New Faculty Join the History Department

The History Department is pleased to welcome two new colleagues who have accepted tenure-track appointments to begin in August 2008.

Denise Lynn (2006 PhD, Binghamton University, State University of New York) has research interests in constructions of race and gender in radical class politics, the American Old Left, and the alleged "doldrums" in American women's history -- the period following the passage of the women's suffrage amendment in 1920 until the so-called second wave of feminism. Her research interests build on her dissertation, "Women on the March: Gender and Anti-Fascism in American Communism, 1935-1939,” and argues that some women's rights activists after 1920 operated within radical working-class organizations, including the Communist Party. Her current projects include an article that looks at the disappearance of communist spy Juliet Stuart Poyntz. This research focuses on the "narrative of communist degeneracy" -- anti-communist propaganda that painted communists as threats to the American way of live. Although never proven, anti-communists argued that Poyntz was murdered by the KGB after she became critical of the Soviet Union. Her disappearance became a central narrative in "converting" former communists into witnesses for the House Un-American Activities Committee. Dr. Lynn will be teaching a variety of courses in twentieth-century American history, including courses on women, civil rights, and historical methods.

Matthew Grow (2006 PhD, Notre Dame) comes to USI after holding a two-year position as the Edward Sorin Postdoctoral Scholar at Notre Dame. Dr. Grow’s specialization is on American religious history and reform movements, with special emphasis on the nineteenth century. His monograph, “Liberty to the Downtrodden”: Thomas L. Kane, Romantic Reformer, examines Kane’s career as a nineteenth-century champion of religious liberty, particularly for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons).  Dr. Grow is a broadly trained scholar who will teach a variety of courses in American history, including classes that examine Communal Societies in American history, religion in America, the history of reform movements in American society, and memory and war in American history. As part of his new appointment, Dr. Grow will also become the director of the Center for Communal Studies, a unique clearinghouse of information about historic and contemporary communal societies.  As director, Dr. Grow will oversee the operations of the Center, including its lecture series and the annual Center prize for the best undergraduate or graduate paper on any aspect of communal societies. He will also work closely with the staff of the Rice Library to expand and enhance the world-class collection of communal studies materials currently held in the Special Collections area.

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