History Department News and Research

Maxwell student Abigail Fitzpatrick, received the Wortman Scholarship from the History Department. Funding for the scholarship has been generously provided by Marlene Stein Wortman ’58 B.A. (Hist). Fitzpatrick will use the funding to conduct archival research in Los Angeles for her distinction thesis.

CHRONOS is celebrating its revival, a milestone anniversary and special recognition from the Syracuse Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement.

“We see that with Pope Francis when he talked about the environment and taking care of the planet. That's had a pretty profound influence, although he didn't tell people who to vote for or particular agenda items that nations ought to adopt,” says Margaret Susan Thompson, associate professor of history and political science.

The scholarships, now in their 36th year, were founded as a tribute to—and means of remembering—the students studying in London and Florence through Syracuse University who were killed in the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

“Now the Trump administration is claiming this is an attempt to pressure Iran but it's unclear to me, quite frankly, by bombing a port, killing paramedics and port workers, is somehow going to pressure Iran in negotiations,” says Osamah Khalil, professor of history. “If the United States wants to neotiate with Iran, it should negotiate with Iran. There's no reason to be bombing Yemen to do that.”

Robert Shetterly visited the Maxwell School recently to talk about his portrait series, a sampling of which is on display in the foyer. 

The One University Awards Ceremony, an annual event to honor members of the Syracuse University community who are making a difference through academics, scholarship, creative work and dedicated service, will be held Friday, April 11, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel.

Robert S. Terrell, assistant professor of history, has written A Nation Fermented: Beer, Bavaria, and the Making of Modern Germany (Oxford University Press, 2024). Terrell traces how brewing practices in Germany’s southern region of Bavaria became associated with the nation as a whole from the late 19th to the end of the 20th century.

“The U.S. has long used tariffs to collect revenue, aid manufacturing and exert power,” says Andrew Cohen, professor of history. “But I can’t think of a trade war initiated so randomly in a time of peace and prosperity.”

Abigail Greenfield and Sierra Kaplan were selected for the honor based on their academic achievements, research, creative work and other criteria.

The history professor was recognized with the annual award for her article on the transnational movement Christians for Socialism in 1960s and 1970s Chile.

“The consequences of pushing the Mexican economy into a forced and deep recession is that, if anything, it will actually make people have to resort to informal economic activity, which oftentimes is illicit,” says Gladys McCormick, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations.

Before 1934, Congress—not presidents—had power over tariff rates and negotiations, says Andrew Wender Cohen, professor of history. But Democrats had an enormous majority around the New Deal era and passed the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act of 1934, granting the president the right to negotiate tariffs in certain cases, Cohen says.

“Tariffs will hurt the Mexican economy, which will further weaken the Mexican system and the rule of law, and that’s going to make Mexico much more vulnerable to further incursions from organized crime,” says Gladys McCormick, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations.