Initiative Category: History

Every year, Trinity recognizes an exceptional educator whose work extends beyond the classroom to make a lasting impact on students. And Trinity is pleased to announce that Professor of History David Brodnax Sr., Ph.D., is Professor of the Year for 2021-22.

Brodnax said the award came as a surprise, not least because he teaches about difficult, often overlooked areas of history. “I’m incredibly grateful to students, former students, and colleagues who nominated me,” he said. “But it is bittersweet in some ways. Part of why I won this award is based on what I am doing to bring about justice. But that means there remains a struggle for justice. I would rather that there be no wrongs, than to win an award for righting wrongs.”

The many nominations cited Brodnax’s excellent academic work, his education and perspective with both a law degree and a doctorate, and his tireless service to the College. Nominators also offered numerous examples of his caring for others. And they repeatedly lauded his work with minority students and his willingness to address past and current injustices on campus and in the broader world.

According to several of the nominations:

— “His courses pushed me further academically than I had experienced, even compared to my semester at Oxford. He knew each of his students was capable of so much more than a hastily written essay from 4 a.m. the night before the deadline. And he knew each of his students was so much more than just a student. He poured into athletes, musicians, historians, and thespians, and he took it upon himself to show each student who walked through his door that they were so much more than what they believed. No one left his office or class unchanged.”

— “He cares about the history courses he teaches. He teaches them well. He doesn’t sugarcoat the truth of historical events but presents them in a way to enlighten the students and help us understand the complexities of our past and to learn from them. He teaches equality and justice — and anyone could learn from him.”

— “He’s known for the depth and quality of his research, the astuteness of his teaching, his years of service on Personal Committee. Surely these are all significant gifts he brings to the College, but behind them is a form of labor that never gets talked about in his self study, and that doesn’t figure as part of his tenure and promotion. And that is his silent labor with our extensive minority student population as the single most significant focal point that they have on campus. Without asking for it, without being assigned to it as an official College task, he serves as leader, encourager, role model, shaper, helper of the many students who turn to him on a daily basis for this kind of support. This work is boundless and Christlike. He so very, very deeply deserves the recognition of this award.”

Among his work and research, Brodnax has recently published “‘Meet force with force and law with law’: Black Self-Defense in 19^th-Century Iowa,” a chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Midwestern History, which is scheduled to be published by Oxford University Press later this year; and “‘The brightest star under the blue dome of heaven’: Civil Rights and Midwestern Black Identity in Iowa, 1839-1900,” an article in Middle West Review last fall. He is also scheduled to take part in a roundtable panel at the Midwestern History Conference in May and has served on the executive board for the Mid-America American Studies Association for several years.

“The Professor of the Year is an award that recognizes faculty who have excellence in teaching or scholarship, but especially those whose work demonstrates a strong connection between their teaching and their scholarship and in work that advances the mission of the College,” said Aaron Kuecker, Trinity’s provost, in recognizing Brodnax at commencement on May 8. “On behalf of Trinity Christian College, congratulations and thank you for the service you render in this community.”

Recent Professor of the Year Award recipients:

2016: John Sebestyen (Communication Arts)

2017: Michael Vander Weele (English)

2018: Clay Carlson (Biology)

2019: Kara Wolff (Counseling and Psychology)

2020: Yudha Thianto (Theology and Christian Ministry)

The Black History Month Lecture is an annual tradition at Trinity, and on Feb. 15, the History Department hosted the lecture as a virtual roundtable discussion.

According to Professor of History David Brodnax, Sr., Ph.D., new problems present new opportunities. “In lieu of our normal practice of having one person come to campus to speak, we have the chance to bring in five phenomenal people joining us via Zoom to have a roundtable discussion,” he said.

The presenters focused on different aspects of the “Current and Future State of Black History Scholarship.”

Brodnax moderated the event, which featured:

— Mr. Dwain Coleman, University of Iowa

— Dr. Tobin Miller Shearer, University of Montana

— Dr. Emmett G. Price III, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

— Dr. Silvana Siddali, Saint Louis University

— Dr. Dana Weiner, Wilfrid Laurier University

The lecture is available on Trinity’s YouTube Channel.

