Recent News

It is with deep sadness that the Department of History mourns the passing of Professor Emeritus George Behlmer, who died on January 4, 2024. George earned his B.A., with highest honors, in 1970 from the University of California, Santa Barbara. During his time as an undergraduate, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and also named a Regents’ Scholar and a President’s Undergraduate Research Fellow. What's more, George was also a… Read more
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Americans are moving within the country far less often than they once did. The peak of U.S. migration followed the end of World War II and lasted through the mid-1970s. But while overall migration is down, state-to-state moves are slowly on the rise again. James Gregory, professor and associate chair of history at the UW, is quoted.Featured on Business… Read more
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For several months between the fall of 2022 and the spring of 2023, two or three researchers at the UW headed to the Puget Sound Regional Archives in Bellevue and spent each Friday digging into Kitsap County deed books — specifically, around 300 bound volumes and 520 documents between 1921 and 1948. The purpose was to identify and map neighborhoods marked by racist deed provisions and restrictive covenants across the state before 1968. Sophia Dowling, project coordinator with the UW Racial… Read more
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Historically, presidential candidates and their teams have weighed a number of factors — including public opinion and political experience — before making a decision on the number two slot sometime around the party conventions. Margaret O'Mara, professor of history at the UW, is quoted.Featured on Miami Herald 
We recently had the chance to sit down with one of History's newest faculty, Mark Letteney to find out how he is settling in and to discuss his book, The Christianization of Knowledge in Late Antiquity. A historian of the ancient world and archaeologist, Letteney began at the UW this past fall. What have been your first impressions of the city? What… Read more
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Boeing is still a force locally, both in influence and sheer numbers. The company still receives very generous tax benefits from Washington, notes Margaret O'Mara, professor of history at the UW. Yet its presence in the region isn’t top of mind for many anymore.Featured on Seattle Met 
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In the first of the history department’s annual History Lecture Series, Professor Emeritus John Findlay presented “City and Citizens: Seattleites and Their Rights, 1850-2000,” reflecting on different groups that have immigrated to Seattle.… Read more
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You don’t interrupt your quiet life in a Seattle suburb and book a plane ticket to war-torn Sudan unless you have a really good reason. Not right now, in the middle of a brutal conflict between rival forces that’s killed more than 12,000 people and displaced 7 million. Christopher Tounsel, associate professor of history at the UW, is quoted.Featured… Read more
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According to a 2021 survey by Vox and Data for Progress, 37% of Americans think billionaires are terrible role models, and 49% said they have overall negative feelings towards them. And the heat is felt most prominently by the big-name tech billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Margaret O'Mara, professor of history at the UW, is quoted. Read more
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After internal chaos earlier this month, OpenAI replaced the women on its board with men. As it plans to add more seats, Timnit Gebru, Sasha Luccioni and other AI luminaries tell WIRED why they wouldn't join. Margaret O'Mara, professor of history at the UW, is quoted.Featured on Wired