Meet the Instructor

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Hi everyone and welcome to History 18.1.  This should be a fun 12 weeks of US Women's History.   I have been teaching at SRJC since 1995 and have taught a lot of different classes from US History, to European History, to US Women's History, & a class called Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in American Culture.   I love teaching.  I love teaching all of these different classes and feel lucky that I am able to do so.  Before SRJC, I grew up in Southeastern Massachusetts, then I earned my BA in History from Colgate University (Go 'Gate!), a small Liberal Arts college in upstate NY, and then I moved to San Francisco and earned my MA in History from SF State (Go Gators!).  Soon after my arrival in San Francisco, I met my future husband Jim and we moved to Santa Rosa in 2002, where our son Jack was born in 2005.

I am a social historian, which means I tend to focus on aspects about race, ethnicity, class, and gender.    For example in this class, we will look at questions like:

 

1.  How did we develop attitudes about race and ethnicity that lead to race based slavery and the removal of millions of Native Americans?

 

2.  What attitudes do we have about poor people and rich people especially when it comes to access to education and political power?

 

3.  What do societies think is normal for what men should do and what women should do and why?

 

Studying History is great, not only because the stories are amazing (that is what history means, a story), but also because it sharpens the following skills:

1.  Organization.  Historians go through lots of material, from here we are able to understand cause and effect and also are able to see trends and inconsistencies.

 

2.  Analysis.   Historians explain why events are important and what impact they have on people's lives.

 

3.  Communication.  Historians write and talk a lot!!!   Being able to explain and/or prove something verbally and in writing clearly and specifically using evidence is what Historians do.   Regardless of what you do after college, these are great skills to have professionally and personally.