History Happenings
Weekly Newsletter
Updated 3/5/2026
Each week we use this space to announce important upcoming events & deadlines, as well as internship, scholarship, & conference opportunities!
Find more WWU events on the Western Involvement Network (WIN)!
Current Issue
In Case You Missed It
Prerequisite Planning for HIST 499
If you plan on taking HIST 499 during Fall 2026, Winter 2027, or Spring 2027, it’s a good idea to start planning your prerequisites now. You may even want to register for prerequisites this upcoming 2026 Spring Quarter—especially if you want to take HIST 499 this Fall 2026.
For a list of prerequisites offered this Spring 2026, please visit our HIST 499 page. Prerequisites offered during the 2026-27 school year will be added soon and HIST 499 pre-registration will open later in Spring Quarter.
Prerequisites must be completed (with at least a C- for History Majors or a C for History/Social Studies Majors) prior to the first day of the HIST 499 class. Though many prerequisite options may be listed, only a single prerequisite (plus HIST 301 for majors declared 2024-25 or after) is required for HIST 499.
2026-2027 HIST 499 Courses
Fall 2026
- U.S. and the World Since 1945 / Dr. Daniel Chard
- Colonial America/Atlantic World / Dr. Jared Hardesty
- 20th Century Sexualities / Dr. Josh Cerretti
- Modern Middle East / Dr. Charles Anderson
Winter 2027
- The American Revolution and Early American Republic / Dr. Johann Neem
- Cold War Americas / Dr. Ricardo Lopez-Pedreros
- The Ancient World / Dr. Christine Johnston
Spring 2027
- The Ancient World / Prof. Steven Garfinkle
- Slavery and Emancipation / Dr. Hunter Price
- The Salish Sea / Dr. Madison Heslop
If you have any questions, please contact your advisor or history@wwu.edu.
Film Screening & Panel: "Category: Women"
March 5th at 5pm in Communication Facility 115
Join us for the first of our two 50th anniversary events with support from Health and Human Development, Biology, the Libraries and the Cascadia International Women’s Film Festival.
We will be screening the award-winning film Category: Woman, which follows Olympic athletes as they fight to reclaim their bodies and the right to complete. The film will be followed by a panel discussion featuring the film’s writer and director Phyllis Ellis along with distinguished scholars Dr. Jessyca Arthur-Cameselle (HHD), Dr. Kimi Bryson-Reilly (WGSS) and Dr. Dan Pollard (Biology) who will share insights and reflections on the themes explored in the documentary. The trailer is linked to the poster on the panel.
For questions or disability accommodations, please reach out to Rae Lynn Schwartz-DuPre, schwarr5@wwu.edu.
7th Latin American Studies Forum
March 6th 9:30-3pm in Viking Union 565
Find the full schedule of events!
Please join us for the 7th Latin American Studies Forum, an interdisciplinary and interinstitutional event exploring film and artistic expression in Latin America, alongside community and educational engagement in the U.S. This year’s forum features a keynote address by Dr. Kristal Bivona (San Diego State University) on how acclaimed Brazilian films, despite the country’s amnesty law limiting official investigations, shape memory of the dictatorship and use remembrance to confront authoritarian legacies and promote justice.
The keynote is followed by a roundtable discussion with community organizations and higher education institutions, examining how diverse communities in the hemisphere have imagined peaceful resistance to oppression and its enduring effects. The afternoon features student presentations on Latinx communities, Latin American culture and history, study abroad advising, networking, and a free lunch. The event concludes with an unforgettable performance by Corazones de Cedro from Bellingham, celebrating the vibrant musical and cultural traditions of Son Jarocho from Mexico.
Bellingham Community Marimba Project
March 13 at 6:30pm at Lost Giants Cider Company Warehouse
Join us for a benefit concert in support of music and cultural education in Zimbabwe. $25 suggested donation (All proceeds support Humwe and Matanho).
WWU Great Puzzle Hunt
Registration is open for these 2 fun, free (very different) events:
- The 10th and Last WWU Great Puzzle Hunt – Saturday, April 18, 2026
- FREE, Fun, Food, Music, Prizes, Costumes encouraged
- One day outdoor puzzle race
- Register a team of up to 6 players
- In-person or virtual event, OPEN TO ALL
- The bonus WWU Treasure Hunt – April 19, 20, 2026 (Puzzle Hunt finishers gain early access to Treasure Hunt on April 18)
- FREE, Fun, Map and Compass Outdoor Adventure
- Open 2-3 days – find hidden treasure chest – play at your leisure
- Register a team of up to 6 players
- In-person event, OPEN TO ALL
Senior History Major Featured in Podcast
Listen to Grayson Dunn discuss his research on the history of Washington apples and the apple industry!
Resources for the End of the Quarter!
