5, or 7 you get to vote for your city council member, and everyone gets to vote for mayor! Find election info here: www.clevelandcountyelectionboard.com

Congratulations to Dr. Hadas Cohen, whose chapter, “Sex and the City in Berlin - Female Jewish Israeli Immigrants between Heteronormativity and Singlehood,” appears in The Modern Israeli and Palestinian Diasporas. 1/2

Congratulations to Dr. Elizabeth Grennan Browning, who contributed a chapter, “‘The City of Destruction’: The Chicago School of Sociology’s Ecological Interpretation of Race, Migration, and Inequality,” to the volume Not Just Green, Not Just White 1/2

DISTRIBUTE SYLLABI LIKE A CHAMPION TODAY

Congratulations to PhD student Matthias Carder, who has been selected as a recipient of the Graduate Dean’s Distinguished Thesis Prize - Humanities and Fine Arts category for the 2023-2024 year! 1/2

*Chappell Roan voice* “I’m gonna have some coffee at the Pink Pig Cafe I’m gonna have some coffee in this West Norman ‘hood, I’m gonna have some coffee at the Pink Pig Cafe, Pink Pig Cafe.”

Congratulations to PhD student Ariel Schnee, who has been awarded the Relais de Camont Creative Residency. This will allow her to spend two weeks in a “haven of quiet productivity” at a 300-year-old restored farmhouse in the French countryside. 1/2

A wonderful time was had by all at the Department of History breakfast yesterday! A big thanks to Danni McCutchen for organizing and decorating!

Dr. W. David Baird, OU History alumnus and the author of numerous books on Oklahoma history, passed away last week. Please read this tribute by his former student, Dr. Patricia Laughlin.

Oh, hey there, history people! We’re more into Red Dirt, but Blue Skies might be okay, too. Guess we can spend more time here.

And Welcome to Historians At The Movies. Tonight we are talking about Neil Armstrong, the space race, and biopics with FIRST MAN on Netflix at 8pm eastern. #HATM 1/

Congratulations to Drs. Anne Hyde and Alexander Finkelstein (a 2022 PhD alum of ours) for the publication of their edited volume, Reconsidering Regions in an Era of New Nationalism, with University of Nebraska Press!

Please join us on Nov. 1 at 7:30 PM in Gaylord Auditorium for a talk by journalist Victor Luckerson on his new book about the Tulsa Race Massacre, Built from the Fire. We hope to see you all there!

The Department of History in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oklahoma invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in South Asian History. Specialists of any time period are encouraged to apply. apply.interfolio.com/132509

So, it's official: the Teaching, Engaging, and Thriving in Higher Ed series, edited by James Lang and Michelle Miller, has launched with Oklahoma University Press, and I'm honored to serve on its advisory board. See the series page here: www.oupress.com/teaching-eng...

Here is just one of your unlimited skeets. Enjoy!

I've got a new post up at CAMPAIGN TRAILS on the anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising but also on the prehistory that celebrations of this milestone sometimes obscure. Check it out! And as Twitter is throttling Substack, please share! https://kevinmkruse.substack.com/p/stonewalled

Blue Sky, Red Dirt, amirite?

We’re still here, btw.

What’s happening, BlueSky? Any other humanities departments out there looking to mingle?