History Department News and Research

Michael Ebner, associate professor and chair of the Department of History, was awarded funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Ebner will use the stipend to travel to Rome for two months to conduct research for an ongoing book project, “Mussolini’s Empire: How the Fascists Ruled in Africa.”

The Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Recognition Award, which honors faculty who have a significant, positive influence on graduate education at Syracuse University, was awarded to Azra Hromadžić, assistant professor of anthropology, and Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn, professor of history.

"Freedom of the press and speech are the critical defenses for protecting our democracy. To lose that protective function of a free press is simply a catastrophic and dangerous step closer to an authoritarian state," writes James Roger Sharp, professor emeritus of history.

Jackie Orr, associate professor of sociology, was named Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence. The professorship was created to recognize and reward outstanding teaching at the University.

"In this timely study, Khalil...provides a thorough analysis of how U.S. foreign policy interests have driven the development of American specialist knowledge about the Middle East from WWI to today," reads a review of a book by Osama F. Khalil, associate professor of history.

According to Margaret S. Thompson, associate professor of history and political science, some religious congregations may leave their buildings, but other groups can replace them, often representing groups that are new or growing in the community.

"This is the work of a young but mature historian: thoroughly documented, carefully argued, and well crafted. In a detailed look at the nexus of American academic expertise on the Middle East and Washington’s diplomatic and intelligence power centers, from the Wilson era through the Obama presidency, Khalil keeps his prose crisp and his judgments sober," reads a review of "America's Dream Palace," a book by Osamah Khalil, assistant professor of history.

Regionally based strikes like the one in Oakland "are very, very uncommon in US history," said Andrew Wender Cohen, professor of history, adding that for some time now there have been only 20 to 30 larger strikes per year in the entire country.