History Offerings

Registering for Spring 2017 courses is just around the corner.  With that in mind, the history department is offering some interesting courses including two new special topics courses.  Chris Dalton is teaching the Way of the Warrior in China and Japan.  Steven Pitt is teaching Piracy in the Americas and the American Revolution.  The piracy course is a new offering and the American Revolution is always timely.  Phillip Payne is offering a course the senior reading seminar on the United States Presidency and, with Dennis Frank, Digital History and Archival Practices.  If you want to learn about how historians practice and adapt to the information revolution, this is the class.

Bonas THATCamp 2017 update

Bill Bechdel and Brian Mayer have been working on some cool ways to engage our THATCampers.  We're kicking off the day at 9 a.m. with Brian and Bill talking about escape rooms and their approaches, then we break into the unconference portion of the day.

We're setting up the unconference so that campers will have the option to participate in workshops on games, design, and curriculum or they can propose a session.

10 a.m. Brian and Bill will lead a hands-on workshop on designing games.  If you don't want to do that, propose a session campers.  It's an unconference!

11 a.m. open sessions - propose something when you register

Lunch - we're eating at the Hickey.  Lunch is on us.

1 a.m. Brian will have a hands-on session on aligning escape experiences to a curriculum.   Again, we will also have open sessions.

2:30 We can head down to XPhobia  to play!     You can register at http://bonas2017.thatcamp.org.  You don't have to stay for the entire event.

THATCamp Bonas

We’re hosting our second THATCamp on November 17 in Murphy Hall from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.  THATCamp in an “unconference” meaning that campers suggest topics for breakout sessions.  When you sign up at  http://bonas2017.thatcamp.org/ you will be asked to propose a topic that you are interested in learning more about.

  

• Bill Bechdel of XPhobia Entertainment and Brian Mayer, Gaming and Library Technology Specialist, will be holding workshops and speaking. 

Everyone is welcome and registration is free.  Snacks and lunch are included.  If you can’t make the whole event, that’s fine.  Come and go as your schedule allows.   Swag will be a limited number of tickets to play an XPhobia Escape room.  We’re wrapping up the event with the escape room at XPhobia.

Minecraft, History, and the Industrial Revolution

The Harvard Business Review Podcast has an interview with Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft that has two interesting points for SBU history.  He notes that people love Minecraft and students in the public history class are working in Minecraft.  When asked about coping with the current technological disruption, he correctly notes that we've seen this before.  We should study the history of the industrial revolution for insight into the digital revolution.

Public History does Design

Students enrolled in the Intro to Public History course are taking their first crack at designing a game.  Having looked at some design and organizational techniques and played some games to see those ideas in practice, they get to break into teams and create.  To see how history (theme) and games (design) could merge, they played Tesla v. Edison, The Grizzled, and Freedom: The Underground Railroad.  Thier first task is to create a simple card game.  Later, we'll add some history content from the archives.

History Club Meeting

The History Club will be having a general interest meeting this Wednesday September 13, at 7 PM in Plassmann 201. We will be discussing events for the year, meeting times for the rest of the semester, as well as our off-campus trip location. The History Club is open to both History majors and non-majors and we welcome the input of all involved. Come and see what the History Club is all about!

Introducing Steven Pitt

Our new faculty member joining us this fall.

Steven Pitt earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 2015. He specializes in teaching Maritime, Atlantic, and Early American History but has also taught courses in 20^th Century U.S., World, European, and Environmental History. He is the author of two peered-reviewed articles on seafaring and ship building in colonial Boston entitled, “Cotton Mather and Boston’s ‘Seafaring Tribe,’” New England Quarterly 85.2 (June 2012) and “Building and Outfitting Ships in Colonial Boston,” Early American Studies 13.4 (Fall 2015): 881–907. He is currently working on a book manuscript that details the harrowing experience of colonial American seafarers in the Atlantic logwood (dyewood) trade on the Yucatan Peninsula. In the harsh, alligator-infested lagoons, they confronted threats ranging from pirates, the Spanish Empire, and endemic warfare to shipwrecks, hurricanes, and mosquito-borne diseases. Outside of work, Steven enjoys spending time with his wife, Julia and their two children, Annabelle and Josiah, as well as nature photography/hiking, skiing, and more recently, woodworking.