2010-12 News

Martin Abel Gonzalez Class Teaching Awards

The department is pleased to announce that Bryan Gibson, Chris Brennan and Daniel Strieff have been awarded the class teaching prizes by the School's Teaching and Learning Centre (TLC). Each year, TLC invites all departments to recognise the special contribution made to teaching by Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) and guest teachers. The awards are based on the result of student feedback surveys, feedback from the lecturers responsible for the courses in departments that employ GTAs and guest teachers and other informal feedback available locally.
 
From this year onward, the department's teaching prizes will commemorate Dr Martin Abel Gonzalez, who died in tragic circumstances in 2011. Martin taught extensively during his time at LSE and was awarded the teaching prize on three occasions. The naming of the prize is a fitting tribute to Martin and his commitment to teaching excellence.

History @ LSE - 92% Student Satisfaction in National Student Survey 2011

LSE History graduates have rated their degrees among the best in the country in the National Student Survey, the results of which were published on 17 August 2011. The overall satisfaction rating for History of 92% was also the joint highest recorded by LSE as an institution. The full results of the NSS for 2011 can be found through Unistats.

Alvandi Thesis - "Best Dissertation of the Year on a Topic of Iranian Studies"

Dr Roham Alvandi's thesis "Nixon, Kissinger and the Shah: US-Iran Relations and the Cold War, 1969-1976" has been awarded the "Best Dissertation of the Year on a Topic of Iranian Studies" by the Foundation for Iranian Studies for the academic year 2010-11. The Committee praised the dissertation for "shedding new light on the political and geostrategic context that provided the framework for close cooperation between the Shah and President Nixon, including the Shah's agency in the initiation and evolution of the Nixon Doctrine" and "identifying openings to further refinement of the study of Cold War politics".

IDEAS Co-Director Arne Westad Elected Fellow of the British Academy

Professor Arne Westad was one of only 38 academics to be elected to the British Academy at its Annual General Meeting on 21 July.

The British Academy is the UK's national academy for the promotion of the humanities and social sciences. It is an independent, self-governing body of more than 900 Fellows, including Marina Warner, Seamus Heaney, Eric Hobsbawm and Lord Bragg.

Professor Westad was recognised for his field-leading work in the history of the Cold War, and for his expertise in contemporary international affairs. As well as co-directing IDEAS, Professor Westad is an editor of the journal Cold War History, and general editor of the recently published three-volume Cambridge History of the Cold War. Professor Westad has published fourteen books on a wide variety of topics in international history. His new book China and the World: A Global History of Chinese Power 1750-2050 will be published in the autumn.

The Academy's President, Sir Adam Roberts, said, 'I congratulate all the distinguished Fellows who have been elected to the Academy this year, on achieving this peer group recognition of the outstanding contribution they've made to scholarship and research in the humanities or social sciences. Election is not only an honour, but also a beginning. I look forward to their active participation in the life and work of the Academy.'

Dr Angela Romano Joins the Department as a Marie Curie Research Fellow

Dr Angela Romano has been awarded a two year European grant to carry out a project entitled 'EC Ostpolitik' which will explore the European Community's (EC) relations with the Soviet bloc across two periods: the flourishing of détente in the first half of the 1970s, and the decade of increasing East-West tensions in the period 1975-1985. We're delighted to welcome her on board.

Professor Ute Daniel Appointed Gerda Henkel Visiting Professor for 2011-12

The German Historical Institute London (GHIL), the International History Department of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and the Gerda Henkel Foundation in Düsseldorf are pleased to announce that they have made their third appointment to the position of Gerda Henkel Visiting Professor in the field of Germany in Europe. For the first time, the timeframe for the research promoted in this position has been extended to cover the period from 1890 to 2000.
From 1 October 2011, Professor Daniel, professor of modern history at the Technical University in Brunswick, will spend a year researching at the GHIL and teaching at LSE. Professor Daniel's research will be on relations between the mass media and politics in the twentieth century, a topic which she will investigate comparatively in Germany, Britain, and the USA.

