The Grotto
Gazette
Volume 8, Issue 5
January 27, 2006
Editor's Note:
By Tara Hall
Welcome to the new Grotto Gazette! In an effort to decrease the amount of paper
we waste and the amount of manpower involved in creating our newsletter, we are
in the process of moving the Gazette to electronic format, which you see in
rough draft here. This also makes it easy for you to respond to the newsletter
- just hit reply and make your concerns known! There will still be a paper copy
scattered about the Grotto if you really want one, or feel free to print this
out as well. Issues will, as always, be posted on the Society website for
viewing later. Also, we're still working on the site (http://clubs.roanoke.edu/historic).
Please, if you have any suggestions or ideas, email me and let me know.
_________
Weekend of History: Watch out D.C.!
By Audrey Easter
On the afternoon of March 23, 110 students from four classes will head up to
Washington D.C. There the different classes will spread out around the
area, focusing on different sites related to their courses.
Dr. Selby plans to take his Civil War
group to at least two significant battlefields. They most definitely will
travel to Gettysburg, PA, to take in the experience of that particular
battle. After that, plans are not concrete, but two likely candidates are
Chancellorsville and Manassas.
Students traveling to the capitol
with Dr. Willingham’s Holocaust course will, of course, take some time to go
through the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, located near the
Washington Mall. Willingham also added that he would like to take some
students on a nighttime tour of the Mall, with a special highlight of the
newest addition, the World War II Memorial.
Dr. Leeson’s Anthropology course will
have the special treat of a behind-the-scenes experience of the Smithsonian
Museums. This tour will be led by a few RC alumni. Her class will
also complete a tour of the new Smithsonian Museum of the American
Indians.
The fourth class going on the trip is
Dr. Miller’s Issues in Early Modern America course. This group will focus
on two Benjamin Franklin exhibits, one at the Smithsonian Museum of American
History and one at the Library of Congress. These students will also
explore other areas of the American History museum which will focus on the 18th
century.
There is hope that the students
will not only learn from their class’s experiences, but will be able to tag
along with other groups’ experiences if they so choose. So, watch out
D.C., here comes the History Department!!!
_________
Two new hires for spring, continued
By Tara Hall
Our own
Meghan Kurtz reported last time that the History Department will be hiring two
new tenure-track Assistant Professors this Spring, one
for an
First of all we spread the word. The College solicited applications a variety
of ways, including national journals and other publications. A committee was
appointed within the department of existing professors for each of the
positions and they carefully reviewed the applications to narrow down the
pools. History is among the most competitive job markets in academia, and the
pile of applications for both positions was very tall. But by the end of the
fall semester, the pile was small enough that the committee was ready to hold
interviews.
The interviews were held in a hotel suite during the American Historical
Association. Not only did the professors interview people from their applicant
pool, but some were able to interview by checking the posts on the “job pit,” a
bulletin board where job openings are posted for anyone willing to interview
while the committee is in town. The professors asked them about their research,
their education, their teaching philosophy, etc., and tried to get a sense of
how they would fit in down in the Grotto. Many of the interviews were very
impressive. “We had some sense that we’re playing in the big leagues,” said Dr.
Willingham. “Roanoke is able to attract people of high quality and education.”
Only six of them, however, get to come for a visit, and only two will get to be
hired.
Potential hires are in the process of visiting right now. The applicants
stay for at least a whole day, during which they speak to a class about a topic
in their field of expertise, conduct a “job talk”—a discussion of their
research—with the faculty and other students and guests, and then go to dinner
with the faculty. If a good fit is found with the students, professors, and
surroundings, then a job offer will be made to two of the applicants around
Spring break and next year we can look forward to offerings from two new
professors!