Our Alumni
Over the years, students from both our traditional and Public History programs have gone on to do a variety of creative and rewarding activities. These are just a few alumni from our graduate program. Hopefully, these examples should help answer that age-old question: "What can I do with a History degree?" We welcome additional information and updates on our alumni!
Paul Babich, BA, 1970, retired on June 15, 2009 after a 39 year career as a Social Studies teacher in Wichita Public Schools at Mayberry Junior High (1970-1988) and South High (1988-2000). The last nine years were spent as a full time release officer of the local techers union, United Teachers of Wichita. Vice president, 2000 to 2005. President, 2005-2009. Appointed by Governor Mark Parkinson on July 1, 2009 to a four year term on the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission.
Barbara Jean Beale, BA, 1989, MA 1994, is currently an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), serving 2 parishes: Zion Lutheran Church of Arneckeville, near Cuero, Texas and St. Luke's Lutheran Church of Schroeder near Goliad, Texas. She also serves as the coordinator for Southwestern Texas Synod's Resource Center in Seguin, Texas. Life is good out in the country with the cows, deer, feral hogs and "chupacabras!”
Lawrence P. Buck, BA, 1966, completed a Ph.D. in history at The Ohio State University in 1971 and is a Professor of History at Widener University, Chester, PA. His recent work involves studying the image of the Roman “monster” of 1496, called the Pope-Ass by Philip Melanchthon and Martin Luther. He presented "The Papal Antichrist Commonplace ca. 1520: Form and Content of an Apocalyptic Epithet" at the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, October 2008, in St. Louis, MO. He also serves as a consultant for Mr. James Faber, rare book dealer in London, to help evaluate a newly-discovered Wunderzeichenbuch (or wonder book) that includes a painted illustration of the Roman monster.
Devin Brogan, MA, 2006, is currently employed at INTRUST Bank, N.A. as a Retail Operations Support Specialist. Devin reviews and revises operating procedures for the Retail Banking Division
Bruce Carruthers, MA, 2006, is pursuing a PhD in Sociology at the University of Kansas. A paper based on his thesis on the Populist Movement in Kansas was awarded second place in a graduate student competition at the Midwest Sociological Society meeting in April in Chicago. This summer he is a research assistant in the Heartland Project, a study of life in rural Kansas communities directed by Professor Robert Wuthnow, Chair of Sociology at Princeton University.
Richard Cooley, MA, 1989, is currently in the History Department at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, where he is an Associate Professor. He is on the board, and serves as secretary for, the Michigan Council for History Education. He is also on the board and serve as secretary for the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District. This district coordinates services for Career Technical Education, Special Education services and curriculum and instruction work for 15 schools districts in West Michigan.
Sadonia Corns, BA, 2008 is an Sr. Administrative Assistant for the Office of Financial Aid at Wichita State. She is currently working towards a Masters in Public History. In addition, she is the treasurer for the WSU Society of Public Historians and a member of the Young Professionals of Wichita.
Christy Davis, MA, 1999, went on to work for the Kansas State Historical Society's historic preservation office and in 2006, founded her own consulting company, Davis Preservation.
Cynthia DeCamp , BA, 1970, is still working as a Nurse Practitioner at a convenient care clinic in metro Atlanta and hopes this job will carry her to the point where she can join the ranks of the retired. She is an officer and board member for the Little Creek Farm Conservancy, where she boards her horse, Lacey. This group maintains one of the last working horse farms in suburban Atlanta. This year for Christmas she joined a Mozart Study Tour to Salzburg with a Study Tour to Gettysburg, Antietam and Harper's Ferry taking place later in the year. Both of her parents died in Wichita this year, which has made for numerous trips.
Dan C. Fullerton, MA, 1998 went on to complete PhD. in History from the University of Kansas, becoming an Assistant Professor for the US Army's School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) at Fort Leavenworth, KS. For the last two years, he has worked as the Deputy Director of the Advanced Operational Art Studies Fellowship (AOASF), a war-college program for senior field grade officers transitioning them from tactical to strategic level leadership. He teaches courses in Strategic Decision Making, the History of Civil-Military Relations, Twenty-first Century Conflict, Regional Studies, and Strategic Leadership and have coordinated and led multiple fieldwork trips around the US and overseas to UK, Belgium, Germany, China, and Australia. He will be participating on a Society of Military History panel on Interwar/WWII US Army modernization in the spring of 2010.
