Primary Source, Fall 2020

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The UI History Department The Primary Source

1 Primary Source Page 2 – The Department Page 3 – Spring 2021 Page 6 – Book Recommendations Page 5 – Movie and Television Recommendations Page 6 – Dr. Sowards on Sabbatical Page 7 – Semester in Review

Letter from Professor E. Kittell, interim chair: Welcome to the Fall 2020 issue of The Primary Source, the newsletter of the U of I’s Department of History. The pandemic continues, and our students continue to marshal their resourcefulness, resolution and creativity to bring this issue and the most recent departmental news to you. “Resilience Through Turmoil” celebrates the alternatives History faculty have used to deliver their courses to students. There are two types of courses: asynchronous and synchronous. Asynchronous courses, while they certainly have schedules of due dates and assignments, do not meet at a particular time, day of the week or location. Synchronous courses are assigned a time and days of the week. In-person classes are the most common synchronous course. But zoom has enabled the department to deliver courses virtually, where both students and faculty attend on zoom. The professor might lecture, or they might divide students into breakout rooms for discussions. Then there is a combination of the in-class class and the virtual course, where some students attend in person while the rest attend online. One of the most important sections of The Primary Source is thus the overview of Spring courses.

Interim Chair Dr. Ellen Kittel

Students have also provided useful reviews of books and of visual media, particularly movies and television shows. These reviews showcase the skill that our editors have in distilling the central theme and significance of book, movie or series in a few short cogent sentences. The issue wraps up with a piece by our incoming editor, Gabrielle Goodwin, which focusses on the two courses she took from our Ancient Historian, Professor Alyson Roy. This overview looks at the various (and very successful) ways Professor Roy engages student interest and attention. If you haven’t already, please check us out on Facebook and Linkedin. Again, thank you for all your support for our program. Please send us all your updates; we love hearing from you all. We’re deeply proud of all our students — Fall 2020 Chair: Dr. Ellen Kittell Editors: Emma Williams and Gabrielle Goodwin past, present and future!


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