History

HISTORY - Annelise Heinz, the author of "Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture," says there is something satisfying about “the way that the tiles look and sound and feel”. (The same is true of a game like dominoes.) “In this very digital world”, she argues, the tactile nature of mahjong offers “analogue pleasures”.

HISTORY - Julie Weise’s research on temporary migrant work policies is one of many projects around the country to lose NEH funding, but she remains focused on her work. Her upcoming book, Guest Worker: Lives across Borders in an Age of Prosperity, 1919-1975, looks at how this type of international policy agreement evolved during the mid-20th century, with a focus on the experiences of temporary workers in more economically prosperous countries: Mexicans in the US, Malawians in South Africa and Spaniards in France.

HISTORY, SOCIOLOGY - For some CAS students, a class inside Oregon’s prisons is helping them find meaning and purpose after college. And it’s helping people who are incarcerated. Founded in 2007, the Prison Education Program (PEP) takes UO classes to two Oregon state men’s prisons: Oregon State Penitentiary and the Oregon State Correctional Institution, both in Salem.

HISTORY - A 17th-century court case discovered by a history PhD candidate led to a prestigious prize that had never before been awarded to a Pacific Northwest graduate student. Explore Michele Pflug’s award-winning research on the surprising drama around how early scientists named their specimens.

HISTORY - Ever wonder how research universities like UO evolved? It all comes down to one man, according to history professor Vera Keller. In her new book, she explores how Johann Daniel Major established the foundation of modern academia in the 17th century that is ethical and locally grounded.

Through fellowships, the Oregon Humanities Center at the University of Oregon works to promote innovative humanities research produced by faculty members at the UO. The fellowships are for tenure-track faculty and are awarded on an annual basis. The 2025-26 fellows include CAS faculty members in the Divisions of Humanities and Social Sciences.

HISTORY - Lauren Goss, BA ’11 (history), is the University of Oregon's new sports archivist. Funded largely by a gift from an anonymous family foundation with deep Oregon roots and a love for UO Libraries, Goss’s position is the only one on the West Coast and one of only a dozen in the US dedicated to preserving collegiate sports history.

HISTORY - The stories of more than 140 Mexican and Mexican American workers who lived and worked not far from the University of Oregon campus went untold for nearly a century until students in a CAS history class discovered them, countering the white settler-dominant history books of the area. Led by Julie Weise, a history associate professor who focuses on the history of migrations in the Americas, students researched and wrote these local histories as part of a course series called Hidden Histories, which aims to tell the stories of underrepresented communities in Lane County.