Pat Glass, BA, 1967, is retired from the US Army after 25 years, including 5 years as an assistant professor teaching military history. After military retirement, Pat worked for a number of groups teaching computer software. Still Active in
Boy Scouts (over 53 years now). Even though retired, he still works with his wife of 41 years, Jennifer, in real estate.
Angie Gumm, MA, 2006, is currently working on her Ph.D. at Iowa State University, focusing on rural and agricultural history. She is currently president of the local chapter of Phi Alpha Theta.
David Haight, MA, 1970, was an archivist at the Eisenhower Library from April 1, 1971 until August 1, 2008. Although now retired, he still serves at the Eisenhower Library as a volunteer working on security-classification matters and other tasks as needed. He recently wrote an article that has been accepted for publication in Prologue: The Journal of the National Archives entitled "Meeting the Threat: Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Management of Overhead Intelligence Collection."
Barbara R. Hammond, MA, Anthropology and History, 2000, is currently employed as a Planning Analyst, Historic Preservation Office, City of Wichita. She researches and writes Wichita history in the form of nominations to the National Register of Historic Places.
Kathleen Epps Hankins, BA, 1967, is a chair for the Worship Committee at Hillside Christian Church. She researches family history and retains memberships in Alpha Chi Omega Sorority Alumnae, the Junior League of Wichita Sustainers (inc., Wit & Wisdom), the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the local Historic Preservation Alliance, Inc., Kansas Aviation Museum, & the Sedgwick County Zoo.
Dee Harris, MA, 1996, is Director of Visual Arts and Humanities for the Mid-America Arts Alliance in Kansas City, Missouri. She oversees ExhibitsUSA and NEH on the Road, two national traveling exhibition services.
Benjamin Hruska, MA, 2004, after completing his thesis on Eisenhower and Highways, went on to become the director of the Block Island Historical Museum in Block Island, RI. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in public history at Arizona State University.
Sheldon Kamen, 1973, remained with the family recycling business but also branched out into real estate. He became active in local politics, serving on the city board of education and Wichita City Council. He served as mayor of Wichita for a year.
Bob Keckeisen, BA, 1977, MA 1982, marks his 27th year with the Kansas State Historical Society where he has been museum director since 1991. In June of this year, the museum celebrated the 25th anniversary of the opening of its current facility on the west side of Topeka. Bob continues to teach the Museum Administration class at WSU, and last year he began teaching a Museum Management class in the Museum Studies graduate program at the University of Kansas. Bob is teaching both classes this fall semester.
Charlie Lawrence, MA, 2004, after completing his thesis on Century II, moved back to Seattle and continues to work for Boeing aircraft.
Donna McCalla, BA, 1971, MA, 1973, has, after two years of planning and grant writing, produced Testimonies of a Quiet New England Town, a film depicting the abduction and seizure of Cesar and Lowis Peters and their eight children. The Peters were slaves of the infamous Tory, Reverend Samuel Peters. They were the first slaves formally emancipated by the official Connecticut General Assembly following the Revolutionary War, and the event is the first documented evidence of anti-slavery action in the state. The film will be shown on PBS later this year and then submitted to a number of film competitions. McCalla, still president of Hebron Historical Society, continues to do renovation projects on historical properties in Hebron, CT, where she resides. For more information, check out www.QuietTestimoniesTheFilm.org and there's a lot of Hebron history on www.HebronHistoricalSociety.org.
Gary Miskimon, BA, 1974 (actually - 63-68 & then again in 73-74 finishing w/a BA – History/Political Science) is the Director for the Administration and Parking Division for the Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Jose. Last February, he received the “Pride of San Jose” award for “Excellence” from the Mayor and City Council for the performance of these functions. He wife, Jeanette, and he graduated this year from the 3-year Institute for Leadership in Ministry (operated by the Diocese of San Jose) and now serves in several Catholic social justice activities/organizations. They helped to found the Awaso Hope Foundation, an organization building a K-9 school in Awaso, Ghana. Check out our website at: http://awasohope.homestead.com, (and send a check?)
