Faculty Achievements - Department of History

Lecturer Profiles

Biographical sketches of many of the History Department's extensive lecturer staff have appeared in the Department's monthly Newsletter dating back to April 2005. Here are reproductions of those profiles edited by Professor Frank Garosi.

Richard Cooper: The "dean" of our Lecturer staff is Professor Richard Cooper, who has been teaching here since the Fall of 1983. Before he came to the West Coast, he was at the University of North Carolina's Wilmington campus where he was an associate professor of history.

His importance to the Department was underscored in the Spring 2005 semester when he was called upon on very short notice-less than a week-to step in and take over the class in Hist 118B (World War II: Causes, Conduct, Consequences). Fortunately, he had taught it in the past and was well-prepared.

Because he was kind enough to help out and accept an overload, he was responsible for five courses that semester-he also taught Hist 118A (World War I), Hist 197B (Research and Writing Seminar in World History), one section of Hist 51 (World Civilizations 1600-Present) and one of Hist 105 (Great Ages and Issues). His academic competence and versatility extends to the department of Humanities and Religious Studies, for whom he teaches several courses.

His BA is from Duke University and his PhD from the University of North Carolina. His dissertation was on how Britain paid for its wars against Revolutionary France basically, he says, by creating an income tax. (Apr 2005; rev. Mar 2006 FG)

Erika Quinn: Music has had an important role in Professor Erika Quinn's academic career. Her PhD dissertation at UC Davis was on the great pianist and composer Franz Liszt and his contribution to the creation of a German national culture during the mid-19th century when Germany emerged as a nation-state. Dr. Quinn currently is finishing a book manuscript on Liszt that widens the focus to include Liszt’s nationalist activities in Hungary.

Born in the state of Washington, Professor Quinn lived in various places while growing up, including Chicago and Boulder, CO. She got her BA from Cornell with a double major in modern European history and in German area studies. She had intended a career in international relations, but found 19th century cultural history much more fascinating, especially in the interplay of culture and nationalism and in the artistic and philosophical turmoil of the fin de siecle period (the end of the 19th century).

Dr. Quinn teaches a broad range of courses in World and European history, including 5, 51, 100, 117, and 118a. She especially enjoys His 133 and 119, both of which focus on the twentieth century. Seminars such as 100 and 192 also allow her more sustained contact with students.

As for her recent research, she says she is increasingly intrigued by the effect of the two World Wars on the conception of death in Western culture and on social practices of mourning and of the commemoration of death. (Sep 2005, rev. Jan 2009 EQ)

Newly-minted lawyer Professor Tom Clark, one of the Department's most experienced instructors, recounts in (mostly) his own words how he has come to be a PhD/lecturer/lawyer:

"I grew up in upstate New York and, at age 20, dropped out of college and started to hitch-hike to California with a friend. We only made it to Pittsburgh, PA, before we gave up and took a Greyhound Bus. So much for the romance of being 'on the road.' After bumming around in Santa Cruz for a few years, I went back to school. I went to San Francsico State for my BA and MA and then received my Ph.D. in US history from UCLA in 1994.

I taught for six years at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, from 1994-2000. Kearney is not exactly in the middle of nowhere, but, as the locals used to say: "You can see it from here." In 2000 my wife, Ann, and I moved back to California to be closer to her family and so that she could take a job with California Department of Managed Health Care. While continuing to teach part time at Sac State, I enrolled in McGeorge Law School in 2002.

Since law school, I have had a position as counsel to the Assembly Judiciary Committee. My areas of expertise at the Judiciary Committee allow me to cover several areas of law, but especially First Amendment issues, privacy rights, tort reform, and eminent domain and redevelopment law. I'm looking forward next year to combining my interests in law and history by offering a new course: Hist 180: American Legal History.

I have a son, Sam, who just turned seven. He loves sports -- and I've spent a good part of my weekends of late coaching his youth soccer and basketball teams, and assisting this season with his Little League baseball team."

Professor Clark has contributed to our Department by teaching Hist 168 (Images of America), Hist 197A (Research and Writing in US History), Hist 202 (American Historiography) and both halves of the US survey.

