I was lucky enough to be invited to speak at the Newberry Library last week. It was part of their NEH-sponsored program “Out of Many” program, which brought to the Newberry a collection of really fantastic community college teachers from across the nation who were looking to incorporate religion into their American survey or their…
I only caught George Marsden’s interest once. As an undergraduate hoping to get accepted into Notre Dame’s graduate program in history, I met with Professor Marsden to discuss my research on Dwight Moody’s revivals. As I explained my love of studying history, I told him of how I put my hands directly on the microfilm…
by Nina McCune This summer has been a whirlwind – one rife with new ideas for various parts of the survey. Most recently, I’ve returned from Savannah, GA where I took part in a one-week National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks Workshop at the Georgia Historical Society. Throughout the week, we revisited themes of race…
Today’s entry comes from guest blogger Tona Hangen of Worcester State University. Professor Hangen is the author of Redeeming the Dial: Radio, Religion, and Popular Culture in America. She also blogs over at Juvenile Instructor – one of our favorite blogs. Tush.0 has offered her a lucrative contract to join the editorial team here, and…
What do you think of student evaluations? And, perhaps more importantly, what do you do with them. I’ve heard of a number of responses to student evaluations, including: ignoring them: they’re not a good measure of teaching effectiveness reading them for trends in what students like and dislike mocking the students for not “getting” what…
When I ran into Daniel Tosh’s marketing crew in New York City (none of us is sure which came first tosh.0 or tush.0; that chicken and egg debate will probably never be answered) and left with 400 “Tosh.5.29” wrist bands for my gigantic course in the fall, I started thinking seriously about how I want…
I’m revising my textbook once again and I’m struck every time I do it that the chapter on Reconstruction appears in both Volume 1, designed for the first half of the survey, and volume 2, designed for the second. This time, I’m revising the book at the same time I’m freshening up my syllabus for…
There’s a lot to celebrate these days: a certain co-editor of TUSH.0 received tenure some seniors are graduating I had lunch with Pamela Klassen yesterday, an amazing scholar of religion and friend of the blog Gregory P. Downs just published a new essay in the American Historical Review. Ten years from now, I’m guessing that…
Well, the semester is officially ending here in San Diego. We’ve had a run ride this academic year – reading insights from wonderful scholars like Matthew Bowman, Jennifer Graber, Thomas Kidd, Amy Murrell Taylor (who, by the way, is on her way to the great state and university of Kentucky), Anthony Kaye, Linford Fisher (who,…
I was reading Anthony Grafton’s review of Andrew Delbanco’s new book, College: What it Was, Is, and Should Be, and was thinking about a question that constantly lurks in the back of my mind as I teach: What do I need my students to leave this class with? For example, one morning I read in…
