Game Night!

Want to unwind and relax before finals? Join the history club for game night!
 

AR/VR - the future of history?

This week Dr. Gabriel Swarts meet with students in History 419: Digital History and Archival practices to talk about the changing field of history and the role that augmented reality and virtual realy will play in it. Then the students got to break out some VR headsets to play.
 

Intro to Public History offered in the spring

 

This is a great class for students interested in careers in education or the culturals (i.e. museums and similar institutions). We focus on how to turn historical content into public history. Our major project is doing research in the St. Bonaventure Archives and turning it into an educational game. Specifically, we work on the Civil War special collections, the core of which is the Mark H. Dunkelman and Michael J. Winey 154th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

Who should take this class?  

-- students interested in the Civil War

-- students interested in designing educational games and exhibits for the public

-- students who enjoy doing hands-on projects 

Oral Histories being scheduled

 Students in history 419 are reaching out to folks who work at St. Bonaventure University as part of an oral history project they are doing about our collective pandemic experience. If you get an email asking, please consider taking a little time for this project. https://sites.google.com/view/sbu-pandemic

@BonaHistory

@StBonaventure

@BonaArchives

@TheirStoryFairT

Internship Opportunities

 We have a variety of internship opportunities if you want to work in the field of history. You can intern on campus, off campus and, sometimes, remotely. We've gotten a lot better at remote over the past 18 months. If you look elsewhere on this blog you can see a sample of the work done by students during past internships. The internships often involve research, content creation, public programming and other public history activities. If you are interested in a career in the culturals or in education these are good learning experiences. If interested, contact Phillip Payne at ppayne@sbu.edu

Oral History project on St. Bonaventure and Pandemic using TheirStory

 

In History 419: Digital History and Archival Practices students are doing an oral history project using TheirStory. TheirStory is an exciting company founded by Zack Ellis in Rochester, NY. TheirStory allows students to conduct interviews, create transcripts with tags, and present them on the Aviary Platform. 

Archiving the Pandemic Experience at St. Bonaventure University

 The St. Bonaventure University Archives is pleased to announce the launch of their new website St. Bonaventure during COVID-19. The project was created by archival interns Josie Barcley, Thomas Chaddock, Alex Jodush, Kurt Stitzel, and Jackson West.

The site offers users insight into what life has been like for students, faculty, and staff during the COVID-19 Pandemic. It provides an opportunity to learn about the numerous challenges present on and off campus, looking at changes in the classrooms, at various dining facilities, and in the residence halls.

The website includes the recollections of members of the Bona community relating their thoughts about and experiences during the pandemic. It also includes graphs, charts, and images as further evidence describing this unusual time.

The project is still active and we encourage members of the St. Bonaventure community to participate by filling out the survey available on the home page of the site. Your answers are completely voluntary and made anonymous once posted to the site. You can share with us as much or little information as possible.

If you would like to learn more about this project, or wish to share your pandemic experience, please contact us @pandemic2020[pa1] .

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@pandemic2020 [pa1]

Report on Employer View of Higher Education

 The AACU has released a new study on what employers value from higher education, including students who major in the liberal arts. You can read see it here.

Summer Internship Available at American Historical Association

 

The American Historical Association is seeking undergraduate students to work remotely as interns during the summer semester. AHA interns work on a variety of projects and gain insight into historical and nonprofit work. Students will be matched with an AHA staff member who will mentor and oversee their work. They will have an opportunity to attend departmental and general staff meetings and to learn about the day-to-day work of the world's largest professional association of historians. Accepted interns will need to receive either a stipend or course credit from their home institutions; we understand this is not possible in many cases, but we cannot accept an intern who receives neither stipend nor course credit. Hours are negotiable, though we are estimating approximately a 10-20 hour/week commitment during the summer, depending on the student's schedule.  In their cover letter, interested candidates should indicate which department and/or project they are most interested in working with and any relevant experiences. Academic & Professional Affairs:  An intern will assist with a project updating the Where Historians Work database. Experience with the Tableau software program is desirable.  An intern will assist with the analysis of survey data collected by the AHA's Survey of Doctoral Programs. Experience analyzing qualitative data is preferred. Marketing:  2-4 interns will work with the AHA marketing team to collect email addresses of history faculty and graduate students to contact and recruit for AHA membership. Because of the type of work involved, the ideal candidate for this internship is a history major or minor with an interest in nonprofit management, marketing, economics, or business. Interns should also have a basic familiarity with websites and HTML. Research & Publications:  An intern will assist with work analyzing past Perspectives on History articles and collecting and analyzing survey data.  Applications are due Monday, April 19. Interested candidates should upload a 1-page cover letter describing their interest in the internship, a CV or resume, and contact information for 2 references. Please upload these items as a single application file. How to apply: Log into your MY AHA account. If you don't have an account, you can create one for free. Click "Available Application Forms" in the AHA Awards, Grants, and Jobs section. Click on the "AHA Internship" link and upload your application. Please contact Alexandra Levy, AHA's web and social media coordinator, with any questions. Many thanks.

Jandoli Institute taps experts for project on speeches

Phillip Payne contributed to this fine effort by our colleagues at the Jandoli Institute.

 

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y., March 31, 2021 — The Jandoli Institute has launched a new project that identifies the qualities of good speeches.

 “We reached out to people who deliver speeches, people who write speeches, people who cover speeches and people who study speeches,” said Richard Lee, the institute’s executive director.

 The project, “Figures in Speech,” features written comments and videos from 11 individuals with expertise on speeches. All suggestions are posted on the institute website at jandoli.net.

 Among those who provided the institute with their ideas for good speeches were U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, Buffalo News political reporter Robert McCarthy, Robert H. Jackson Center president Kristan McMahon, presidential scholar Michael Riccards and former U.S. Rep. James Walsh.

 Starting next week, the institute will highlight one participant’s suggestions on a weekly basis.

 Lee said the institute developed the project to provide an alternative to the partisan responses that generally follow major speeches such as the State of the Union address.

 “Reactions to political speeches are predictable, so we decided it would be more valuable to tap experts and share their advice,” he said. “Our goal is to provide a resource for those who write and deliver speeches.”

 The Jandoli Institute serves as a forum for academic research, creative ideas and discussion on the intersection between media and democracy. The institute, accessible at jandoli.net, is part of the Jandoli School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University.

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 About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. In 2020, St. Bonaventure was named the #2 regional university value in New York and #3 in the North by U.S. News and World Report.

 

History 419: Digital History and Archival Practices

 Phillip Payne and Dennis Frank are offering History 419: Digital History and Archival Practices next fall. If you like getting your hands dirty doing original archival work on the history of St. Bonaventure University, creating any number of cool digital products this is the class for you. We've made podcasts, maps, web pages and much more in the past.

Push for more history and civics education

History is an excellent way to understand civics, not only the nuts and bolts of government but the difficulties and nuances of democracy and republican governments. We've got a lot of classes that cover this.  Here is a story from the Washington Post about an initiative to teach more civics and history, and to do a better job teaching them.