As you prepare for finals and draft papers, please remember that Western has numerous resources:
Advising
If you wish to meet with a history faculty advisor, please do so as soon as possible. Email faculty directly to set up an appointment or visit during their office hours.
Availability may be limited during finals week, and faculty do not advise during breaks. Spring 2026 office hours will be posted on the History Canvas page after Spring quarter has started.
History Writing Guides
A Writing Guide for your Research Paper - Dr. Johnston
A "Cheat" Sheet for Writing Term Papers - Dr. Friday
Guidelines and Advise for Writing Short Papers - Dr. Garfinkle
Steps for Writing a Good History Paper - University of California
Writing A Good History Paper - Hamilton College History Department
A Brief Guide to Writing the History Paper - Harvard College Writing Center
Purdue University Online Writing Lab
Citation Resources
Chicago Manual Style Guides
Zotero eLearning Module
Library FAQs on Citation
Library Resources
Western Libraries offers students a wide range of support through a variety of services, resources, and programs, which include research, reading, & writing assistance; math and science GUR tutoring; and access to library collections, both print and digital.
Other library resources:
- Library Tutorials
- Library Guides
- Course Reserves
- Computers, WIFI, and Printing
- Study Spaces
- Kitto Graduate Student Hub
Wellbeing Resources
The Counseling & Wellness Center provides crisis support, phone consultations, regular clinical services, weekly community check-ins, and wellness workshops.
The Basic Needs Hub strives to offer a centralized source of assistance, connecting students with the necessary support when they need it most. Whether it's food insecurity, housing concerns, or financial instability, all students are worthy of having their basic needs met.
For additional Western Resources, view the Viking Resource Hub!
Missed the History Department's Job/Internship Workshop?
Gather resources from Dr. Neem's PowerPoint Presentation on our Careers in History Page!
In Case You Missed It
Wellbeing Resources
As a reminder, the Counseling & Wellness Center provides crisis support, phone consultations, regular clinical services, weekly community check-ins, and wellness workshops.
Help w/Academics
The Tutoring Center in the Library offers drop-in tutoring and study skills coaching (includes help with notetaking, planning and focus, and time management).
Need help with a paper, homework, or projects? The Hacherl Research & Writing Studio in the Library is available in-person, chat, video call, or asynchronously through their draft submission service.
Other Resources:
Find more information about Campus Resources, Know Your Rights, Policies, Safety, and more on the BRC Resources page.
If you have any questions, please call (360) 650 3457 or email history@wwu.edu.
Spring 2026 Registration Starts 2/24. Consider These History Options!
(Registration starts February 24th! Find all our courses on browse classes.)
History of the Salish Sea
Dr. Madison Heslop
TR 10:00-11:50am
HIST 394, CRN 23374 / C/AM 394, CRN 23467
The Salish Sea sits at Western's doorstep, but what if things had turned out differently? In this course, read & discuss works that can help reorient your thinking to consider the Salish Sea as a site of history, not just a nice view.
Ancient Mediterranean Seafaring
Dr. Savannah Bishop
TR 12:00-1:50pm
HIST 390, CRN 23953
This course is an introduction to the archaeology of Mediterranean seafaring from prehistory through the Roman Empire, ending in Late Antiquity.
We will discuss the evidence for seafaring of ancient cultures in the Mediterranean Sea, including prehistoric hunter-gatherers & farmers, Bronze Age civilizations such as the Egyptians, Minoans, Cypriots, & Canaanites, & Iron Age societies including the Phoenicians & Carthaginians, Greeks, & peoples of the Roman Empire. We will examine the development of Mediterranean seafaring technology & long-distance trade networks, ancient port cities & coastal communities, naval warfare & piracy, as well as the political, economic, & cultural effects of the movement of individuals & populations along Mediterranean sailing routes.
Southern Africa
Dr. Sarah Zimmerman
TR 12:00-1:50pm
HIST 386, CRN 23717
This course examines the integration of southern Africa into the global economy & consciousness. We will contextualize Apartheid (1948-1994) in southern Africa's broader history via these themes: indigenous societies (Khoisan, Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele, etc.), settler colonization, colonial governance, nationalism(s), industrialization & proletarianization, migrant labor, racial segregation, collective resistance & militarized opposition, the global anti-Apartheid movement, democratic transition(s), HIV/AIDS pandemic, & Apartheid's legacies in contemporary South Africa.
Theory & History
Dr. Sarah Zimmerman
TR 2:00-3:50pm
HIST 402, CRN 23400
In this course, we will read important texts that have informed how historians frame the past. We will interrogate political & economic processes the undergird state & international relations, as well as appraise peoples’ lived experiences of the past through axes of identity & power.