Continuing a years – long tradition of excellence and recognition, Trinity Christian College has been named among the “Best Colleges” by U.S. News & World Report for 2021.  Trinity was ranked 21st among  Midwestern regional colleges in this year’s survey. Trinity was also named a “Best Value” college and a “Top Performer on Social Mobility.”

“At Trinity Christian College, our community is focused on providing a rigorous, life-changing education, and our graduates go on to find success in their careers and vocations,” said Trinity’s President Kurt D. Dykstra. “We are pleased that U.S. News & World Report has once again recognized how Trinity prepares our students to change the world.”

Said Provost Aaron J. Kuecker, Ph.D., “We are proud of the excellent academic programs that are supported by Trinity’s world class faculty. Rankings like these are a recognition of the top quality, whole-person vision of education that we pursue at Trinity.”

Trinity is frequently recognized for its high academic standards. The College’s honors include being named a “College of Distinction,” a “Best BSN Program in Illinois,” and a “National Strength and Conditioning Association Education Recognition Program,” among others. Trinity, which is a university partner with 1871, the world’s top university-affiliated startup incubator located in downtown Chicago, also has a world-class business department that recently led the State of Illinois with both the highest pass rates and average scores on the most recent certified public accounting (CPA) exam. The Trinity Athletics Department was also recently listed among the Champions of Character Five-Star institutions by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

The U.S. News rankings are based on qualitative and quantitative information in several categories, including peer assessments, graduation rates, social mobility, and faculty information. The “Best Value” ranking is determined by a school’s academic quality and the net cost of attendance for a student who received the average level of need-based financial aid. The “Social Mobility” ranking is based on how successful a college is at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded with Pell Grants.

For Professor of History David Brodnax, Sr., Ph.D., a recent publication took him into the world of hip hop. Brodnax has published an entry about the life of Antwan “Big Boi” Patton, the Grammy-award winning artist, songwriter, and record producer, and half of the groundbreaking duo OutKast in “The African American National Biography,” (New York; Oxford University Press, 2019).

“I wanted to do it as a labor of love,” said Brodnax, a long-time fan of OutKast, which recorded together from 1993-2006. Since OutKast’s last album, “Idlewild,” in 2006, Big Boi and his bandmate Andre “Andre 3000” Benjamin have recorded solo music and occasionally performed together.

For Brodnax, OutKast’s music was part of the soundtrack for a formative part of his life, as he was attending college at Illinois Wesleyan University; earning a J.D. at University of Iowa College of Law; getting an M.A. and Ph.D. at Northwestern University; and beginning his teaching career at Trinity.

So, when he saw a call for submissions for the publication, he submitted a proposal for an entry on Big Boi. Once it was accepted, his research included listening to all of Big Boi’s music in chronological order. “That included all of his solo and OutKast albums, which I already owned, and many other songs that I did not own but accessed on YouTube. It was a trip down memory lane,” he said. Brodnax became so involved in the project that his initial draft was far longer than the article’s requirements.

In addition to using this research in some of his courses, Brodnax also expects to submit a conference paper based on his work about Big Boi.

Among his other projects, Brodnax is continuing work on his book, “Breathing the Freedom’s Air: The African American Struggle for Equal Citizenship in Iowa, 1830-1900.”  He also recently participated in the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora’s 10th Biennial Conference at the College of William & Mary. The conference’s theme focused on the 400th anniversary of the origins of slavery in what became the United States, with the arrival of approximately 20 Africans in modern-day Jamestown, Va., in August 1619. During his time in Williamsburg, Va., he explored several historical sites, which was a powerful experience. “It represented the beginning of the end for Native Americans, as they knew life,” he said. “And it was the beginning of black slavery.”

Brodnax is also working on a journal article on black identity in Iowa on for the “Middle West Review” and two projects for the annual meeting of the Midwestern History Conference in May: a paper on diasporic black consciousness as expressed in Iowa’s black press; and being part of a plenary panel on the current state of Midwestern history scholarship.

