Garrett McAinsh, Ph.D. 1974, is retiring this year from teaching European history at Hendrix College, where he has been ever since leaving Emory in 1970.  He will continue to give lectures on the history of various European cities on cruise ships, which he has been doing since 2005.  Last summer, they visited St. Petersburg on one of their cruises.

Jonathan Mercantini, Ph.D. 2000, is an assistant professor at Kean University.  His monograph, Who Shall Rule at Home: the Evolution of South Carolina Political Culture, 1748-1776, was published in 2007 by the University of South Carolina Press.  His current work includes a history of the Stamp Act Crisis and an investigation of South Carolina’s role at the Constitutional Convention, and writing and editing projects with the John Kean papers at Liberty Hall. The university recently acquired the Liberty Hall Museum.  His research in the John Kean papers in the Museum is being featured in the marketing and promotional campaign for the university.

Anne Chirhart, Ph.D. 1997, is currently associate professor of history at Indiana State University.  Her publications include her first book, Torches of Light: Georgia Teachers and the Coming of the Modern South from University of Georgia Press in 2005.  UGA Press then requested that she co-edit a two-volume collection of essays on Georgia Women for their series, Southern Women: Their Lives and Times.  The first volume, which she co-edited with Betty Wood from Cambridge, called Georgia Women: Their Lives and Times, Volume I, was published by UGA Press in 2009 and includes 16 essays about 18 Georgia women from the colonial era to World War I.  Volume II, for which she has a contract, includes 18 essays about 18 Georgia women from World War I through the 1960s. Her co-editor, Kathleen Clark, and she plan to submit the collection to UGA Press in June 2011.  She is writing an essay on Lugenia Burns Hope for this volume in addition to the usual tasks of editing each essay, writing the Introduction, compiling the bibliography, and doing the index.  Each volume also includes essays from other Emory graduates including Stacey Horstmann Gatti, Kent Leslie, Steve Goodson, and Rosemary Magee (current V.P. for Emory University).  These volumes are intended for an academic and general audience.  Currently, she also is beginning to work on a biography of Mary McLeod Bethune, foremost African American leader of the first half of the twentieth century.  She has done lots of committee work for major historical associations including chairing several award committees.  She has also done her share of committee work at ISU and is currently the faculty advisor for the ISU NAACP chapter.

Dwain C. Pruitt, Ph.D. 2005, recently returned to the classroom as an Assistant Professor of History at Georgia Gwinnett College. Prior to his new appointment, Pruitt served in a variety of capacities in the Office of the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Morgan State University, most notably as Assistant Dean for Administration. His most recent publications are:  “Speaking to the Children in Their Own Language: Nelson Mandela: The Authorized Comic Book,” Sankofa: A Journal of African Children’s and Young Adult Literature (November 2010); “African Communities in France,” in Hakeem Ibikunle Tijani (ed.), The African Diaspora: Historical Analysis, Poetic Verses, and Pedagogy (2010), 115-145; “Adding Color to a Four-Color World: Recent Scholarship on Race and Ethnicity in the Comics,” History: Review of New Books (Winter 2009). Pruitt is simultaneously conducting two research tracks. First, deriving from his dissertation research, is a continuing inquiry into racial policing in eighteenth-century France by researching the implementation of the 1777 Police des Noirs in several French Atlantic ports. His academic year research is in global comics culture, allowing him to explore his lifelong passion for sequential art and graphic storytelling. On a related note, Pruitt recently accomplished two long-time, comics-related dreams: meeting Stan Lee and traveling to Japan.

Amanda Eurich, Ph.D. 1988, is on sabbatical this year working on a book, “A Life in Letters: The Correspondence of Jean de Coras.” It examines of the career of the sixteenth-century Toulousan judge famous in his time and ours for his memoirs of that prodigious French peasant, Martin Guerre.  In the summers she enjoys travelling with her husband, whose work as a wine distributor and educator often takes them to France, where she gets to spend time scoping out new vineyards as well as new material in the archives.

Steve Goodson, Ph.D. 1995, is the chair of the History Department at the University of West Georgia, in Carrollton, Georgia.  He is currently working with two co-authors on The Hank Williams Reader, which is under contract with Oxford University Press.

Kate McGrath, Ph.D. 2007, is in her fourth year as an assistant professor in the history department at Central Connecticut State University. In addition to teaching courses in medieval history, she also works extensively with the social studies secondary education program. This semester, she is the acting coordinator while the coordinator is on sabbatical.

Allison Belzer, Ph.D. 2002, writes that “After years of part-time teaching while my 2 daughters were little, I’m finally an official assistant professor of history at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, GA.  My courses run the gamut from the Renaissance/Reformation era to World Wars, but mostly I teach a lot of World Civilization core courses – who knew I’d need to learn so much about India and China?”  Her favorite perk is that she gets to lead Study Abroad trips to Siena, Italy.  This summer’s trip is for 4 weeks and her husband and children are coming, too.  Her girls call it their “second home,” and she likes getting to introduce students to Italy.  Her first book came out last October, Women and the Great War: Femininity under Fire in Italy.  She has enjoyed making her research relevant in her classes on the two World Wars.  And she writes that “I’m forever grateful to Professors Adamson and Amdur for their help in getting the dissertation done and redone enough times to make it a book!”

Rafael Ioris, Ph. D. 2009, is teaching at the University of Denver, and writes that it “has proven to be a great place to be.  On the family side, we have now a baby girl who is making life much better and busier.”

Michael Garemko, B.A./M.A. 2003,  writes: “Hello to all Emory History alumni. I think it was at about this time of year ten years ago that I decided to be a history major instead of a poli sci major. What a consequential choice that has turned out to be (in a good way)! I found an intellectual home in the history department, and in many ways, I have never left that home. I have changed career aspirations a few times (rock star, politico, lawyer), and in each, the historical perspective has helped me to see issues in greater depth.  For those of you seeking an update, here is what I have been up to. I graduated with a BA/MA in 2003. A fellow Emory history alum and I started a band in Dallas called the Hanna Barbarians. We had a few gigs and disbanded around the time the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004. Shortly after, I started a blog about politics and volunteered for a gubernatorial campaign, which eventually turned into a job on the finance team in Houston. Before the end of the campaign, I was moved to the press office in Austin. When the campaign ended, I took a job with Rep. Jim Dunnam at the Texas Capitol, who ended up starting a cover band for a Capitol party, the Bad Precedents. Because the BPs were slightly better than people expected us to be, people invited us to many more events. I also met my fiancée while working for Rep. Dunnam. Since that time, I worked for two other state reps, most recently for Rep. Marisa Marquez as Chief of Staff, before attending law school. I am currently a 2L at the University of Texas, where I am Submissions Editor of the Texas Journal on Civil Liberties & Civil Rights. Kelly and I are going to be married later this year.  I hope this message finds everybody in good spirits.”