Dear Carroll College History Alumni and Supporters:
Welcome to the inaugural newsletter for the History Department at Carroll College!
As this is the inaugural newsletter, I am going to attempt to make up for some lost time. To be sure, items of note will be left out – a corrective to which I welcome your contributions for the next letter. Now, I invite you to sit back, grab a beverage, and read about what keeps those of us in the History Department from becoming relics of the past.
I came to Carroll College sixteen years ago, and have served, with the indulgence of my colleagues, as the Chair for almost ten years. Allow me to brag on these very people just a bit. For a small department, our breadth of classes is pretty impressive. From revolutions to slavery to food, we are privileged to explore our historical passions, and are animated by the thoughts and enthusiasm of our students.
As the majority of students need a history course to graduate, we are privileged to see those from History and from virtually every other department on campus. Rarely does a class go by that I do not leave more enlightened than when it began. From an engineering student I learned the measure of a cubit, students in anthrozoology inspired me to take a deep dive into the world of medieval mythical animals, and my History of Food students have taken me on many journeys into their own food cultures. My colleagues tell similar stories. On a side note, all three of us encourage lively in-class discussion and debate. In a national (even international) climate where many have abandoned all attempts at civil discourse, respect and civility are alive and thriving in history courses, and all across the Carroll College campus.
Please continue reading Dr. Fregulia's welcome here.
Current Events:
The Ukrainian and Gazan Wars
Every person, place, and event is affected by history, and a knowledge of history makes even the most confusing current events more understandable. The wars in Ukraine and Gaza have been world-affecting events; though they seem distant, both wars are having impacts on the standing of the United States in the world and may change the trajectory of geopolitics – including America’s – for decades to come. The human cost of these wars is high and rising.
Carroll’s History faculty have been active in educating the Carroll, Helena, and Montana communities on these difficult topics. We aim to help people understand historical context, dispel commonly held misconceptions, examine how valid the participants’ justifications are, and uncover the human and geopolitical impacts of the current situation.
Dr. Dean Pavlakis offered a course on Russian history to the present in 2022 and 2023, where students could actively examine events as they happened. The day the war in Ukraine began (February 24, 2022), Carroll’s History department partnered with our Political Science/International Relations faculty colleagues to provide a panel discussion about the history and politics behind a war that many people found hard to understand. This was all the more important given the baseless claims made by Putin about neo-Nazis in the Ukrainian government, the unity of the Ukrainian and Russian people (which should be for the Ukrainians to decide), and the claim that the war was forced on Russia by the West.
On October 21, 2022, Dr. Dean Pavlakis (History) and Dr. Jeremy Johnson (Political Science) led a workshop at the Montana PFE Educator Conference for Social Studies teachers on the war in Ukraine. Drs. Pavlakis, Johnson, Jeanette Fregulia (History), and DJ Cash (History) held a panel open to the Helena and Carroll communities on the War in Ukraine: One Year On, which also included testimony from Carroll’s three Ukrainian students, brought here under the college’s Global Student Refugee Initiative. Dr. Fregulia has plans for a similar event regarding the Israel/Palestine situation in the coming months.
Immersive Learning
Innovative teaching is a hallmark of Carroll’s History Department, but you might think that it is not possible to “experience” history by (re)-living it. As it happens, one of the more “dramatic” innovations in the department has been the use of role-playing simulations as a way to convey history to students and cement learning by putting students inside history.
For three weeks in Carroll’s French Revolutions course, visitors to the classroom might be surprised to find themselves immersed in the debates of the French Legislative Assembly beginning in the summer of 1791. After in-depth preparation for several weeks, learning about the events and ideas of the time, each student takes on the role of a historical figure in the French Revolution, such as Lafayette or even King Louis XVI. Each character has goals to achieve using speeches, newspaper articles, and resolutions to convince others to back particular goals for France and its new form of government. Professor Pavlakis moves to the back of the class, where he interjects with real events (such as foreign invasion) that the legislature has to tackle, and the Paris mob lurks outside, waiting for a call to action to change the course of history with a riot. In the three times Dr. Pavlakis has taught this course, the endings have been different each time. For example, King Louis has ended the game in prison once, in power once, and executed once, with corresponding differences in the constitution and laws of France. The students are invariably disappointed when the legislative session ends, because they have more they want to accomplish! All this, plus they have the side benefit of learning a version of Robert’s Rules for running a formal meeting.
This methodology for teaching history was developed by a group of historians in the Reacting to the Past consortium. Dr. Pavlakis has also used Reacting to the Past simulations of the 1991-1994 negotiations to develop a new constitution for post-apartheid South Africa and the UN debates in 1994 about whether and how to intervene in the genocide in Rwanda.
History Majors Present Their Research Findings
Every year, Carroll’s senior research seminar students present their research as part of the Student Research Festival in April. In 2023, some fascinating history research projects drew large audiences at the festival.
