I'm glad to be back in Kansas, my home state, after having spent several years teaching history at Goshen College in northern Indiana.

My husband Duane and I, as well as our children, Ben (age 11) and Elsa (age 8), have family roots in Kansas, especially around the central Kansas communities of Newton and Goessel, where I spent part of my childhood, attended Bethel College, and later began my career as a historical researcher, writer, and teacher.

In 1993 I completed a doctorate in history at the University of Kansas. My dissertation research focused on the history of American women in World War II who allied themselves with the cause of conscientious objection, often because they had grown up in families and communities influenced heavily by the historic peace churches - the Mennonites, Amish, Brethren, and Quakers. I drew on oral histories, memoirs, and personal interviews and contacts with several hundred of these women as the basis of my study, Women Against the Good War, which was published in 1997 by the University of North Carolina Press. Working on that project was a delightful part of my life through much of the 1990s, and I like to draw on that experience when teaching students about historical primary and secondary research, as well as the art of writing and revising.

More recently, I've begun to probe two related topics, the effect of wartime education on American homefront children during the 1940s, and the experiences of conscientious objectors (including women) in the Vietnam war era and beyond.  Both of these research projects reflect my intertwining interests in American social history, twentieth century political history, peace education, Mennonite history, and the experiences of women and children.

In my position at Washburn University I teach U.S. history and women's history, and also mentor students who are pursuing social studies education and planning for careers as teachers. I also serve as District 3 coordinator for National History  Day in Kansas, and I looki forward to our history department's hosting of the district competition for middle and high school history students each February, here in Topeka.

Several years ago our family bought a home on a wooded acreage south of Topeka, and we're gradually remodeling it. Work on the house and landscape is ongoing, but we pull away from it fairly often to pursue other family interests, including enjoying classical music and jazz, reading, traveling, and especially, camping. Our golden retriever, Strider, accompanies us on both short and longer excursions in our camper-trailer, most recently to Colorado.
 

Rachel & Elsa Goossen	Ben, Elsa and Rachel Goossen
	Goossen house

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