Syracuse University History Department

06/25/2026

What is Prof Shanguhyia doing over the summer? We found him in his office in Eggers Hall, working hard on his manuscript and preparing for his upcoming research trip to Kenya, where he will be conducting oral interviews with rural community leaders. Many of our professors and graduate students are around on campus, making steady research progress before fall semester brings them back into the classrooms.

06/24/2026

Professors Brian Brege and Junko Takeda are pictured here at the recent Oceanic Spaces and Global Microhistory symposium, hosted by the IMéRA Institute of Advanced Study at Aix-Marseille University in Marseille, France. Brege presented on “The Promise and Peril of Global Trade: Francesco Carletti’s Circumnavigation, 1594-1606,” while Takeda spoke on “Connectivity without Mobility: Maria Guimar de Pinha, the Ayutthaya Kingdom, and a Global Mediterranean.” Also pictured here is IMéRA’s Director of the Mediterranean Program, Prof. Brian Sandberg, who organized this event with other members of Aix-Marseille University.

06/23/2026

We are excited to promote some great upcoming courses for Fall 2026! Here are two of them, offered by Prof. Aaron Luedtke: HST 427 and HST 428. They are cross listed with NAT and IRP. Please note that aside from HST 401, the 300 and 400 level courses in History are taught at the same level. We will be featuring several Fall courses across summer here on our socials, so majors, minors, and anyone across the university can plan and finalize their Fall lineup!

06/20/2026

Congratulations to Prof. Andrew Wender Cohen, who was featured this week on Claire Aubin's "This Guy Sucked," podcast talking about his new book, Gangster of New York: A Violent Life in Nineteenth-Century America! Check out the free excerpt of their conversation here (link for the whole episode in comments):

Claire and Prof. Andrew Wender Cohen confirm that you really, reall...

06/18/2026

In addition to our award-winning teaching, professors in the History Department go above and beyond to foster a sense of community for our undergraduate students, whether through our CHRONOS Undergraduate journal, our distinction program, or through collaborative research. These experiences beyond the classroom matter, and can become the building blocks for career opportunities and lifelong friendships. Pictured here are four of our most recent History major alums (CHRONOS editorial board members, and History Distinction students) who just graduated in May and travelled together to Vienna, Austria. All four are headed to various graduate programs (in law, library science, and history) in the fall. Congratulations to Jorge, Gillian, Max, and Andrew!🍊

06/17/2026

Congratulations to Professor Mark Schmeller, whose chapter, “To Supply the Defect of Principle: Oaths in the Declaration and War of Independence” was published in the volume, “America’s First War: The Military History of the Declaration of Independence.” Edited by Christopher Magra, it appears just in time for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence!

06/16/2026

Summer research season is on, with our faculty and students traveling around the world to conduct archival work. Pictured here, Cameron L. Kline, PhD Candidate in Early American History, received a Yale University Lewis Walpole Library/American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Fellowship, and he’s been spending two weeks researching for his dissertation: “Improvisation and Empire: Indigenous Diplomacy, Colonial Governance, and the Albany Conference of 1754.” Here he is, exploring satirical cartoons, sermons, pamphlets, letters, and journals at the Walpole and Beinecke Libraries!

06/12/2026

Summer writing retreat for History graduate students! A hot summer day is a fantastic time to come to our department seminar room for a nice lunch, good conversation, and serious dissertation and paper writing 📚

06/10/2026

Our historians of Latin America, Professors Gladys McCormick and Denisa Jashari both attended the LASA 2026 conference in Paris last week. McCormick was awarded the Cline Book Prize in Mexican History for her recent book, The Last Door: A History of Torture in Mexico’s War Against Subversives. Jashari presented “The Urban Cancer: Social Workers, Architects, and the State during the Popular Front in Chile.” Congratulations 🎉!!

06/03/2026

Professor Alan Allport’s Advance Britannia, now available in the UK in paperback, is named The Observer’s paperback of the week!

https://observer.co.uk/culture/books/article/paperback-of-the-week-advance-britannia-by-alan-allport?fbclid=IwdGRjcASNENJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEe5V_RVcHSIWiMF_4AGKsFm0uJV3DtELvT7NLvdQKVyBAxKyyfwI9m65HizQM_aem_M1NYBq78Tp_ttGBHfpvaFg

This history of Britain’s role in the latter half of the second world war debunks myths with quotable aplomb