Brady Clark presented on Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision for reforming American society through designing new, self-sufficient communities. Greyson Gold discussed the evolution of thought among leading pro-slavery Protestant ministers after the end of the Civil War – turning the result of the Civil War into God’s judgement but continuing to hold racist attitudes. Duncan Kraft presented what he had uncovered about the evolution of skateboarding culture in Billings and its relationship to the wider community. Griffin Cox looked at the destruction of one of Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhoods in favor of expanding the University of Illinois, and the broken promises that accompanied that ‘urban renewal’ project. A fifth student, Reghan Worley, studied how the civil rights movement in the U.S. influenced policy toward South Africa in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Reghan presented this research at the Northwest History Honors Conference at Central Washington University.
The History department is proud of the original research done by these students to add a nugget to the store of historical knowledge. If you are in town, we invite you to join us for this year's Student Research Festival, April 26, 2024.
Alumni & Student Profiles
Madeline Westrom-Simons, Class of 2018
Madeline Westrom-Simons graduated with a B.A. in History and a minor in International Relations in 2018. During her junior year at Carroll, she began working with Preserve Montana to help protect the state’s endangered historic places. Over the next five years, Madeline fell deeper in love with Montana’s amazing rural towns and communities as she worked to preserve the heritage, land, and places of Big Sky Country.
In 2021, she moved to Florida where she was hired as an Architectural Historian. Since that time, she has helped to document buildings and structures across the state, including resources located within the Kennedy Space Center and in the nation’s oldest city, St. Augustine. Through her work she has also begun to specialize in identifying lost and forgotten historic cemeteries.
She is now married to a Carroll alumnus and has one precious cat.
"Being part of the Carroll history department was a privilege that I look back on with such gratitude. As students, we often joked that historians have to know a little bit of everything to accomplish anything. Over the course of four years, I learned the philosophy behind democracy, the math behind the Great Depression, the sociology behind food, and even the history behind history. In essence, I couldn’t have asked for a more well-rounded education. Upon graduating, I had all of the skills required to enter my field, but the emphasis on unbiased investigation, critical analysis, and professional integrity sets Carroll’s history program apart. I was also fortunate enough to spend two weeks in Cuba during my senior year in a faculty-led Study Abroad experience, which took my education out of the classroom and gave me a rare opportunity to study the historical context of a deeply complex socio-political relationship between nations.
"Academics aside, my professors were much more than faces at the head of the classroom. They built individual relationships with each of their students. They invited myself and my peers into their lives to provide personal mentorship and a uniquely tailored education. Some of my favorite conversations were held over meals they cooked or during game nights they planned. Maintaining relationships into adulthood is challenging, especially now that I am living across the country, but many of the people I remain close to were with me at Carroll. They are people I know, not just people I knew.
"Carroll gave me many things. It gave me a piece of beautiful paper with my name on it and all of the tools that I need to build a successful career. But perhaps more importantly, it gave me a better sense of who I am and who I hope to be in the future. My professors gave me wisdom (and phrases) that I continue to reflect on. My peers gave me a fellowship that has become the foundation of how I interact with others. So much of my self-confidence and identity is rooted in the support I received from my peers and professors while I was at Carroll.
"As students, we also joked that history is the only field of study where “spilling the tea” on royal family drama or spoiled espionage attempts can be considered a valid use of time. Thanks to the Carroll history department, I have earned a lifetime of spilling tea into Boston Harbor with some of the most amazing friends and mentors a history geek could ask for."
~ Madeline Westrom-Simons '18
Aaron Rau, Class of 2020
Aaron Rau graduated from Carroll College in 2020 with a B.A. in History. After graduation, Aaron volunteered at the Montana Historical Society (MTHS) while completing his graduate program with Arizona State University (ASU). In 2022, Aaron received his M.A. in History from ASU and secured a full-time position in the MTHS Library & Archives program. As an Archivist, Aaron looks forward to many years of public service preserving Montana’s history.
"While some institutions may provide you with a cursory overview of historical events, Carroll College’s History Department deepened my understanding of historical events through rigorous, evidence-based lectures and discussions. Simultaneously, the courses provided by my professors also cultivated and enriched my abilities as an orator and a writer. Through challenging exercises and research-intensive projects, the department strengthened my ability to communicate and forward evidence-based arguments.
"Alongside improving my skills and abilities as a historian, faculty ensured we learned in an environment where everyone had the opportunity to succeed. Throughout my time in Carroll’s History Department, I felt empowered to ask for assistance or clarification on any difficult project or subject. Although my courses were intense and challenging, I always felt that my professors provided me and my cohort with the necessary tools to succeed.
"I am grateful to Carroll College’s History Department Faculty – Dr. Jeanette Fregulia, Dr. Dean Pavlakis, and Dr. DJ Cash – for the tools to succeed both personally and professionally."
