Sunrise podcast series

Phillip Payne participated in the Sunrise podcast series with Richard Lee and Aaron Chimbel at the Jandoli School at St. Bonaventure University The podcasts feature my colleagues and SBU students talking about the elections and the state of politics. You can see all the podcast at https://lnkd.in/e3jd93uu and you can see the one I'm in at https://lnkd.in/eHUVUCES

SBU faculty and students launch podcast series on media and politics

 

 ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y., Nov. 3, 2025 — In a three-part podcast series, St. Bonaventure University faculty and students will discuss the changing dynamics of media and politics.

 The series, titled Sunrise, will begin Wednesday, Nov. 5, with a discussion focused on the results of the Nov. 4 general election. Additional episodes will follow Nov. 12 and 19. Each podcast will be posted on the Jandoli Institute website (jandoli.net) at 8 p.m. on the day it is recorded.

 “A new generation of political candidates is using TikTok, Instagram and other social media platforms to challenge traditional retail politicians,” said Dr. Richard Lee, a professor in the university’s Jandoli School of Communication. “We will use the podcasts to explore the implications of this development for media, for politics, and for democracy.”

 Lee, who covered politics as a reporter and later served as deputy communications director for two New Jersey governors, will host the podcasts.

 Panelists for the Nov. 5 podcast will be Aaron Chimbel, dean of the Jandoli School; Dr. Phillip Payne, chair of St. Bonaventure’s History Department; and Holden Turek, a Political Science student.

 The Nov. 12 session will include Dr. Ben Gross, associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology; Dr. Pauline Hoffmann, associate professor in the Jandoli School; and Olivia Francis-Gray, a Communications, Social Justice and Advocacy major in the Jandoli School.

 On Nov. 19, the panelists will be Don Gilliland, associate professor in the Jandoli School; Dr. Mary Rose Kubal, chair of the Department of Political Science; and Andrew McGurl, a Journalism major in the Jandoli School.

“Gen Z faces a daily barrage of entertainment, ads, news, rumors and conspiracies in their feeds. Yet a nationally representative News Literacy Project survey found just 18% can accurately tell those categories apart,” said Scott Sackett, a lecturer in the Jandoli School who is leading the production team. “This podcast series with SBU faculty and students is the kind of media-literacy programming democracy requires.”

 In addition to Sackett, the production team includes Jandoli School students Sydney Labayewski, Robin Stone, Brooke Johnpier, Danielle Clark, Ronald Noel and Wynton Dublin.

 

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure is a community committed to transforming the lives of its students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a commitment to academic excellence and lifelong civic engagement. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #8 for value and #19 overall by U.S. News and World Report (2025).

History Alum Jacqueline Gertner to speak on Careers for History Majors

 

Introduction to Public History

Video Explaining the Class

If you are interested in a career in museums or the culturals, we have a class for you. We just added History 206: Introduction to Public History to the fall schedule. The course is designed to integrate original archival research with iterative design thinking to give students a taste of what it is like to work in a museum, library, or similar setting. The class is taught by Phillip Payne, Dennis Frank (archivists), and Rachael Schultz (reference librarian and archivists).

What we do in the class:

We conduct research in the Civil War Collection. 

We then turn that research into a game. If you don't know how to build a game, don't worry we will walk you through it. This is about the design process. If you build a cool game - great - but if you don't that is okay. We want to you to try something new so we determine the grade by how well you embrace the process. We don't expect students to have a background in game design or iterative design, just a willingness to embrace the process. 

These are the same design techniques you would use to create exhibits and programs. Plus, if you are planning to go into education this is an excellent way to understand gamification. Finally, building a game is fun.

We then take that research into different types of history. In past classes this has included podcasts and explainer videos.

                             

Students in public history going over a history themed game with Dennis Frank.

Caliva Smart presents paper at Goddess at the Crossing Place

 

Over midterm break, Dr. Kathryn Caliva Smart, assistant professor of History, presented a paper at The Goddess at the Crossing Place, a conference hosted by the Department of Humanities at Marshall University. 

Caliva Smart joined a program of international scholars from across disciplines to discuss the role of goddesses in ancient and modern societies. In her paper, "Speaking as a Woman: Authority and Magic from Hecate to #WitchTok," she explored the question of how women use authoritative speech as part of magical practice, following this thread from the goddess Hecate in ancient Greek poetry to the on-screen witch Willow from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" to content creators on TikTok. 

Conference/program link: https://www.marshall.edu/humanities/150th/

More details on Civil War Bus Trip

 Have you ever wanted to visit Gettysburg?

 The History Department is sponsoring a field trip to three Civil War battlefields next month: Gettysburg, Antietam, and Harpers Ferry. The trip will depart on the afternoon of Friday, April 4 and return Sunday night, April 6. The cost is only $340 + meals.

 

This bus trip is associated with History 320: The Civil War and Reconstruction, taught by Drs. Phil Payne and Chris Mackowski, but is open to all members of the SBU community.

 

On Friday, we'll leave Bonas around noonish (the bus company will let us know). We'll stop for a fast-food dinner along the way, then we'll arrive in Harrisburg, PA, to sit in on a meeting of the Harrisburg Civil War Roundtable for a talk that evening about Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs. From there, we'll head to Gettysburg to check in.

 

Saturday, we'll spend the day touring the battlefield, arguably the most famous historical landscape in America. We’ll go through the museum at the Visitor Center, and later in the evening, we’ll have special after-hours, behind-the-scenes access for a program at the Gettysburg Cyclorama, a building-sized painting that depicts part of the battle and served as the IMAX movie of its day.

 

On Sunday, we'll head down to Harpers Ferry to explore. This is where John Brown conducted a raid that become one of the key events in the lead-up to the Civil War. It was also home to the Niagara Movement, an early precursor to the Civil Rights movement. Plus, the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers is so beautiful that Thomas Jefferson said, “This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic.”

 

We'll grab lunch, then head to Antietam for the afternoon where Licensed Battlefield Guide Kevin Pawlak will show us around. Antietam was the site of the single-bloodiest day in American history, with nearly 23,000 casualties. It was also the birthplace of photojournalism, where the first images were captured in the immediate wake of battle, stunning America.

 

We'll head back to campus around 5:00 p.m., which will be about a 5-hour drive, with a quick dinner on the way.

 

For more information, or for a link to sign up, email Dr. Phil Payne at ppayne@sbu.edu or Dr. Chris Mackowski at cmackows@sbu.edu. Registration deadline is Friday, March 21.

 

Special thanks to the Jandoli School of Communication and Emerging Civil War for helping make the trip possible!

 

Thinking about Black History Month

February is Black History Month, and it's a great time to think about the contributions and achievements of Black Americans. As we know, the history of our country is complicated by the legacy of slavery and racial divisions. Understanding the experiences of those who have lived and suffered through this pain, I believe, gives us a greater appreciation of how to respect others and work out the problems we've inherited.

One of our recently graduated History majors, Natalie Merrill, who is now a graduate student in Education, has written a short piece for the blog, Her Campus. It highlights some of the research she did on the troubled past and challenges of Buffalo's black community. It also reminds us that there are pressing issues to keep in mind and ways we can move forward. 

Here's the link: The City of Segregated Neighbors