Alumni News

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WSU Public History Alumni take a leading role in James M. Cox Exhibit

Tim Binkley, Dawne Dewey, Mary Kay Mabe, and Jeffrey Landis meet with Governor Strickland

On Thursday, May 1, 2008 a portion of the Center for the Evangelical United Brethren’s “James M. Cox: Ohio’s Progressive Governor” exhibit opened to the public in the Ohio Statehouse.  The exhibit consists of a large case of artifacts from the collections of the Ohio Historical Society and Wright State University.  There are also eight text panels, the official gubernatorial portrait from the Statehouse collection, two Ohio flags, and brochures about James Cox.  The exhibit is situated in a strategic place: the corridor between the Governor’s office and the Statehouse press office.  On the morning of May 1, Governor Ted Strickland met with the UTS project team (Archivist Tim Binkley, Researcher Mary Kay Mabe, and Exhibit Curator Jeffrey A. Landis) and representatives of project partners Ohio Humanities Council, Dayton Daily News, Ohio Historical Society, and Wright State University.  Governor Strickland toured the exhibit, noting and commenting on each artifact and display panel, and stating that, in his opinion, James Cox was Ohio’s greatest governor.  The Dayton Daily News underwrote the re-design, installation, and printing expenses for the Statehouse exhibit.

 

     

L to R: Dawne Dewey (Wright State University), James Strider

(Ohio Historical Society), Tim Binkley, Mary Kay Mabe, Karla

Garrett Harshaw (Dayton Daily News), Jeffrey Landis, Governor Ted

Strickland.

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Pete Unitt: I'm from the class of 92, and am enjoying a second career, thanks to Public History.  Having spent more than 35 years in two air forces, most of which was as a technician, then engineer, when I "grew up" I realized it's hard to separate the air force from its history, as evidenced by anyone who visits the Air Force Museum, and sought a public history degree at WSU.  Upon graduation, a paying job at the Museum eluded me, but the learning experiences, especially organizing a collection and the internship, were invaluable.  The degree, coupled with my military background, aided my retirement backup plan, which was to teach. With a short break due to unexpectcd illness, I have taught almost continuously for 12 years both world and US history, as well as math, engineering, and physics courses at a community college.  This interesting convergence of public history and science has also led to my first adventure into writing.  In addition to several articles for aviation publications, in 1997 I co-authored a biography of the Wright Brother's mechanic, Charlie Taylor, for which Tom Crouch wrote the foreword. Incidentally, the principle author, Howard Dufour, and I are indebted to Dawne Dewey for her unfailing assistance in so many aspects of that project.  In fact, she has been largely responsible for the university assuming responsibility for the continued publishing of the book.  Also, we all participated in the construction of the airplane that adorns your Library atrium, which also represents the inescapable link between history and science.

Natalie Fritz:  I graduated in June 2007.  I am currently working as a curatorial assistant for the Clark County Historical Society in Springfield, OH.  Some of my main duties include assisting researchers in the library and archives, handling outside research requests, processing collections, and maintaining and updating our website.  I also work on temporary exhibits, which includes conducting research, preparing artifacts for display, and mounting and striking the exhibit.  My husband and I live in Springfield and are expecting our first child in June 2009. 

Jayna Hanson:  I am a Spring 2008 graduate of the program.  I am working as an archivist in Washington, Dc for the Archives of American Art which is one of the research centers of the Smithsonian.  I work on one of our larger grants from the Terra Foundation for American Art.  AAA was given $3.6 million to fully digitize the most important collections.  The result is Collections Online which uses an EAD finding aid as the basis for the internet display.  The user clicks on the folder which leads to a document viewer through which one may view the entire contents of the folder.  As a processing archivist on the grant, I process the collection normally but I have to keep digitization in mind.  I then prepare the papers for scanning by choosing which documents don't necessarily need to be scanned, what should be scanned in color or at high resolution, etc.  Its challenging to remember this extra step but also rewarding to see your work displayed online. For more information about this grant, visit: http://www.aaa.si.edu/news/index.cfm/fuseaction/Content.ViewNewsItem/newsitem_id/4

To visit the Collections Online go to: http://www.aaa.si.edu/collectionsonline/

Mark Benbow:  Graduated from WSU with MA in 1983.  I finally finished my Ph.D. in American History in 1999 at Ohio University.  I am currently an adjunct instructor of History at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia.  It's sort of a second or third career from me.  From 1987-2002m I mostly worked with computers doing IT consulting and training, but in 2002 I decided to actually use my degree and cast myself into the world to find work as a historian.  From 2003-2006 I was the in-house historian at the Woodrow Wilson House in Washington, DC.  I started at Marymount in 2007 and I am still there, teaching American and Public History.  My first book. on Wilson and the Mexican Revolution, will be published by Kent State University Press later this year and I am working on articles and thinking up a subject for my second book. 

Roberta Carothers:  I graduated in November 2004 and am currently the Curator at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.  I have been with the NMUSAF for almost 6 years.  In my current position I accession and inventory artifacts, and provide artifacts for exhibits.  My two most recent exhibits were "Warrior Airmen" and "Badge of Honor: 100 Missions Up North."

Stacy Belcher Gould: I graduated in 1991 and am currently the University Archivist for the University of Hong Kong.  Before I came to China, I was the University Archivist at William and Mary for 9 years and before that the University Records Archivist at Michigan State University.  I've had a wonderful career and I owe the Wright State program so much for making it possible. 