We will read selections authored by Benedict Anderson, Judith Butler, Timothy Burke, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Partha Chatterjee, Frantz Fanon, Michel Foucault, Marisa Fuentes, Ranajit Guha, Antonio Gramsci, Saidiya Hartman, Karl Marx, Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí, Rahul Rao, Joan Scott, Ann Stoler, & Michel-Rolph Trouillot.
The Making of America’s Schools: From Revolution to Civil War with Dr. Johann Neem
Listen to Dr. Neem featured on The Report Card's podcast!
To commemorate America’s 250th anniversary, The Report Card will be releasing a few episodes on the history of American education—both to discuss how we arrived at the education system we have today and how our education system has shaped America.
On this episode, Nat Malkus and Johann Neem cover the period between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Nat and Johann discuss civics education in early America, why some educators cared so much about imagination and self-culture, Horace Mann, pushback against education reformers, the difficulties of schooling in the young republic, the spread of the common schools movement, and more.
The Rime of the Speechless Mariner: Islands and Islanders in Classical Japanese Poetry
March 12th at 4pm in MH 121
Japan is an archipelago; in literary studies, however, premodern Japan is rarely theorized as an island chain, much less positioned within the larger archipelagic networks of the Pacific rim. How might we reimagine premodern Japan’s multiscriptal poetries within today’s swelling tides of “archipelagic thought” and the “blue humanities”?
To open up that question, this talk traces the maritime and literary trajectories of a castaway from the Korean island of Ullŭng in the Sea of Japan whose 1004 shipwreck on Japanese shores occasioned meditations on "archipelagic alterity." As this speechless seafarer wades through sinographic and vernacular poetry—in compositions by Minamoto no Tamenori, Fujiwara no Kintō, and others—he becomes a figure for the confounding opacity and relationality that, for Édouard Glissant, exemplify "archipelagic epistemologies."
Jeffrey Niedermaier is the Mulberry Essence Assistant Professor of Japanese Literature in the Department of East Asian Studies and the Department of Comparative Literature at Brown University. A specialist of classical Japanese poetry, he is interested in how sinographic poetry (kanshi) and vernacular "song" (waka) furnished the classical Japanese court with an imagination of the wider world and its various "abroads."
Paid Internship Opportunity: WA Reparations
Duration: 50 research hours per internship contract (start date negotiable based on availability)
Location: Hybrid – balanced between your home and at historical archival repositories such as county buildings, libraries, etc. (percentages worked at each place may vary based on your research assignment
Pay Rate: $20 per hour plus expenses (gas and/or transportation are reimbursable)
Organization: Further Consulting Services, LLC (DBA Truclusion) is a minority-owned-business that supports nonprofit, for-profit, and government entities. In the past six years, our work has positively impacted organizations serving more than 5 million people across the United States. Our approaches are human-centered and solutions-focused.
Internship Description: Develop essential research skills while contributing meaningfully to local history by advancing academic research for The Charles Mitchell and George Washington Bush Study on Reparative Action – Washington State’s research project that will inform future reparations recommendations made to the legislature. This is a temporary, seasonal position under the direct supervision of a Research Lead. You may apply and be accepted for more than one contract period. Candidates of diverse identities and backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.
Responsibilities:
- Assist in various aspects of the historical and archival research process; including data collection, analysis, and literature reviews
- Be responsible for maintaining accurate records of historical research data, ensuring data integrity and confidentiality
- Conduct comprehensive literature reviews to identify relevant theories and methodologies, summarizing scholarly articles to support research
- Assist in planning and coordinating research activities, monitoring project timelines, and reporting progress to the principal investigator or project team
- Participate in drafting research papers, reports, and presentations for state legislature, academic journals, and/or conferences
Desired Experience:
- Relevant coursework in research methodology and/or experience in rigorous research
- Familiarity with collection of secondary historical data
- Strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and proficiency in data collection and analysis methods
- Creative thinking, including looking at issues from a different perspective, identifying connections, and developing new approaches to solving problems
- Good organizational and time management skills; action-oriented and able to complete projects within a timely manner
- Communicate effectively with team members via video conferencing apps, phone, email and/or in person
Requirements:
- Interest in compiling and analyzing data on historical injustices of U.S. chattel slavery and its enduring impacts on the direct descendants of victims, with a focus on the legacy within Washington State laws, policies, and economic structures.
- Educational pursuit is/was in a relevant field of study.
- Ability to maintain confidentiality regarding clients, projects, and data.
Benefits: This position will give you the opportunity to gain valuable experience that can enhance your academic and professional careers. It may also provide financial support through compensation. Internships are not eligible for employee benefits.
Equal Opportunity: All qualified persons will be considered for employment without regard to age, color, national origin, citizenship status, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.
Application Instructions: Please send your resume and cover letter sharing your research talents and experiences, what you hope to learn from this position, and your preferred start date between now and July 15, 2026 to: yienwf@truclusion.com. Applications will be considered until all open contracts are filled.