International History PhD Student Awarded Partnership Mobility Bursary

Zhong Zhong Chen, a first-year PhD candidate in the department supervised by Dr Kristina Spohr-Readman, has been awarded one of the two Partnership PhD Mobility Bursaries available for 2011-12. The bursary will enable him to visit PKU for 2-3 months in order to work with academics on his thesis project.

Class Teaching Prize Awarded to Chris Parkes

Chris Parkes has been awarded a recent departmental class teaching prize by the Teaching and Learning Centre (TLC). Each year, TLC invites all departments to recognise the special contribution made to teaching by Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) and guest teachers.
The awards are based on the result of student feedback surveys, feedback from the lecturers responsible for the courses in departments that employ GTAs and guest teachers and other informal feedback available locally. Congratulations to Chris.

Nominations for the 2011 AHA Election

Arne Westad, professor of international history and co-director of LSE IDEAS, has been nominated as one of two candidates for president of the American Historical Association. With more than 18,000 individual members, the AHA is the world’s largest organization of historians, and plays an important public role as a leader and public advocate for the field. Within the profession, the Association defines ethical and professional standards, and offers advice on good practices in the field. Externally, the Association works broadly on behalf of historical studies, the collection and preservation of historical documents and artifacts, and the dissemination of historical research. The election will be in the autumn.

TV Documentary Featuring Former International History PhD Student Thesis

The thesis of former International History PhD student, Stéphanie Hare, Duty, Death and the Republic: The Career of Maurice Papon from Vichy France to the Algerian War (completed in 2008, supervised by Dr Robert Boyce) was featured in a documentary shown on French national television (France 2) on April 14. Read more details on the documentary, Maurice Papon, Itinéraire d'un Homme d'Ordre.  A review and a short extract from it can be seen here.

Nabila Ramdani on Turmoil in the Arab World

Nabila Ramdani, a PhD candidate in International History and a freelance journalist, recently participated in an Intelligence Squared debate at the Royal Geographical Society in London on Tuesday 15 Feb 2011. The debate, entitled "Turmoil in the Arab world: Is the genie of democracy out of the bottle?".

She has also written on recent events in the Middle East in a piece for Open Democracy.

More information on Nabila's work can be found in her website. She was recently voted the inaugural European Muslim Woman of Influence (2010) and is currently completing a thesis on the Egyptian Revolution of 1919.

International History Student in Row Zambezi Expedition 2011

Dr Lewis has written a short essay in support of the Row Zambezi Expedition 2011. A charity event, designed to raise money for Water Aid, it is being organised by a second year History student, Oliver Cook. Dr Lewis was happy to be able to support this event following Livingstone's journey down the river, and she looks forward to seeing the team at the finishing line near Victoria Falls in the summer.

Abraham Lincoln: Saint or Sinner, Thursday 3 February, 9pm, BBC 4

The documentary film about Abraham Lincoln, on which Dr Alan Sked acted as historical adviser, will be broadcast on BBC4 on Thursday 3 February at 9pm. It will be available on their iPlayer service for a week thereafter

Wes Ullrich Awarded the George C. Marshall/Baruch Fellowship

Wes Ullrich has been awarded a George C. Marshall/Baruch Fellowship for 2011 for his PhD research into 'US foreign policy, destalinisation, and regime change in the Soviet Union, 1953-1956'. The fellowship will be used specifically towards research into the prevailing perceptions of the Soviet Union and communism at the outset of the Eisenhower Presidency in 1953 that set the stage for the Eisenhower Administrations interactions with the new Soviet leadership in the following years.
The George C. Marshall/Baruch Fellowships are given to encourage doctoral or postdoctoral research in 20th-century U.S. military or diplomatic history and related fields. The fellowships are administered by the George C. Marshall Foundation – a non- profit, non-governmental institution – and generated from a gift provided annually by the Baruch Family Foundation of Encino, California. The fellowships honour the career of George C. Marshall, 20th-century solider-statesman, and the Baruch family.

