Philosophy, Politics and History Faculty
Christine Darr
Department Head for Philosophy, Politics and History Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics PhD, University of Iowa BA, Northwestern College Office Phone: 563.589.3305 E-mail: cdarr@dbq.edu Office Location: 330 Severance Hall |
Biography - Click Here
Karin Anderson has a BA in both History and English and Secodary Teaching Certification from the University of Iowa. She was a Social Studies teacher and Varsity track coach for the Dubuque Community Schools for 17 years. She has her MA in Educational Policy and Practice from the University of Sheffield in Sheffield England and is currently working on her EdD through National Louis University. She is an Adjunct Professor at UD teaching World Civs and World View |
Amanda Beverly
Adjunct Instructor MDiv, University of Dubuque E-mail: abeverly@dbq.edu |
Roger Ebertz
Professor of Religion PhD, MA, University of Nebraska MDiv, Fuller Theological Seminary BA, Carleton College Office Phone: 563.589.3669 E-mail: rebertz@dbq.edu Office Location: 323 Severance Hall Fax: 563.589.3416 Biography - Click Here
Education |
Brian Hallstoos
Associate Professor of History PhD, University of Iowa MA, Rutgers University BA, University of Minnesota at Morris Office Phone: 563.589.3855 E-mail: bhallstoos@dbq.edu Office Location: 313 Severance |
Eric Miller
Adjunct History Instructor MA, Western Illinois University; E-mail: ejmiller@dbq.edu |
Adam Smith
Assistant Professor of Political Philosophy PhD, Brandeis University MA, Institute for Christain Studies BA, Olivet Nazarene University Office Phone: 563.589.3796 E-mail: adamsmith@dbq.edu Office Location: 334 Severance Hall |
Dennis Yergler
Adjunct Instructor of History PhD, University of Iowa MA, Iowa State University BS, Iowa State University Office Phone: 563.589.3353 E-mail: dyergler@dbq.edu Office Location: Severance 334 Biography - Click Here
A little about myself: To begin, my name is Dr. Dennis Keith Yergler, although I have answered to many different names over the years. (With regard to pronouncing my last name, it rhymes with "burglar," but it begins with a "Y".) I did my undergraduate work at Iowa State University in mathematics. But, as I tell my classroom students, when I began college the Vietnam War was still going strong, and my high school class was the last high school class to receive college deferments (a college deferment exempted someone from the military draft for four years to allow such an individual to complete his/her college education). The following year the government instituted a draft lottery system, and my draft lottery number came up 116. According to all of the news' pundits at the time anyone with a draft lottery number of 120 or less probably faced a high probability of being drafted. Since my deferment exempted me from any military draft until I graduated, I knew that I did not really have to worry about Vietnam for the next three years. However, I also knew that if the war in Vietnam was still going strong when I graduated that with such a low draft number my chances of getting drafted were good. Wanting to know more about our involvement in Vietnam, American foreign policy, Soviet communism (and why it posed such a threat to the "free world"), I began taking some history and political science courses my sophomore year in college in order to give me better information to help me to decide my own future (whether I was going to Vietnam or to Canada -- fortunately, by the time I completed my undergraduate degree, the war in Vietnam was pretty much over, and, consequently, I never had to make a choice.). Yet the history and political science courses that I took during the subsequent years opened a whole new world for me. As I tell my face-to-face classes, I truly felt like Alice walking through the looking "glass." My college history and political science professors told me all the things my high school teachers had failed to teach me. The more history and political science courses I took, the more I found out that I did not know. Thus, my fascination and love of history and politics began. Upon completion of my bachelor's in mathematics, I spent the next ten years studying American diplomatic history, American foreign policy, international relations, American history and politics, and U.S.-Soviet Relations. I completed my first master's degree in history from Iowa State and then a second master's degree from Iowa State in political science. I then completed my Ph.D. in history from the University of Iowa. My Ph.D. area of specialization was American Diplomatic History, U.S.-Soviet Relations and the Cold War. My dissertation was published by Peter Lang in 1993 and can be found listed on Amazon.com (extra bonus points for anyone purchasing a copy -- only joking!!) From 1985 until 1997 I served as a history and political science professor at a small four-year liberal arts college in northwest Iowa called Westmar University. Being essentially the entire history and political science departments, I taught numerous courses at Westmar, courses that ranged from World Civ I and II, Latin American Politics, The Age of Discovery, U.S.-Soviet Relations, Native American History, Russian History, State and Local Governments, Politics and the Media, International Relations, The Politics of Underdevelopment, The Politics of Multinational Corporations, etc. And this is just a small sampling of the courses I taught! In 1997 Westmar unexpectedly closed. I then accepted a position as Academic Dean at Hamilton College (a small two-year junior college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Hamilton now offers four year degrees and is currently called Kaplan University.) where I served for 16 months. For a variety of reasons -- one of which was that I had decided that I had not spent 15 years in college to spend the rest of my life doing paper work (which takes up much of the time for Academic Deans), I left Hamilton and reentered the classroom. Since my days as Academic Dean I have essentially been a full-time adjunct between various colleges in eastern Iowa and thoroughly enjoying being back in the classroom. When not pursuing academic interests I enjoy reading, endurance exercise (I used to be a distance runner -- marathons, etc. -- but a freakish running accident fifteen years ago has turned me into an endurance bicyclist, distance walker), music (primarily rock n' roll and jazz), movies, collegiate spectator sports (both men and women), cooking (as my wife tells me I am a rather rigid and structured vegetarian), spirituality (between my two master's degrees I attended seminary for a semester; I had visions of going into the ministry; but as I tell my students, after 24 hours in seminary I realized that either I was not ready for the church yet, or the church was not ready for me yet; consequently, I returned to Iowa State to work on my second master's degree), and spending time with my family. My wife is a WOC nurse, my oldest step-son graduated from Augustana College with a degree in biology where he was a member of the Augie football team. Seth is currently married and living in Davenport where he and his wife are in the process of raising three young baby girls. My youngest step-son is studying mathematics at Iowa State. Dane's ambition is to become a math professor. Well, enough about me. Let's begin our course in American History. |