Philip DiMare: A Ph.D in Sports Nutrition or one in Religious Studies? This was the choice that Professor Philip DiMare pondered after his Master's degree. He had played competitive sports, even imagined he might play professional baseball, but he opted for the degree in religion and the rest-we say-is history. In addition to an MA in philosophy and a doctorate in Religious Studies from Syracuse (1992), he has a BA from Chico State (1977) in psychology and an MA from Chicago Theological Seminary (1983) in religion.

Professor DiMare says, despite the odd juxtaposition of degrees and career interests, he always pursued his areas of study within an historical framework and began increasingly to study American culture and the American religious experience while at Syracuse. At CSUS since 1997, he has taught for us and for Humanities, in the community college system, at Syracuse, the University of San Francisco and UC, Davis. This semester he is teaching both Hist 17A and 17B, Hist 170 (History of Religion in the US) and HRS 170 (Multicultural America).

His cultural interests in US history are expanding beyond religion to a consideration of the importance of film in American life and to the effects of the medium in general. He has a book project in mind that he has tentatively titled "American Myth-Making and Hollywood Genre Films." He has also given presentations on foreign films, including the Austrian classic "M" starring Peter Lorre and on noted foreign film-makers Leni Reifenstahl and Kon Ichikawa.

Although Sports Nutrition never materialized as a subject of study, he says he continues to "devote time each week to weight training and over the last ten years (has) become a serious cyclist." "When I have time to train for them," he says, "I participate in 'Centuries', 100 mile rides, which I enjoy very much." He and his wife are expecting their first child a week before the end of the semester. (Mar, 2006)

Ursula Heckner-Hagen: Born in Coblenz, Germany, during World War II, Professor Ursula Heckner-Hagen came to the US first in 1960 married to a serviceman in the Air Force. While he served a tour in Vietnam, she became politically involved as a supporter of the anti-war, civil rights and student movements in this country. In 1966-1969 the family, now with three children, was again stationed at an airbase in Germany.

During this time, she was increasingly fascinated by the growing women's movement in both countries. Inspired by this "new feminism" -and back in the US-she went to college to study women's history, finally earning a BA at UC, Davis by 1978. She recalls that the history of women was in its infancy in the 1970s, to the extent that she had to do extensive primary research as an undergraduate just to find answers to basic questions.

Her studies continued through graduate school at UCD and later at UC, Berkeley where she was awarded a PhD in 1994. Her doctoral dissertation, on gender and German nationalism among on white-collar women workers from 1889 to 1935, reflects her interest in the history of European and German women.

Since 1980 she has been married to Professor William W. Hagen of UCD, a nationally-known expert in German history and one of her former instructors. Being around professors so much, she admits, helped motivate her to embark on her own doctoral program.

What she misses most about Germany, which she has visited many times, is its varied and relatively inexpensive cultural life. What she admires most about the US is its diversity and its effort to create a multi-ethnic society. Europeans in general, and the Germans and French in particular, are currently struggling to adapt to a similar situation.

Professor Heckner-Hagen believes the successes of the feminist movement since the 1960s have had a visible impact on European women. She is not amazed that Germany now has its first female Chancellor, Angela Merkel, a physicist by profession. What is surprising to her is that Merkel is from the former communist East Germany and is a Thatcherite-that is, she has an agenda of transforming the German social welfare state based on the free-market principles of Margaret Thatcher, former British prime minister.

In the Fall of 2005, Professor Heckner-Hagen taught Hist 122B (Women in Western Civilization-Renaissance to the Present) and Hist 105 (Great Ages and Issues). In the past she has also taught Hist 122A, Hist 5, Hist 50 and Hist 51. Occasionally, she teaches UCD's courses in the history of European women in early and modern times. (Dec, 2005 rev. Mar 2006 FG)

Kathleen Higgins has taught Latin American history from coast to coast and in between. Before coming to California in 1999, she was a visiting professor at Dartmouth in New Hampshire (1986-89) and briefly at Maine (Orono), and then, for eight years an assistant professor at the University of Iowa.

"Living in California," she says, "has been a pleasure, especially with the mountains and coast so nearby. Teaching at CSUS has been very rewarding. I especially admire those undergraduates who have returned to school after a number of years away in order to finish their degrees. Often juggling schoolwork, families and jobs simultaneously, they are the ultimate multi-taskers, and among the most motivated students I have ever encountered."

