CSUSB student-run history journal, History in the Making, earns national recognition

San Bernardino, CA – History in the Making: A Journal of History, the Cal State San Bernardino history department’s award-winning journal that showcases the work of its students, has another honor to add.

The journal, which showcases the work of undergraduate and graduate students, won third prize in the 2018 Gerald D. Nash graduate print journal national competition, the first time it had been entered in this category.

History in the Making is an annual publication of the university’s Alpha Delta Nu Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta National History Honor Society, and is sponsored by the CSUSB Department of History. It is published at the end of the spring quarter each academic year, and has earned the reputation of being among the top journals of its kind in the nation.

Prior to the latest recognition, the journal had been awarded five Gerald D. Nash History Journal Awards in the undergraduate competition (third place in 2009 and 2013, second place in 2012 and 2015, and first place in 2014).

In addition, this award comes not long after the CSUSB History Club/Alpha Delta Nu Chapter was named the best chapter in the nation by the Phi Alpha Theta National History Honor Society – for the fourth time in five years, and for the third consecutive year.

The current edition of History in the Making was entered in the graduate-level competition because several graduate students from the Master of Arts in Social Sciences and Globalization participated in its publication, along with many undergraduate history students.

“We are exceptionally proud of the work completed by the two chief editors, Athahn Steinback and Lark Winner, and the dedication and diligence of the editorial board, Alexander Serrano, Andrew Richter, Byron Williams, Danny Cervantes, Eric Lowe, Hannah Norton, Jacqulyne Anton, Jasmine Colorado, Jordan Hammon, Kyle Burke, Martin Votruba, Samuel Briseno and Sarah Slawson,” said the journal’s faculty advisers, Tiffany F. Jones (the department chair) and Jeremy Murray. Also on the journal staff was copy editor, Brittnie “Bunny” Anglin.

“This year’s journal features remarkable topical diversity, including four full-length articles, three public history papers, one in-memoriam, three travel pieces, and seven reviews or analyses, on topics ranging from film, to art, to historicity in video games,” Steinback and Winner wrote in the journal’s introduction.

“This year’s editors and authors are a stellar representation of our campus’s excellence and intellectual ambition. These student leaders have worked extremely hard to earn national recognition in multiple venues, and we should continue to champion their diligence, intelligence, and creativity here on campus,” wrote Murray. “At over 300 pages, the journal is the length of a good-sized book, and its contents are engaging, timely, and rigorous. This honor is especially remarkable since History in the Making has an editorial board and contributing authors who are mostly undergrads, and this year they competed against graduate programs across the country.

“This edition represents the careful and professional work of the editors of the journal, and a fitting culmination of the undergraduate studies of many of our authors,” he continued.

“The scope of the journal is rich and rewarding, with original research on topics ranging from the Turkish constitution to Indian boarding schools to neoliberal policies in Haiti to U.S. immigration, and with review and travel pieces that range from CSUSB’s own Anthropology museum to Berlin to ancient Egypt to the beaches of Thailand and more,” Murray said.

The online version of the latest volume is available at the History in the Making webpage, along with past volumes.

About Cal State San Bernardino

California State University, San Bernardino is a preeminent center of intellectual and cultural activity in Inland Southern California. Opened in 1965 and set at the foothills of the beautiful San Bernardino Mountains, the university serves more than 20,000 students each year and graduates about 4,000 students annually. The university offers more than 70 traditional baccalaureate and master’s degree programs, education credential and certificate programs, and a doctorate program in educational leadership. Every one of its academic programs that is eligible has earned national accreditation. CSUSB reflects the dynamic diversity of the region and has the most diverse student population of any university in the Inland Empire. More than 80 percent of those who graduate are the first in their families to do so.