Tom Isern, NDSU

I'm posting here a note from Dr. Justitz about a course just listed for spring. This is a welcome addition to the list of offerings!

"Would you please share with your students that the following history class will be offered in spring 2008 and is now available for enrollment on Campus Connection.

"HIST 399, Special Topics: Women in European History, 1400-1800; 3 credits.

"The class meets on Thursdays from 3:00-5:15 p.m. in Family Life Center 415A.

"Class Number: 6965; Course ID: 041697.

"All are welcome, and there are no prerequisites.

"This course will explore what it meant to be female in early modern Europe (from the late Middle Ages through the French Revolution). It will examine women's options, how women saw themselves, and how they were perceived by others, and the origins of these perceptions.

"This class is also approved as an upper division elective for the Women's Studies Major and Minor."

Most people at NDSU know Ryan Parsons as a guy who catches passes from Steve Walker, who holds the gimmick-play portfolio for the Bison offense, and who seems to make about two-thirds of the tackles for our special teams. He's also a History major, and now ESPN Magazine has named Ryan to its All-District VII academic first team. I can mention his GPA without getting into FERPA trouble, inasmuch as ESPN already has made it public. It's 3.9. That's right, a varsity football athlete with a 3.9 GPA in a substantial liberal-arts major. Of course, if you know anything about the Bison playbook, then you know it takes smart people to run an offense like that!

The Matts, Boe & Spielman, joined me for a presentation to the Fargo Fine Arts Club on November 6. They presented their senior seminar research on historical monuments in Fargo--Boe on the Noble's Golden Marguerite monument at NDSU, Spielman on the Grand Army of the Republic monument in Island Park. They were a hit. In the Fargo ladies' study club circuit, these guys are rock stars.

An enrollment advisement, having to do with HIST 381 (Australia & New Zealand) this spring. If you particularly need this course (such as to fill a sequence or distribution requirement in the major), get enrolled in it right away. It's capped at 70 students (room capacity), and the current enrollment is 65, so it's going to fill up.

Once again it is necessary for me to apologize for the behavior of a colleague in my department. Because he was passed over for honors, David Danbom organized his friends in the department to write the provost and the president protesting my appointment as university distinguished professor. Receiving no response, he led them in taking their complaints into the public press. Now he has commenced pestering faculty in other departments, trying to persuade them to join him in public disgruntlement. To all those so badgered, I offer apologies. Please be understanding; David is going through a difficult time.

This has been a good year, personally and professionally. Surrounded by bright undergraduate students who fill my courses, working closely every day with a cadre of talented and dedicated graduate students, I give thanks every day for the opportunity to teach at North Dakota State University. I have grant money to advance my research and have received my fifth straight (six-figure) grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support the summer seminar on the Great Plains. To top it off, my university this year named me, first, Dale Hogoboom Presidential Professor, and then, University Distinguished Professor. The latter appointment came as a complete surprise. It is a double joy in that, of course, I welcome the honor and benefits of the distinguished professorship, but I also rejoice that my university has elevated itself to where it offers the opportunity of such an appointment. This is a good place.

The incoming stream of congratulations and best wishes following my appointment as university distinguished professor has been swift, broad, and touching. Thank you, everyone. I will not forget your kindnesses.

Sad to say, a group of four faculty members in my own department has attempted to discredit the distinguished professorship by writing sour-grapes letters to NDSU administrators and telling woeful stories to a local reporter. This is not good for the department or for the university. I hereby apologize, to the NDSU community and to the people of North Dakota, for the behavior of these four colleagues. I make no public comment on their clandestine and concerted statements, nor do I speculate as to their motives. As to their right to express their opinions, I support that without question or qualification.

As I said at the outset, this has been a good year, and it just keeps getting better--for me, for North Dakota, and for North Dakota State University. Let's all be thankful in our own ways.

Tom Isern, Professor of History
Director, Center for Heritage Renewal
Dale Hogoboom Presidential Professor
University Distinguished Professor