Biography:

In Spring 2008 Professor Carp visited South Korea as Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer at Yonsei University in Seoul. He is the author of the book Family Matters: Secrecy and Disclosure in the History of Adoption (1998), Adoption Politics: Bastard Nation and Ballot Initiative 48 (2004), and editor of Adoption in America: Historical Perspectives (2002). An internationally recognized expert on legal issues, he has served as a consultant, deponent, and expert witness throughout North America in cases that concern "wrongful adoption," secrecy in adoption records, and the history of adoption disclosure laws. His current research centers on the life of Jean Paton, and her influence in shaping the U.S. and Canadian adoption reform movements. Information about his most recent publication can be found at: http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/carado.html. For additional information about Professor Carp's activities, click on his web link.

Education:

• Ph.D., U.S. History, University of California, Berkeley, 1981

Areas of Emphasis:

• American Business and Economic History, American Society and the Vietnam War, American Slavery, Colonial America, and the American Revolutionary Era

Biography:

Adam Cathcart's published research examines Chinese foreign relations and propaganda in the early Cold War, with an emphasis on Chinese attitudes toward the U.S. occupation of Japan. His ongoing research on Japanese bacteriological war crimes trials and the Korean War stems from the archives of the PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs and fieldwork in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Region in northeast China. In 2007, he received a Freeman Foundation ASIANetwork Fellowship for Student-Faculty Research in northeast china. His articles appear regularly in Asian Studies journals such as China Quarterly and Journal of Korean Studies. Having studied cello at St. Olaf College, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Aspen Music Festival, Adam Cathcart is an active performer of music by J.S. Bach, Robert Schumann, and contemporary Chinese composers.

Education:

• Ph.D., East Asian History, Ohio University, 2005

Biography:

Robert Ericksen has written about theologians within Nazi Germany and churches in relation to the Holocaust, with a forthcoming volume on Christian teachings about Jews and a research project dealing with the Nazi period at Gottingen University. He sits on the Board of Editors of Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte and on the Church Relations Committee of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. In October 2007, Professor Ericksen was named Kurt Mayer Professor of Holocaust Studies.

Education:

• Ph.D., University of London, 1980

Areas of Emphasis:

• Holocaust, Modern Germany, Modern Europe, and Western Civilization

Biography:

Gina Hames has traveled extensively in Bolivia, Mexico, Cuba, Trinidad, France, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, and Great Britain and is currently working on a book project entitled Alcohol in World History to be published by Routledge Press.

Education:

• Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University, 1996

Areas of Emphasis:

• Latin American History and Global History with particular research interests in Women's history and alochol studies

Biography:

Michael Halvorson's research is currently focused on Germany during the Late Reformation. In 2007, he was a research fellow at the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbuttel, Germany, where he returns in 2008 as a PLU Regent's Scholar. He is the co-editor of three books: Defining Community in Early Modern Europe (2008, Ashgate), A Lutheran Vocation: Philip A. Nordquist and the Study of History at Pacific Lutheran University (2005), and Lo-Ha-Ra-No (The Water Spring): Missionary Tales from Madagascar (2003). His current monograph project is Heinrich Heshusius and the Polemics of Early Lutheran Orthodoxy, 1556-1597 (Ashgate, St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History). For additional information about Michael Halvorson's classes, research, and activities, click on his Personal Web Site link.

Education:

• Ph.D., University of Washington, 2001

Areas of Emphasis:

• European Reformations, Italian Renaissance, Middle Ages, and Western Civilizations

Biography:

Beth Kraig's strongest interests center on the history of discrimination and oppression (and resistance to those forces) in the United States, and especially in the 20th century. Her research into the subject include examinations of anti-gay ballot measures in the 1970s, racism in the military in World War II, and feminist voices in popular literature in the post-WWII decades. She is actively involved in interdisciplinary programs and fields of study, including Women's Studies and Peace Studies, and has participated in research and projects that center on the importance of historical thinking in interdisciplinary contexts.

Education:

• Ph.D., University of Washington, 1987

Biography:

Rebekah M.K. Mergenthal defended her dissertation at the University of Chicago in 2008. Her teaching interests include 19th U.S. history, Westward Expansion, Frontiers and Borderlands, and Environmental History. Her research explores the accommodations and exclusions among the variety of racial and ethnic groups in the lower Missouri River valley during the first half of the 19th century. She has presented her research at a number of conferences including the Organization of American Historians, the Filson Institute, and the Western History Association. A former fellow at the Newberry Library, she has received research funding from that institution, the St. Louis Mercantile Library, and the University of Chicago. She has published several book reviews and encyclopedia entries and is revising her dissertation into a book-length manuscript and completing two articles.

Education:

• Ph.D., University of Chicago, 2008

Areas of Emphasis:

• Teaching Interests: 19th U.S. History, Westward Expansion, Frontiers and Borderlands, and Environmental History

Biography:

Brenda has worked over thirty years in academic settings. She came to PLU nine years ago from the Seattle University School of Law where she was the the office manager of the Law Clinic for over five years. She is also a Notary Public.