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Because our history program is small—we have only 10 to 20 active M.
A. students at any given time—professors are able to give students the
individual attention that they deserve. The average graduate seminar in history
has just 5 to 7 students. It is taught, moreover, by a professor who has won
an award for distinguished research or teaching. In part because they work
closely with faculty mentors, our graduate students have demonstrated remarkable
academic success. Many of them have taken advantage of CWU's rich opportunities
for study abroad. Some have gone on to attend elite Ph.D. programs. Others
have pursued careers as high school and community college teachers.
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Academic Success. Our graduate students have an outstanding record of academic success, as witnessed by their long list of awards and honors. A graduate student in history won CWU's annual award for best master's thesis in 1980, 1985, 1990, 1992, 1994, 2001, 2003, and 2005. A History graduate student also won the award for best graduate paper at the 1993, 1998, and 2003 Pacific Northwest regional conferences of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honors organization. In a separate, nationwide Phi Alpha Theta contest, another of our graduate students won the prestigious George P. Hammond Award for best graduate paper in 2004. In addition our graduate students have won, and continue to win, honors, accolades, and research awards from the CWU College of Arts and Humanities, the CWU Graduate Studies Department, and CWU's annual Symposium on University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). It should come as no surprise that our graduate students have enrolled in elite doctoral programs, with fellowships, at the universities of Oregon, Minnesota, Illinois, Kentucky, Bowling Green, Simon Fraser, and other institutions. Perhaps more importantly, our students take satisfaction in diverse and fascinating research theses topics, ranging from studies of midwifery in Early Modern Europe to American policy toward China in the 1970s.
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Graduate Faculty Accomplishments. CWU's graduate faculty members have a strong record of accomplishment. Since 2001, three history professors—Roxanne Easley, Tom Wellock, and Jim Cook—have won the CWU Alumni Association's Excellence in Teaching Award. Dr. Easley, who specializes in modern Russia, also won the Most Inspirational Faculty Member Award in 2005, given by the Center for Excellence in Leadership. Dr. Wellock, who teaches courses on the Cold War, the U.S. West, environmental history, and military history, has just completed his second book, a history of the conservation and environmental movements in the United States. Dr. Cook, who has developed CWU's Asia/Pacific Studies program, has won several major grants for research programs in China that involve collaboration between faculty members, graduate students, and undergraduates. Dan Herman, who teaches U.S. history prior to 1877, won the American Historical Association's Pacific Coast Branch Book Prize in 2002 and was chosen as CWU's Phi Kappa Phi Scholar of the Year in 2005. Mike Ervin, who co-directs CWU's Latin American Studies Program, received a Faculty Research Grant and a College of Arts and Humanities Scholarship/Creativity grant last year to conduct research in Mexico for a book manuscript. Steve Moore, who teaches Pacific Northwest History, Canadian History, and U.S. Foreign Policy, won the bi-annual award for best article from the American
Review of Canadian Studies in 2005, and is now at work on a book on Canadian-American relations during the Prohibition era. Jason Knirck, who teaches courses on modern Ireland, Continental Europe, and ancient Rome, has two books on the Irish Revolution in press. And Karen Blair, chair of the History Department, has published too many books and won too many awards to count, including the University's Distinguished Professor of Research Award in 1999 and the Phi Kappa Phi Scholar of the Year Award in 2001. For more information on our faculty see our Faculty and Staff page.
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| Ellensburg and Central Washington. Our graduate program offers students the advantages of living in a small-town within easy driving distance of Seattle and Spokane. Ellensburg, nestled between the high Cascades and the Wenatchee range in the middle of Washington, is a town of about 8000 permanent residents. The town is known for its small but vibrant arts community, its cafes, its annual jazz festival, its nationally famous rodeo, its scenery, and its recreational opportunities, including world-class skiing in the Cascades and world-class trout fishing on the Yakima River. More information can be found at the Ellensburg Chamber of Commerce. |
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