~ Aaron Rau '20
Thomas Carty, Class of 2025
"Deciding to become a history major one semester into my time at Carroll was perhaps the easiest decision I have ever made in college. At that time, I had only taken one course, but that was all I needed to know this major was for me. Now, as I finish up my junior fall semester, I am more passionate about history than ever before. This has been possible because of the incredible history professors that, through their own passion, have kindled it for me as well. While I have experienced an amazing time learning in the classroom, my time at Carroll has not been limited to it. Recently, I had the opportunity to take what I have learned in the classroom and apply it in the outside world.
"Summer of 2023 I had the incredible opportunity to undertake an internship at the historical society and museum in my hometown of Sandpoint, Idaho. I was able to assist and take part in many facets of museum work as I undertook the goal of learning the ins and outs of a small museum. For the museum, I wrote a couple articles related to the history of the local area; one of which was even published in a local magazine. I was able to assist in the growth of the collection by documenting and processing donated objects. These came from a range of fields I was not familiar with, making my research skills quite beneficial. I was also able to research and identify future improvements to the museum, including the implementation of an audio tour and a new outline for a physical tour."While research and writing skills I have gained from my time at Carroll certainly helped me along this internship, this was also an experience altogether different from the classroom experience. I was struck by how the history I worked with serves an altogether different purpose from the history in the classroom. It is history for everyday people with the goal of building community around a shared past. After this internship, I have been left inspired by the work I accomplished. Someday I hope to have a career in the museum field, whether that be at the Smithsonian or Sandpoint."
~ Thomas Carty '25
Faculty Scholarship Featuring
DJ Cash, Ph.D., Associate Professor, History
I am very pleased to take a brief pause from working on final revisions to share the following preview and synopsis of my forthcoming book, The Forgotten Debate: Political Opinion Journals, the Korean War, and the Roots of America’s Ideological Divisions, to be published by University Press of Kansas later this year.
Everyone should read it!
The Forgotten Debate: Political Opinion Journals, the Korean War, and the Roots of America’s Ideological Divisions
The Korean War was one of the most important, if underappreciated, moments in modern American history. As Korea was the first “hot war” of the Cold War era, American intervention in Korea raised profound questions about America’s new role as global superpower and “leader of the free world”—issues that continue to reverberate well into the 21st century. Though we often think about the 1950s as the period of “liberal consensus,” the reality is that liberals and conservatives had very different ideas about what America’s global role should be, both in Korea and in the rest of the world in the wake of the North Korean invasion of its southern neighbor and, perhaps more significantly, Communist Chinese intervention in the conflict. What were the most important of those ideological differences, and what significance do they hold for the development of modern liberalism and conservatism?
The Forgotten Debate makes a twofold argument. First, far from there having been a “liberal consensus,” my research demonstrates that liberals themselves were quite divided about the proper course of action in Korea and in the Cold War more generally. Left liberals supported containment policy and its manifestation as a limited war in Korea, whereas hawkish liberals favored a much more aggressive strategy, particularly vis-à-vis Communist China, that was largely indistinguishable from the position taken by avowed conservatives. In this way, the debate among liberals during the Korean War prefigured the split between dovish liberals and hawkish neoconservatives that took place in the 1970s and 1980s. The seeds of neoconservatism, the ideology that was largely responsible for taking the US into Iraq in 2003, were thus sown much earlier than is typically appreciated.
Please continue reading Dr. Cash's discussion of his forthcoming book.
Saints Giving Day
March 21–22, 2024, Noon to Noon
Saints Giving Day is a 24-hour, online fundraising campaign to support Carroll departments, clubs, teams, and projects. Carroll’s 2024 Saint’s Giving Day will be March 21-22, 2024, from noon to noon.
We are entering our third year of Saints Giving Day and have been amazed by the contributions made to our Carroll Causes the past two years. In just 24 hours, Saints of all kinds – alumni, students, faculty, staff, trustees, families and friends have come together in support of Carroll students and their departments, organizations, teams, and clubs.
This event is a great example of how every gift, no matter the size, makes an incredible difference to the students and programs at Carroll College. Become a part of #CCSaintsGivingDay!
We have had alumni interested in giving back to Carroll through endowments or other donation types, such as the Dr. Robert Swartout Endowed Scholarship. To learn more about supporting student scholarships, creating an endowed faculty professorship, or possibly another specific way you’d like to give back to Carroll College, please contact Anneliese Renck, Interim Vice President for Institutional Advancement, at arenck@carroll.edu, 406-447-5528.
As we close this first edition of the Carroll College History Department e-newsletter, we extend our heartfelt thanks to you, our alumni, students, and supporters. We look forward to sharing more with you in future editions. Thank you for being an integral part of our department, for your curiosity, and for your passion for history.
Sincerely,
The Carroll College History Faculty