Department of History Archives - Page 2 of 7

Military history class builds professional and personal skills

March 24, 2026 by Lynn Lansdown

Many students might agree that taking a class at 8 a.m. had better be worth the effort to even get out of bed.

Apparently, Dr. Jeremy Neely’s Military History (HST 315) is.

Neely, associate professor and undergraduate director in the Department of History, has been teaching HST 315 for nearly 10 years. He assumed responsibility for the class upon the retirement of Emeritus Professor William Piston.

Now, he teaches the class every semester, almost always at that dreaded early morning timeslot. Even so, the course regularly fills to capacity. Each semester, roughly 30 students decide that this 8 a.m. class is worth the effort.

American history with a global context

Chronologically, HST 315’s topics start with America’s colonial period and usually ends in the early 21st century, according to Neely.

“The course covers as much as I can squeeze into 15 weeks,” he said. “We cover a lot of ground, which unfortunately means that we don’t linger on any particular period for very long. Some events are more consequential than others, of course, so we do spend a bit more time on watershed events like the American Revolution and the Civil War.”

Even with the focus on American military history, the class still places that history within a global framework. American leaders have always been aware of the country’s position on the world stage, even during periods of isolationism, Neely noted. As an example, the Philippine-American conflict (1899-1902) was the topic during one class session.

“One of the recent turns in historiography is an effort to frame the American past within a wider global context,” Neely explained. “I’ve tried to help students see that you can’t understand the history of the United States without a sense of where it fits within the world around it.”

History department welcomes guest lecturer Dr. Rory Huang

March 6, 2026 by Lynn Lansdown

Missouri State University’s Department of History recently welcomed Dr. Rory Huang as a guest lecturer Feb. 23, 2026.

Huang is an assistant professor of history at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California-Los Angeles in 2023.

In her lecture, “Between Solidarity and Empire: Tahara Haruji’s Transpacific Vision,” Huang discussed the transpacific influences informing Tahara Haruji’s political vision. Haruji was a Buraku activist associated with the Suiheisha movement, Japan’s first nationwide human rights movement.

Huang spoke to students in Dr. Linshan Jiang’s Modern East Asia (HST 381) course. Several faculty, staff and students from other classes also attended the lecture.

Jiang, an assistant professor specializing in East Asian history and culture, coordinated the event. She estimated 40-45 people attended.

Social movements, diaspora and Buraku activism

Woman standing outside next to observatory — Dr. Rory Huang. Photo courtesy of Rory Huang.

Huang’s work focuses on Buraku minority rights, social movements and diaspora in the Japanese Empire.

According to her, the Burakumin were a historically marginalized group in Japan. Their social exclusion persisted even after legal discrimination was abolished.

Huang’s research highlights the Burakumin experience by examining Haruji’s time in the United States during the 1920s. While in the U.S., Haruji witnessed African American freedom movements and racial exclusion. These encounters influenced Buraku critiques of inequality and Japan’s own imperial contradictions.

Research a labor of love

Initially, Huang became interested in the Buraku as a research project while still an undergraduate student.

“During my stay in Nagasaki as an exchange student, a close friend revealed to me his Buraku identity and spoke extensively about his family stories,” she said. “Over the past decade, I went back to Japan frequently to learn more about those communities and their activism.”

The project continues to be a labor of love for Huang. She has worked on the topic since 2015. It was also the focus of her doctoral dissertation research.

History department launches professional development series for history education students

December 18, 2025 by Lynn Lansdown

The Department of History launched the first in a series of professional development sessions for its history education students Oct. 2 in Strong Hall.

“Engaging with Educators” was a panel discussion featuring four of the history education program’s graduates. All four are now professional teachers working in the southwest Missouri region.

Clinical Instructor Heather Haynes and Associate Professor Dr. Michelle Morgan developed the series in collaboration with history education academic advisor Alyssa Debolt.

Along with several faculty members, more than 30 students attended the event, Morgan estimated. The number represents nearly one third of the program’s current history education majors.

This was the first event of the professional development series. According to Haynes, the history department hopes to schedule several more in the future.

RCASH departments host screening of “Black Box Diaries” documentary

December 10, 2025 by Lynn Lansdown

Academic departments within the Judith Enyeart Reynolds College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (RCASH) recently teamed together to co-host a screening of Shiori Itō’s 2024 documentary “Black Box Diaries.”

The screening, coordinated by Assistant Professor of East Asian History Dr. Linshan Jiang, was held Nov. 14 at the Moxie Cinema in Springfield, Missouri.

“Shiori Itō is such an iconic figure of the Japanese #MeToo movement and holds significance for me personally,” she said.

Missouri State’s Department of History; Department of Communication, Media, Journalism and Film; Department of Languages, Cultures and Religions; and Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Gerontology joined the Moxie Cinema to sponsor the event.

Jiang estimated 50-60 people attended the screening.

History alumna Hannah Fuller publishes research in Journal of Urban History

November 21, 2025 by Lynn Lansdown

Hannah Fuller, a graduate of Missouri State University’s Department of History, recently published an article in the Journal of Urban History. This is the first time Fuller’s research has appeared in an academic journal.

“It’s really exciting to see people take interest in my work,” Fuller said. “I’m happy to share it with the world.”

Fuller earned her history bachelor’s in 2021 and her history master’s in 2022. She is now a fourth-year doctoral candidate in public and American history at Loyola University-Chicago.

Exploring rural and urban spaces through queer identity

Fuller said her doctoral dissertation uses an environmental approach to examine how queer women perceived rural and urban Midwestern spaces in the late twentieth century.

“Though my research interests have evolved throughout my education, much of what I take interest in as a scholar comes from my own experience growing up queer in the Midwest,” she said.

Fuller’s research reflects an interest in ideas about space and identity, especially where people assume queerness can live freely. “[This] is typically blue states and big cities — and those they assumed it could not — usually conservative areas and rural spaces,” she said. “I wanted to explore how the past could complicate these assumptions about present day identities, alongside explaining why we’ve come to hold these understandings in the first place.”

It surprises many people when Fuller tells them she has fond memories of growing up in Missouri.

“Usually, people assume that if you’re living as a queer person in the Midwest, you must be longing to escape from it — to move to a big city like New York or San Francisco to be happy,” she said. “But this wasn’t ever really the case for me, nor did I find that to be true in my research.”

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