Tim Myers, MA, 1988, outside of being the Lead Instructor for the Social Sciences Department at Butler Community College for the past several years and becoming a part-time Director of Education of a church in Wichita as of March it was my personal life that got very exciting this past year. His daughter, Laura, taught English in the Czech Republic this past year and this May he got to go visit her and her school.
Sandra Reddish, MA, 2003, is currently a doctoral student at Kansas State University specializing in American History, World War, Memory, and American Literature. Besides reading A LOT and worrying over preliminary exams, she works part-time as a Museum Assistant for the Riley County Museum. Also, she is doing contract work for the Shawnee Museum interviewing long-time residents and providing research materials for truck gradening.
Werner J. Roekle, MA, 1970 taught for two years in Kewaunee, Wisconsin. In 1972., he accepted a position as principal of St. Paul's Lutheran School in Saginaw, MI. During this time he was appointed to the Michigan State Ad hoc Committee for non-public schools. He also served on the State of Michigan Teacher Certification Committee. After forty-five years in the Lutheran Schools, he retired in 1997. After retirement he taught English as a second language for two years. His wife of 55 years, Marilyn, and he maintain a home in Freeland, MI (near Saginaw), as well as Sun City West, Arizona in the winter months.
Kirk Scott, MA, 1999, is currently a sales representative for Cengage higher Learning in Kansas City. An accomplished jazz musician, he continues to seek out gigs.
Theresa St. Romain, MA, 2004, works as project coordinator at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita. She is completing an expansion of her master's thesis, a biography of silent film actress Margarita Fischer, for 2008 publication by McFarland Press.
Christine Simmons-Henkel, BA, 1974, has been the Manager of Professional Development at Tinker Federal Credit Union in Oklahoma City, OK. , where she manages employee training and development activities for all 500+ employees and 22 branches across the state of Oklahoma. Although there was never enough time to travel as much a she liked, she and her husband did make it to Lake Powell, the North Shore of Lake Superior, and the California coast.
Ray Soderholm, MA, 1970, is still mostly retired, though he does substitute teaching at Minnetonka High School, west of Minneapolis, once or twice a week, mostly in social studies or English. He is one of the leaders of a book discussion group composed mostly of retired teachers, librarians, and professors.
Ken Spurgeon, MA, 2002, is the Director of Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences at Cowley Colllege. He also serves as the Executive Director for Lone Chimney Films, Inc., a 501c3 film company dedicated to making historical and educational documentaries about Kansas and the Midwest.
Athena Stephanopoulos, MA, 2007, is working on turning some of her thesis on the Osage cattle industry into published articles. The United States Attorney's office is requesting a copy of her thesis as it pertains to Native American land and legal issues. She is applying for a Fulbright to Morocco, and is studying for the LSAT with the ultimate goal of becoming an immigration lawyer.
Myron L. Webster, BA in Liberal Arts (History and Physical Education), 1965 and BA in Education, 1965; MA in United States History, 1968, is a retired educator (United States history and Advanced Placement United States History--APUSH). He continues to serve as a spotter for the public address announcer at Cabrillo High School's home football games (28 years and counting) and is also privileged to help new teachers on the APUSH ListServ with course outlines, daily outlines, quizzes, review techniques, tests, etc. He is a member of Are You Ready? Ministries Church where he wife (the former Elaine Woydziak) is the pastor and of the Are You Ready? Ministries Interchurch Pageant Company.
Richard Welch, MA, 1970, teaches at CW Post College of Long Island University, and has added a course at the NY State U at Farmingdale. He just published the book "King of the Bowery, Big Tim Sullivan, Tammany Hall and New York." He has also gotten into curating museum exhibitions, including one on a Revolutionary espionage ring active on Long Island, and one on local Civil War history. He now lives in Northport, NY.
John L. Whitlock, BA, 1969, was, until his retirement, Patron Services Director, Blind & Physically Handicapped Library Services for the Mississippi Library Commission.
Nick Wyant, MA, 2007, is currently a graduate student in the School of Library and Information Science at The University of Iowa. He is a research assistant to the director and researches the bibliographic
narrative. Nick is also an editor with the Virtual Writing University at Iowa, digitizing records from the various Iowa writing programs. His research interests include library Web site usability and using XML to digitize primary source document collections.
Joshua Yearout, MA, 2005, was employed as an archivist in the Wichita State University Libraries Department of Special Collections until his passing in 2009.