Jennifer Gerth:  I graduated at the end of 1997.  I currently am an archivist for the Society of Mary.  We are the archives for the American Province of the Marianist religious order.  I am also the coordinator for the Miami Valley Archives Roundtable.  I married Dave Unger in 2007 and we live near downtown Dayton.

Andrea Spence Pudas: At WSU, I focused on Archives and Records Management within the Public History program.  I graduated from WSU in 2004 and joined Target Corporation in Minneapolis, MN as an Archivist on the Archives and Heritage Services team.  Since then I have expanded into the broader information management field.  I am currently a Senior Analysis on the Information Protection team.  This includes developing a classification scheme to represent the sensitivity of information (i.e. Confidential, Internal, Public) and managing our asset inventory of all company information to understand what type of information we have, where it is stored, and how it needs to be protected. I enjoy mentoring those entering the Public History profession and I'm happy to provide professional guidance to current students.  Contact me at Andrea.SpencePudas@target.com. 

Tiffany O'Sheal: I am currently working as an archivist for the Utah State Archives.  I work as the Administrator for the Utah Public Notice Website, give regular training to state and local governments, update internal databases, assist agencies with records management related issues, and am the interim manager for the Records Analyst Section.  I am also the state representative from Utah for the Council for State Archivists initiative on Disaster Planning (IPER).  I am also actively involved in the Air Force community and local communities by being a board member for the Hill Officers' Spouses' Club and a Kids' Church teacher for Alpine church.  My husband, Capt. Richard "Hank" O'Sheal and I just flew back to Ohio recently to participate in the Air Force Marathon.  As a side note, I just recently passed the Certified Archivist exam!

Catherine Wilson: I graduate from the Public History program in June 2008, after 5 years of "one class at a time."  I am the Executive Director of the Greene County Ohio Historical Society.  That's a glorified way of saying I get to do nearly everything.  There are always things to discover in our storage areas and files - I found a neat 1877 diary once, and some 1806 legal documents.  The most useful thing to learn from is actually working in a facility - classes are great, but real experience is priceless.  And that's saying something; I would rather do research than almost anything else in life!   

Tracie Evans: I graduated in 1999 and recently made a job transition from the Collections Manager of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco, TX to the Curator of Collections for Sauder Village in Archbold, OH.  My family and I are very excited to come back to the Midwest.  My focus will be the new Pioneer Settlement renovations which are scheduled to open in August 2009.  This new area will look at the settlement of the Great Black Swamp from 1834-1890.  On a personal note, my daughter graduated High School in May and is now attending Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne where she is studying bioanthropology. 

Lonna McKinley:  Completed MA in Public History in 1996.  Currently she is the Museum Manuscript Curator at the National Museum of the US Air Force.  She is responsible for Physical and Intellectual Control of NMUSAF Manuscript Collections.

Kim Richards: I graduated from the Public History program in November 2004.  I recently accepted the position of Director of Library and Archives at the Historical Society of Berks County in Reading, PA. 

Lorrie Monteiro: I graduated from the program in November 2007.  I am currently working at the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center in Omaha, NE as a Conservation Assistant. 

Lee Steiner: I graduated from the program in 2008.  I just accepted a job with the University of Idaho to be a temporary archivist with them for at least the next 15 months. 

Mike Arbagi: I am currently working as an archivist for the Winthrop Group, an archival consulting firm based in New York City and Boston.  I have been working since August 2005 as a consultant at the Kraft Foods Archives in Morton Grove, IL.  I passed my ACA Certification in 2007, and am serving on the MAC Membership Committee.

Nathan Troup: I am a Manuscript Specialist at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection – Columbia (Missouri), and my duties include developing and maintaining the repository’s website, databases and other electronic information, processing collections, and providing reference service to users.  The Wright State Public History Program has helped me learn, or further develop the skills necessary, to fulfill the broad range of tasks this position requires.

Amber (McPherson) Miranda: I graduated in 2006 and currently am the Assistant Archivist at Southeast Missouri State University's Special Collections and Archives, which has a collection of approximately 3000 linear feet and encompasses materials on the social, environmental, and economic history of Southeast Missouri Bootheel and the surrounding area, as well as the records of Southeast Missouri State University itself.  In addition to processing and reference duties, I supervise 5 undergraduate student assistants, a graduate assistant, and several volunteers, serve as the archives webmaster, and am co-managing a digitization project aimed at History Day students.

Lisa (Pasquinelli) Rickey: I graduated from the Public History program in June 2008.  In August 2008, I began working as Reference Librarian in the archives at the Dayton Metro Library (DML).  My duties include providing reference service at the Local History reference desk, processing collections, and working on our CONTENTdm projects.  I also register DML for the Ohiolink EAD repository project and have begun submitting finding aids to it.  I use the skills I learned at Wright State on a daily basis, and I recommend WSU.  Nevertheless, my advice to anyone in this field is to get as much practical experience as you can through internships and volunteering in addition to your coursework.  It may be tough to juggle everything, but once you land that first job, you will realize it was absolutely worth all that hard work. 

Tony Wright: For the past eight years, I have been the Archivist for the City of Kalamazoo, MI Department of Records Management, Research, and Archives.  I oversaw the development of our city archives, a collection of over twenty thousand documents, publications, maps, photographs, artifacts, and various forms of media pertaining to the history of Kalamazoo from 1834 to the present.  Since December 2007, I have been the an adjunct instructor of history at Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek, MI.  I currently reside in Kalamazoo are with my wife, Catherine, and my son, James Thomas.