Prof. of History John Fry, Ph.D., recently presented at the Midwestern History Conference in Grand Rapids, Mich.

He participated on a panel titled “‘Everyone Has a Wilder Story:’ Laura Ingalls Wilder, the Midwest, and Historical Research.”

“It was a privilege to join Bill Anderson and John Miller,” Fry noted on his blog, “The Faith of Laura Ingalls Wilder.” “We each told the story of how we came to research and write about Laura Ingalls Wilder.”

Fry is currently writing a book that explores the faith of the famous author of the “Little House” books.

The conference. which was held May 30-31, was sponsored by the Midwestern History Association and hosted by the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at Grand Valley State University (GVSU). It was held at GVSU’s Pew Campus in downtown Grand Rapids.

 

 

–Dec. 11, 2018

Trinity Assistant Professor of History Kyle Dieleman, Ph.D., is one of the inaugural recipients of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship’s Teacher-Scholar Grants for 2019-2020, as part of its Vital Worship Grants Program from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, Michigan, with funds provided by Lilly Endowment Inc.

Dieleman intends to use the grant to continue to study the relationship between Sabbath observance and spiritual formation, offering historical insights and exploring contemporary adaptations. His previous research will be published in January with his book, “The Battle for the Sabbath in the Dutch Reformation: Devotion or Desecration?”

“The grant will provide for some course releases, a research assistant, travel funds, and a couple of seminars with church leaders and pastors,” said Dieleman.

This new stream of the Vital Worship Grants program recognizes that teacher-scholars in many disciplines have a unique role to play in strengthening and nurturing the life of Christian worshiping communities. These inaugural teacher-scholar grants will engage disciplines traditionally associated with worship such as theology and music, but also from philosophy, history, education, and African American Studies and women’s studies.  Along with Dieleman, recipients include scholars at research universities, seminaries, and regional Christian colleges. They represent eight states, one Canadian province, and the District of Columbia.

Each grant will fund a research project beginning in 2019 that shows promise to serve worshiping communities by strengthening Christian public worship practices.

Congratulations to Sarah LeMahieu ’20, who recently presented at the Midwest Regional Conference on Faith and History (CFH) Student Research Conference.

LeMahieu presented her paper titled “The Aba Women’s Riots and their Causes” to the conference.  She wrote the paper for Prof. David Brodnax’s course on The History of Africa, and the paper is about protests in Nigeria in 1929.

Prof. of History John Fry, Ph.D., and several other Trinity students also attended the conference, which took place at Trinity International University. Students from four different colleges in Illinois and Indiana attended and presented papers.

The Regional CFH is a chapter of the National Conference on Faith and History, a “community of scholars exploring the relationship between Christian faith and history.”

Trinity’s Dr. John J. Fry, professor of history, department chair, academic dean, and director of foundations program, has been awarded a Hoover Presidential Foundation Travel Grant. With this grant, he plans to spend several days in June at the Hoover Presidential Library-Museum and Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch, Iowa, to research “The Faith of Laura Ingalls Wilder.”

Fry has been studying the life of the author of the Little House books for 20 years, beginning in graduate school. He intends to focus his research on Wilder’s faith, which he described as an unexplored area. According to Fry, while most biographies of Wilder portray her as a devout Christian, some of the representations of church and other Christians in her books are less than positive. “There is an edge in some of her books,” he said. “For example, she writes about one pastor she doesn’t like at all.”

As part of his research, Fry intends to explore whether some of those views in the published books may be at least partly influenced by Wilder’s daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, who served as editor and advisor on the books. “Her daughter was a libertarian and an atheist at the time the Little House books were written. So it could be that edge comes from Rose Wilder Lane,” he said.

Lane was a friend of Hoover’s, and the presidential library houses the “Rose Wilder Lane Collection” of papers. While in Iowa, Fry can view the original manuscripts of the Little House books. He will also have the opportunity to examine Wilder’s correspondences with Lane and others.

Fry is maintaining a blog about his research, with regular updates and insights into his findings.

Check out the History Department’s Facebook page here.