Dr Jan Lemnitzer Wins PhD Dissertation Prize

Dr Jan Lemnitzer has been awarded the British International History Group 2010 prize for the best PhD dissertation completed on international history. The title of Dr Lemnitzer's thesis is The 1856 Declaration of Paris and the Abolition of Privateering: an International History. He is currently revising the thesis for publication with Palgrave.

Professor Dominic Lieven Wins Fondation Napoléon Prize

Professor Dominic Lieven's recent book, Russia against Napoleon: The Battle for Europe, 1807 to 1814 has been awarded the Annual Prize of the Fondation Napoléon, worth €5000. The Fondation Napoléon is a registered charity committed to the encouragement of the study of and interest in the history of the First and Second Empires, and the preservation of Napoleonic heritage.

Publication of the Cambridge History of the Cold War

The three-volume Cambridge History of the Cold War has recently been published by Cambridge University Press. It is co-edited by Professor Odd Arne Westad of the Department of International History and one of the directors of IDEAS, LSE's renowned research centre on international affairs, strategy and diplomacy. More details on this work, including a list of contents and contributors, can be found here.

Class Teaching Prize Awarded to Vanni Pettina

Vanni Pettina has been awarded a recent departmental class teaching prize by the Teaching and Learning Centre (TLC). Each year, TLC invites all departments to recognise the special contribution made to teaching by Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) and guest teachers.
The awards are based on the result of student feedback surveys, feedback from the lecturers responsible for the courses in departments that employ GTAs and guest teachers and other informal feedback available locally. Congratulations to Vanni.

History at LSE Ranked No.1 in The Complete University Guide 2011

LSE's International History department has been ranked in first place in the History subject listings (select History from the drop-down menu) in The Complete University Guide (in association with The Independent newspaper) for 2011, beating Oxford in second place and Durham in third place. This excellent rating maintains the first place standard from last year's Guide.

LSE Academic Wins 2010 Harry S. Truman Book Award

Dr Steven Casey, an LSE lecturer in international history, has received the prestigious 2010 Harry S Truman Book Award for his work Selling the Korean War: Propaganda, Politics, and Public Opinion in the United States, 1950-1953 (Oxford University Press, 2008).

Selling the Korean War, which previously won the 2009 Neustadt Award in American Politics, was selected from a record field of thirty-three entries to emerge as the winner of the Harry S Truman book award. This award recognises the best book published within a two year period that addresses an aspect of the life of US President Harry S Truman or the history of the United States under his presidency. Dr Casey is the first non-American to win this award, whose previous recipients include Dean Acheson, McGeorge Bundy, Bruce Cumings and John Gaddis.

Commenting on the book, Dr. Jeffrey Gall, chair of the Harry S. Truman Book Award subcommittee, said:

“The committee believes that Dr. Casey’s work is a unique and important contribution to the historiography of the Korean War. He explores how, at all levels, the Truman administration worked to control and shape the public’s understanding of what was occurring on the Korean peninsula and to maintain both popular and Congressional support for a conflict unlike any the nation had ever seen.”
“U.S. setbacks in the war clearly helped lead to Truman’s plummeting approval ratings as he left office, yet Casey argues the administration succeeded on other levels. Support for the war never totally collapsed as it might have, and the administration helped the public come to better understand the long, perilous, and complex situation faced by the nation in the emerging Cold War.”

Selling the Korean War has just been published in paperback.

British Academy Grant for "Brazil and the Cold War" Project

Dr Tanya Harmer participated in the Latin America International Affairs Programme at LSE IDEAS and the Centre for Documentation and Research at the Fundaçao Getulio Vargas (CPDOC-FGV) after the award of a joint British Academy grant worth £20,000 to organise two international conferences in Rio de Janeiro and London. Scheduled for September 2010 and April 2011, these conferences brought together academics from across Latin America and the UK to focus on Brazil's role in Latin America during the Cold War and post-Cold War eras.