In addition to both halves of the Latin American survey, Professor Higgins teaches History 51 (World Civilization, 1600-Present), History 100 (Introduction to Historical Skills) and History 193 (Seminar in Interpretations of European History).

Her BA is from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and she has an MA from Texas, and an MA and a PhD from Yale where she was a 1987 graduate. Her dissertation was published in 1999 by Penn State with the descriptive title of 'Licentious Liberty' in a Brazilian Gold-Mining Region: Slavery, Gender and Social Control in Eighteenth-Century Sabará, Minas Gerais.

She and her husband Daniel Goldstein live in Davis and have three children.

Al Holland: Professor Al Holland has the distinction of being the only faculty member in our Department who was born and raised in Sacramento and has both a BA (Economics and Social Science) and an MA (History) from CSUS. He continues to work on his doctoral dissertation (at the U. of New Mexico) which is entitled "The River-Running Industry in the Colorado Basin."

Why river-running? Before returning to college, he had several careers. One was as a ski-bum (his words) and boatman in Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia and, finally, Colorado working for the outfitters who take customers river-running. His experience as a boatman not only inspires his topic but it gives him access to many in the business who are invaluable in his research and who would otherwise be dismissive of scholars.

Professor Holland also has the distinction of being the only faculty member-probably anywhere-who occasionally wears his own hand-made wooden bow-tie. Which brings us to his third and continuing career as a carpenter, woodworker and cabinet-maker. He once made a living in this activity and he pursues it as a hobby now in addition to his increasingly heavy workload in the Department.

He has been a Lecturer since January of 1998. He began the Fall semester of 2005 teaching Hist 100 (Intro to Historical Skills), Hist 182 (American West) and two sections of Hist 17A (US to 1877). Shortly thereafter, he agreed to take on a third section of Hist 17A when another Lecturer suddenly became ill and had to withdraw. These five courses meant he was responsible for a total of 230 students and that gave him yet another distinction-no one in the Department taught more students that semester. (Nov, 2005, rev. Mar 2006 FG)

Scott Lupo: Professor Scott Lupo was raised in Monroe, LA, in the northeastern corner of the state, and received his BA from the University of Louisiana campus in his hometown. He still has family there and was relieved that they survived the two hurricanes that tore through that area.

Professor Lupo believes the subject of his PhD dissertation, Herbert W. Armstrong (1892-1986), is a man whose life reflects broad and important social trends in American society. Armstrong began as an advertising salesman in the 1920s, then, inspired by the famous Scopes monkey-trial of 1925, became a radio preacher and ultimately a popular and controversial TV evangelist. He is noted for his apocalyptic fundamentalism and for being the father of Garner Ted Armstrong, himself a successful, if notorious, televangelist for decades before his death in 2003.

In studying the Armstrongs, Professor Lupo combines his interests in mass media and advertising, in televangelism and in apocalyptic and millenarian thought-the latter two of increasingly widespread popularity in the US. He is also in the process of deepening his understanding of religion as he is completing an MA in theology from a local extension campus of Fuller Theological Seminary.

He has been with us part-time since earning his PhD from the University of Nevada-Reno in 2002. Last semester he had two sections of Hist 17B and one of Hist 168 (Images of America) which he prepared for the first time. Over the past three years, he has taught all of our upper division courses in his field: Hist 161 (American Vision), Hist 162 (Social History of the US), Hist 166 (Popular Culture). He also has taught Hist 192 (Interpreting American History) and both halves of the US survey.

Professor Lupo can be reached at mslupo@hotmail.com (Oct 2005, rev. Mar 2006 FG)

Loretta Reed: All through her career as a paralegal-for more than 20 years-Professor Loretta Reed says she was never interested in becoming a lawyer. She always wanted to be a college teacher. As soon as she could, she returned to academic life and has never left it. She worked her way through UC Davis, got her BA and then, in 2000, successfully completed her PhD in Greek and Roman history, with a minor field in Medieval studies.

