I enjoy teaching U.S. and women's history at Washburn, as well as favorite topics in twentieth-century history. One of these classes focuses on the impact of war on American society. Another course that I've developed recently is an honors/history class titled "Remembering World War II," in which students and I interview veterans and civilians about their experiences during the Second World War.

My husband Duane and I, as well as our teenage children, Ben and Elsa, 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. My own background as a Mennonite (with ancestors who immigrated to the Great Plains in the 1870s) led me to develop strong interests in social, family, and religious history, and I continue to work on scholarship focusing on Anabaptist and Mennonite history, both in Europe and in North America.

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. My work on this topic has also led me to collaborate with faculty colleagues at Washburn University in coordinating the interdisciplinary Peace Studies minor at Washburn University.

In my position at Washburn University, I mentor students who are pursuing social studies education and planning for careers as teachers. This aspect of my work puts me in touch with many history teachers throughout the Topeka area and beyond. Several students in the secondary education program for history/government have received the university-wide "Outstanding Student Teacher Award," and my colleagues and I are proud of their success! Another source of professional satisfaction is when students transition into teaching positions after graduation. In recent years, they've accepted teaching offers in the Topeka Unified School district, the Shawnee Heights district, Topeka-area Catholic schools, and in communities as far away as Seattle, Washington.

Occasionally, students at Washburn try out their professional interests through history-related internships, and I enjoy facilitating those opportunities. Most recently, we've begun offering student internships for academic credit at the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka, as well as at the Brown Foundation. Here students have been able to learn about public history careers, develop educational materials for schoolchildren, and plan special events with the famous Monroe School in Topeka as an historic backdrop.

I also serve as District 3 coordinator for National History  Day in Kansas. In 2007, our department celebrated our 25th anniversary in hosting this competition for northeast Kansas students in grades 6 through 12, who each year develop projects, papers, websites, documentaries, and performances around broad historical themes. Washburn students who are members of the history honor society Phi Alpha Theta serve as volunteers for this event, which typically draws about 300 middle school and high school-age participants to our campus. It's a terrific annual event. First- and second-place winners are invited to take their entries to the next level, for statewide competition, and from there, some students move on to the national History Day competition held in College Park, Maryland.

Nearly ten years ago our family bought a home on a wooded acreage south of Topeka, and we're gradually remodeling it in the Craftsman style. Work on the house and landscape is ongoing, but we pull away from it fairly often to pursue other family interests, including music, reading, traveling, and camping. Recent trips have taken us to Great Britain, Scotland, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, and Italy. Finally, I'm an animal lover--we've got a golden retriever and a more recent addition, a black-and-white cat who wandered up our hill. Whatever the season, my family and I enjoy the birds and other wildlife that we see around our yard and in nearby woods.
 

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