History Program > Faculty Bios
Faculty Bios
- Dr. James M. Beeby
- Dr. Stephanie Bower
- Dr. Brigitte Le Normand
- Dr. Kelly Ryan
- Dr. Yu Shen – Coordinator of History
Dr. James M. Beeby, F.R.Hist.S.
Assistant Professor of History. Joined IU Southeast in 2005
Ph.D. Bowling Green State University, 1999
B.A. Hons. University of Wales, Lampeter, United Kingdom, 1991
Dr. Beeby's research areas are the US South, the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, Populism, and African American History. His book entitled Revolt of the Tar Heels: The North Carolina Populist Movement, 1890-1901 was published in 2008 by the University Press of Mississippi (see http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1105 for more details). Dr. Beeby is interested in investigating the intersection of grassroots politics, social history, and race and classes issues. His next project involves an analysis of the Great Flood of 1937 in the Kentuckiana Region; specifically how the flood impacted the poor, women, and African Americans, and how the city authorities of Louisville, New Albany and Jeffersonville attempted to rebuild the city and relocate its citizenry in the aftermath. Professor Beeby teaches both US I and US II, The Historian's Craft, and upper level courses on the Origins of Modern America 1865-1917, US History 1919-1945, Recent US History--1945-present, and African American History I and II. Other classes include First Year Seminar and Senior Seminar in History. Dr. Beeby is from England and has traveled to many countries in Europe. In addition, he studied the history of slavery and the slave trade and indigenous African cultures in Benin and Ghana. He has also led student trips to France and England.
Dr. Stephanie Bower
Professor of History. Joined IUS in 1969
Ph.D. University of Wisconsin, 1971
Dr. Bower's field is Latin America. She teaches courses, introductory and advanced, in both Latin American History and U.S. History. She is currently working on research projects in both areas in which she teaches. Each project reflects her research interest and expertise in social change and in the economic, political and social role of the family in history. The Argentine study is on provincials who established themselves in the federal capital in the late nineteenth century. The U.S. study is on the (primarily rural) origins of urban, industrial middle class (1850-1910). Her teaching interests extend beyond those of her research to include the history of slavery in all regions of the Americas. In addition she teaches both the sophomore and senior-level history seminars. Dr. Bower has lived in Mexico and Venezuela and spends as much time as possible in Argentina. She has traveled all over this South American country but has also enjoyed traveling across Kentucky to the fifty-six courthouses in which she did research for her U.S. project.
Dr. Brigitte Le Normand
Assistant Professor of History
Ph.D., UCLA, 2007
M.A., University of Toronto, 2002
Dr. Le Normand’s research focuses on the social and cultural transformations that took place in Yugoslavia after the Second World War. Her dissertation looked at how the postwar socialist regime tried to reshape the landscape of Yugoslavia’s capital city, Belgrade. Her latest project investigates the social and cultural repercussions of the massive wave of labor migration in postwar Yugoslavia. Her teaching interests include urban history, the history of consumption, and the history of state socialism in Europe. Dr. Le Normand is from Canada and has had the fortune to live in several European countries, including France, Hungary, Serbia, Germany and Italy.
Dr. Kelly Ryan
Assistant Professor of History. Joined IUS in Fall 2007
Ph.D. University of Maryland, College Park, 2006
M.A. Boston College, 1999
B.A. George Mason University, 1995
Dr. Ryan's research interests are gender and sexuality in the British North American colonies and early United States. Her dissertation studied in the ways that sexuality and gender and influenced the power structure in the transformation of the British North American colonies into the republic. Dr. Ryan is currently working on turning her dissertation into a book manuscript entitled "Regulating Passion: Sexuality and Citizenship in Massachusetts, 1740-1820." Dr. Ryan's teaches the U.S. history surveys and upper level courses in Colonial History, Revolutionary United States History, and other upper level courses in early American history. She also teaches specialized courses in the histories of sexuality, women's history, and the sophomore and senior history seminars.
Dr. Yu Shen – Coordinator of History
Professor of History. Joined IUS in 1996
Ph.D. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, December 1995
Dr. Shen's research interests focus on U.S.-China relations, especially during the WW II period; wartime China: its political, social and cultural transformations under the impact of the war; as well as war memories, memorials and commemorations in China, Japan and the United States. She is generally interested in topics that deal with cross-cultural interactions between the Chinese and the Americans. Professor Shen offers introductory courses on US history and Asian history. She also teaches First Year Seminar, Historian's Craft--a sophomore's seminar for History majors, and Senior Seminar for both History majors and for International Studies majors. Her upper-level offerings include courses on China and Japan in different time periods and on different topics. For example, Ancient China, Modern China, Contemporary China, Modern Japan, Chinese Society through Films, and Family and Gender in Asia. She also teaches U.S.-Asia Relations and U.S.-China Relations courses. Dr. Shen successfully led a China Study Tour in the summer of 2008. Currently, she is organizing the IU Southeast second China Study Tour for the summer of 2009. You can find more information about this tour at International Studies Overseas Program. Interested students and non-students are welcome to contact Dr. Shen by email yshen@ius.edu or by phone 812-941-2533. You are also welcome to stop by one of these information sessions on the China Study Tour: January 27 4-5:45pm CV 209, February 4 12:30-1:30 CV 103; February 12 4-5:45pm CV209; February 19 4-5:45pm CV209; and February 25 12:30-1:30pm CV103.
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