“HARTFORD, CT, May 7, 2012 – With a grand flourish and a pair of oversized scissors, a group of administrators, faculty, students and alumni leaders cut a large ribbon in the Mather Dining Hall on May 3, marking the formal dedication of the Kassow Hillel Kosher Eatery at Trinity, a place where Jewish students as well as students of all faiths can dine on kosher food for the first time in the 189-year history of the College.​ The culinary addition to the Dining Hall was made possible by gifts totaling $125,000 from individuals and organizations, including the Zachs family, the Samuel Roskin Trust at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, and the law firm of Rogan Nassau LLC in Hartford. The eatery is named in honor of two distinguished members of the Trinity community: Lisa Pleskow Kassow, director of Trinity College Hillel, and Samuel D. Kassow ’66, Charles H. Northam Professor of History. Read the rest of article HERE.”

Congratulations to Juan Hernandez ’13 who was recently elected Vice President of Multicultural Affairs.  “The Student Government Association (SGA) was forced to call an emergency meeting on Wednesday, April 18 after the results of the elections for the SGA Executive Board were called into question. Dobromir Trifonov ’13’s election as next year’s SGA President was contested after he was accused of allegedly violating the SGA’s Constitution by tabling for votes in the library and sending a mass email to a portion of the student body. At the meeting on Wednesday, charges were brought against Trifonov for these violations, and also against runner-up Alexa Mehraban ’13 for allegedly covering opponents’ posters and also sending a mass email. After a heated discussion, it was decided that the results would remain unchanged, and Trifonov would retain his victory.” For more information on the SGA elections go HERE.

By Joseph Laws (Class of 2012)
“Just to recap: I am writing a Senior history thesis on the Connecticut colonization movement to Liberia before the Civil War. My advisers are Professor Gac (first reader) and Professor Markle (second reader). The thesis is a culmination of a year long project, and will end up being between 80 to 100 pages! Progress on the thesis has been going well. Although I have done A LOT of research, it still seems like there is A LOT left to do. I have about 60 pages in draft right now. And, I only have a handful of research trips left to make. This week I met with both my thesis advisers to update them on my progress and get their input on what I have written thus far. On Monday, Professor Gac and I went out to lunch at The Kitchen, a restaurant at Billings Forge. On Thursday, Professor Markle and I had breakfast in Mather. Thus far, I have written about race relations in antebellum Connecticut, the Colonization vs. Anti-slavery debate, and the experience of blacks from Connecticut while they are in Liberia. I still have some more sections to write about, including the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. AND then, a swarm of REWRITES! Rewriting is where I plan to make sure the thesis has a coherent thread, argument, and narrative structure. After rewrites, there will be a couple of rounds of editing. Then, poof! Thesis will be done.”

Read the entire blog entry HERE.

By: Jake Prosnit, Class of 2012

As a history major, I could not have chosen a better city to study abroad in. Berlin is a place rich with history, old and new. I could walk along the banks of the Spree and imagine Berlin, the 13th century fishing town. I could journey 30 minutes by train to Potsdam and stand in awe of Frederick the Great’s summer palaces, a symbol of the once dominant Prussian nobility. I could stroll through the old Jewish neighborhoods and try to envision what the people and the city looked liked before fascism and allied bombs destroyed it. I could touch the Berlin wall and still sense the divide between East and West. I saw it in the architecture; I saw it in the memorials; I saw it in the language; I saw it thru my host mom (an East German) and my host dad (a West German). I am fortunate to have experienced all these ancient and modern wonders. Most importantly, I return home having more questions than when I began.

By: Michael Mclean, Class of 2014
I still remember the first day of my freshmen year history class in High School. The question on the board was, “Why do we study history?” I could not think of an answer. Our teacher went on to list a number of cliches: history repeats itself, we are who we were, and so on. However, it was not long before he revealed the numerous connections between past events and contemporary problems. It was at this moment that I began to understand the importance of studying history.  A society that does not understand its history is like a human with no memory. You cannot know where you are or where you are going of you do not know where you have been. Furthermore, history is perhaps the most holistic subject. History is not limited to names and dates, but encompasses science, math, philosophy, analytical skills, sociology, and language. I believe that history must reassert its importance and inclusive nature if we are to succeed as a society. Only by fully investing in such an undertaking can we begin to address immense problems in a troubled and changing world. For these reasons, I chose history as my major.

By Seth Markle, Assistant Professor of History & International Studies

This past summer I had the pleasure of serving as an on-site faculty adviser for the Trinity student-led organization, the African Development Coalition (ADC) and its project in Tanzania (East Africa). In working closely with the Ministry of Health, NGOs and local leaders, ADC built a maternity ward in the under-resourced village of Lotima in Himo. “The idea of the organization is each year to pick one African country that we want to learn about,” said ADC co-founder and chairman Ibrahim Diallo. “We conduct extensive research on the country and come up with a project that we feel reflect the challenges that the country is facing. We then fund raise for the project and over the summer travel to the selected country to carry out the project.” In its first year, ADC renovated a crumbling primary school in a small village in Guinea, installed a clean drinking water pump in the school and built a house for teachers. Last year, ADC went to Sierra Leone and built three computer labs housing a total of 80 computers in the oldest university in West Africa, Fourah Bay College.The ADC project in Tanzania is designed to empower villagers whose quality of life is hampered by the lack of health-related resources.
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For the 2010-2011 academic year, Professor Greenberg was in China on a Fulbright scholarship (Fulbright U.S. Scholars program), teaching at Wahun University.

Here’s an excerpt from her blog, China Chronicles: Adventures of a Hapless American in the Middle Kingdom:

“The talks were always fun. The audiences varied from English (language) majors to students of international trade and finance, but they all had good enough English to (mostly) follow my talks. The smallest group I spoke to was about 30 students but mostly they packed the room, either excited or coerced to listen to an international professor. In some cases I was the first foreign professor they had met. The faculty were more mixed in their response – in English and History departments they turned out in force while, not unexpectedly, those in finance or technology only showed up if they had to introduce me. But everyone who came was incredibly polite and kind, and usually seemed quite enthusiastic. The topics (since you asked) really ranged widely, which made it more fun for me. I was often asked to give a lecture on “The History of Race Relations in the US” which is really African American history on one foot, but I also spoke on the history of rock ‘n’ roll (probably the most fun for me – and for them – since I played all the songs), race in the age of Obama, the Great Depression, the civil rights movement, and another favorite of mine, advertisements and American culture.”

For more insight and information on Prof. Greenberg’s experience in China, go HERE.