Faculty
Dr. Alemseged Abbay
Dr. Haiyun Ma
Dr. Eleanor H. McConnell
Dr. Greg Wood - Chair of the Department
Emeriti Faculty
Dr. Sally A. Boniece, sboniece@frostburg.edu
Dr. Paul Charney, pcharney@frostburg.edu
Dr. Nicholas Clulee, nclulee@frostburg.edu
Dr. David M. Dean, ddean@frostburg.edu
Dr. Alemseged Abbay
Professor
Office: Dunkle Hall 113
Telephone: 301.687.4228
Email: aabbay@frostburg.edu
Degrees: B.A., M.A., Addis Ababa University; M.A., Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
Teaching Interest: African History, African American Studies, Comparative Colonial History, Modern Ethnic History, Comparative Genocide
About Dr. Abbay: Dr. Alemseged Abbay is Professor in the FSU Department of History. He completed his Ph.D. in Comparative Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1996, where he studied the history and politics of nationalism and identity in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. Before coming to Frostburg State University in 2005, Dr. Abbay taught at Lakeland College in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Temple University, San Jose State University, and UC Berkeley. Dr. Abbay’s courses explore global history, African history, the history of the Middle East, the comparative history of genocide, and African American studies. He is the author of Identity Jilted: The Divergent Paths of the Eritrean and Tigrayan Nationalist Struggles (1998), and his articles and book reviews have appeared in journals such as Journal of Global South Studies, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Journal of Eastern African Studies, African Affairs, Africa, Trans Africa Forum, African Studies Review, Ethnic and Racial Studies, and Journal for the Study of Peace and Conflict. Dr. Abbay regularly presents his research at national and international conferences, including the African Studies Association, the American Historical Association (AHA), the University of Paris, Pantheon-Sorbonne, the Pecs African Studies Conference at University of Pecs, Hungary, and the American Sociological Association.
Dr. Haiyun Ma
Associate Professor
Office: Dunkle Hall 102A
Telephone: 301.687.4163
Email: hma@frostburg.edu
About Dr. Ma: Dr. Haiyun Ma received his Ph.D. in Asian and Chinese history from Georgetown University in 2007. As an instructor, his teaching focuses on regional and national histories in Asia and the world; as a researcher, his scholarly work examines the history of Islam in China, as well as China’s relations with the Islamic world. Before joining the FSU Department of History in 2013, Dr. Ma taught at the University of North Carolina, Georgetown University, and Fort Lewis College. He is co-editor of an essay anthology, Zhenghe Forum: Connecting China with the Muslim World (2016), and published articles in two edited collections: China’s Internal and External Relations and Lessons for Korea and Asia (2013) and Current Trends in Islamist Ideology (published by the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC, in 2019). Other articles, reviews, and opinion pieces by Dr. Ma appear in Current Trends in Islamist Ideology, Foreign Policy, Late Imperial China, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, China Brief, and Middle East Research and Information Project. Often sought by news outlets for commentary on China, Asia, or Middle East topics, he has been quoted or interviewed by the BBC, The Nation, Foreign Policy, Deutsche Welle, Associated Press, and The Independent. He regularly presents his research at conferences in the United States and around the world, including the Annual Asian Studies Conference, the Center for Strategic and Contemporary Research conference in Pakistan, The Revival of Religiosity and Its Impact on China Today conference at Malaya University, the Zhenge International Peace Conference in Dubai, and the International Symposium on Muslims in Inner Mongolia conference, held in Tokyo, Japan, in 2014.
Dr. Eleanor H. McConnell
Associate Professor
Office: Dunkle Hall 105B
Telephone: 301.687.4131
Email: ehmcconnell@frostburg.edu
About Dr. McConnell: Dr. Eleanor McConnell earned her Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Iowa in 2008, where she studied with Prof. Linda Kerber. Her teaching and research interests focus on American colonial, revolutionary, and early republic history, as well as US women’s history, legal history, economic history, Atlantic history, environmental history, sports history, and historical game-play pedagogy. Dr. McConnell joined the faculty in Frostburg State’s Department of History in 2011. Before coming to FSU, she worked as an Interim Manuscript Specialist in American Women’s History at the Library of Congress from 2009-2011, and taught as a Visiting Instructor in American colonial history at St. Mary’s College of Maryland during 2007-2008. Dr. McConnell is the author of 30 entries in the Encyclopedia of American History (2013), as well as a chapter on iron and salt production in revolutionary war-era New Jersey in The American Revolution in New Jersey: Where the Battlefront Meets the Home Front (2015). She presented her research to audiences at the Society for the History of the Early American Republic (SHEAR) Conference, the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture Conference, the Conference on the History of Capitalism in North America at Harvard University, the faculty seminar series at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Reacting to the Past Summer Institute at Barnard College in New York City. Currently, Dr. McConnell chairs the Reacting to the Past Team initiative at FSU.
Dr. Greg Wood - Chair
Professor
Office: Dunkle 105C
Telephone: 301.687.4776
Email: gwood@frostburg.edu
Degrees: B.S., Northern Michigan University; M.A., Wayne State University; Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh
Teaching Interest: 20h Century U.S. history; social, labor, cultural, methods
About Dr. Wood: Dr. Greg Wood received a B.S. in History from Northern Michigan University, completed an M.A. at Wayne State University in Detroit, and earned his Ph.D. in US history from the University of Pittsburgh; he has been a faculty member in the Department of History at Frostburg State for 14 years. From 2014-2020, Dr. Wood served as Director of the FSU Honors Program, and he became Chair of the History Department in January 2021. He is the author of Clearing the Air: The Rise and Fall of Smoking in the Workplace (2016), Retiring Men: Manhood, Labor, and Growing Old in America, 1900-1960 (2012), and numerous articles and book reviews that have appeared in journals such as Labor: Studies in Working-Class History, American Historical Review, Labor History, Labor Studies Journal, Journal of American History, Labor Online, Pennsylvania History, Michigan Historical Review, Labour History (Australia), and Journal of Social History. He has presented his research to audiences at the Labor Studies Program at Michigan State University, the Newberry Library in Chicago, the Business History Conference, the North American Labor History Conference, the American Historical Association, the Social Science History Association, the DC Working-Class History Seminar, and the Working Class Studies Association. Prof. Wood’s current research examines how the sit-down strikes of the mid-to-late 1930s shaped conservative politics in the United States.