Here at CSUS, she has not had a chance to teach a course in her specialty, which is ancient science and medicine. However, since 1999, she has taught Hist 50 (World Civilization to 1600), Hist 105 (Great Ages and Issues), Hist 110 (Ancient Near East), Hist 111 (Ancient Greece), Hist 112 (Rome), both sections of the Medieval sequence (Hist 113 and Hist 114), and Hist 122A (Women in Western Civilization-Prehistory through the Middle Ages).

Professor Reed was born and raised in Maxwell, about 70 miles north of Sacramento along I-5, which she characterizes as still a very small town-one restaurant, one bar and two churches. Between attending public schools, getting an AA degree from a private business college, and teaching courses at a community college, at UCD and at CSUS, she has experience in just about every aspect of the educational systems in the state. (May 2005; rev. Mar 2006 FG)

Lynda Leitner (H 17B, 167) has had an interesting and varied career as a scholar, student, traveler, college instructor and community activist.

She has a BA in history and journalism from CSU, Northridge, a Master’s in Communication Studies from CSUS and a Master’s in history from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, which she earned in 2003.

After her BA degree, she moved with her family to Northern California and immersed herself in community and school issues. She was elected to the Board of her elementary school district four times and became involved in the activities of both the California and the national school boards associations.

She also served as an officer for such organizations as the American Association of University Women and the League of Women Voters.

Prof. Leitner became a “freeway flyer” after her first MA and taught communication studies and history at several local community colleges. Then she landed a position that combined her love of travel with her academic experience. Teaching for the University of Maryland’s European Division took her to Germany, Turkey, Britain, Iceland, Uruguay, Argentina, the Benelux nations and the Azores!
She reads voraciously and collects books, mostly in history that she needs for her classes and that she lends to students when they need them. She describes her collection as “eclectic” but her holdings in women’s history and in African-American studies “are extensive” and in Asian and Pacific Island works “are expanding”.

“Most of my travel these days, “ she says, “are to Hawaii and back, where my surviving son, Scott, lives with his wife and my two beautiful grandchildren, Natalie (6) and Zachary Logan (3). I was surprised to find that I am a doting grandmother and love it.”

Jennifer Terry came to CSUS to get a BA (2002) and an MA (2004) in history and finally.

American children interned in a Japanese camp in Manila, 1942-1945, were the subject of her MA thesis, directed by professors Joseph Pitti and Jeffrey Dym. She published two articles this year on the children’s experiences: "Striving for Normalcy: Considering the Children," in the EX-POW Bulletin (July 2007) and "Captive Innocence: Refocusing the Study of Wartime Internment on the Children," in the Society for the History of Children and Youth Newsletter (Winter 2007).

Because of her expertise, she is listed as a World War II scholar (in regard to interned American civilians in the Philippines during WW II) on the website of the California Center for the Book in connection with Ken Burns’ PBS miniseries “The War” http://www.calbook.org/thewar/scholars.html.

She is currently working on an article that examines women's maternity experience while interned. She has also published a number of biographical encyclopedia entries, as well as articles on social issues such as juvenile delinquency, pachucos, and the 1968 Los Angeles High School Boycott. In the future, she intends to continue her research and to study for a PhD.

This semester she has three courses: H17A, the freshman seminar (H21) and US popular culture (H166). For the last three years she has also been teaching United States, Mexican, and women’s history at American River College.

Prof. Terry likes the popular culture class as it allows her to stretch her technical skills and incorporate various forms of media. She enjoys the freshman seminar because it is a unique opportunity to guide students through their first semester, to help them navigate the transition to college, and to influence them before they pick up bad academic habits. “But,” she says, “ I think I have a special affinity for this class because my oldest daughter is a freshman at Sonoma State this year.”

“On that personal note,” she continues, ”I grew up in Watsonville (best strawberries in the world!) and I still miss the beaches of Santa Cruz and the chile verde burritos from El Frijolito just off Main Street.

“I have been married to my best friend, Walter, for eighteen years and have three beautiful daughters—Carissa, at Sonoma State, Dominique and Jessica, both in the International Baccalaureate program at Churchill Middle School (yes, I am a proud mommy).

”We love to travel. We have been to Canada and Mexico, and I have lived in South Korea, but I think the most memorable trip was when we went to Japan for two weeks in 2005. Japan is a beautiful country with a remarkable public transportation network and the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima was quite moving.”

Prof. Terry can be reached at jterry@csus.edu .