Dr. Wendy Pojmann is a traveler, motorcyclist, university published author, ballet dancer, and history professor at Siena College. She can be found in Siena Hall teaching her newly published Oxford University Press textbook, Doing History: An Introduction to the Historians Craft, in her proseminar and capstone classes.
HC: Where is your hometown and where have you lived?
Dr. Pojmann: I was born in Utah but grew up as an Army brat, so we moved about every three years on average. I have lived in nine different states Utah, Alabama, Virginia, Kansas, Iowa, Washington DC, Missouri, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, The District of Columbia. I also lived in two countries, Germany and Italy. I consider Rome a home town, because I have been going there regularly since my junior year abroad, and still spend at least a couple months there each year for reasons connected to family and research and teaching.
HC: What is your favorite book?
Dr. Pojmann: A tough question, but I would have to say Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. It’s a great story about the challenges of growing up. Plus, there are pirates, mermaids, and the name Wendy comes from it!
HC: What is your favorite quote?
Pojmann: “One is not born, but rather made a woman” (Simone de Beauvoir in the Second Sex).
HC: What are some of your hobbies outside of Siena?
Dr. Pojmann: I have been a classical ballet dancer since I was three years old. I still take class twice a week and perform once a year. Three years ago I got my motorcycle license and love to ride! This August I drove 1100 miles in New England and made it up and down the Mt. Washington Auto Road in New Hampshire.
HC: What was your educational background including study abroad experiences?
Dr. Pojmann: I got my B.A. in History from Loyola University Chicago. I spent junior year abroad at Rome Center, Italy. Which is now known as the John Felice Rome Center. I then got my, Ph.D. in History from Boston College.
HC: What inspired you to become an educator?
Dr. Pojmann: I loved being a student and never wanted to leave college! Seriously. Learning is my passion and I thrive in an intellectually stimulating environment. I wanted to pass that on to others.
HC: How many years have you taught at Siena College?
Dr. Pojmann: I came to Siena in the fall of 2005 for a one-year position. Now I am celebrating tenth year here!
HC: What is your favorite class to teach at Siena and why?
Dr. Pojmann: This is my third year of teaching First Year Seminar and I love it! It’s a rare treat to be able to work with the same students for a full year and build a strong relationship with them. The history capstone sequence is rewarding in similar ways but especially because I am able to see the culmination of a student’s intellectual growth. That said, I really do enjoy all the courses I teach.
HC: What have you published, and which publication was your favorite?
Dr. Pojmann: My major publications include two monographs that are single-authored books based on original research, Immigrant Women and Feminism in Italy, and Italian Women and International Cold War Politics, 1944-1968. Then I published, Migration and Activism in Europe since 1945, a collection of essays by different authors in a one edited volume. The latest publication was the textbook, Doing History: An Introduction to the Historians Craft. The, Immigrant Women, book was especially fun because I was able to interview many women from around the world. Migration continues to be a major interest and preoccupation of mine.
HC: How has teaching impacted your publications?
Dr. Pojmann: My students ask thought-provoking questions and have interests that sometimes push me in new directions but perhaps more importantly being an active scholar myself keeps me relevant in the classroom.
HC: Can you tell me about your co-authored textbook, Doing History: An Introduction to the Historians Craft?
Dr. Pojmann: The project emerged because when I was teaching the proseminar and capstone courses. I was not fully satisfied with the available texts on the market and been compiling many assignments and readings on my own. Then our editor Charles Cavaliere at Oxford suggested I write my own book after expressing a lack of enthusiasm for the proposals I had been reviewing for them. I implored my colleagues Barbara Reeves-Ellington and Karen Ward Mahar to join me since I knew their experience in the classroom and many great assignments would work well in the book I imagined. Luckily, they both agreed to join me!
HC: How will your book Doing History: An Introduction to the Historians Craft, help students at Siena?
Dr. Pojmann: Our students will benefit from actual practices we’ve used in the class room. We created and refined the assignments in the workbook section and have even drawn from our own students’ work for examples of good research and writing. The methodology section is written for students in clear, straightforward language and we have offered the most up-to-date information possible on technology and innovative research strategies.
HC: How do you believe the capstone will prepare students for “The Real World?”
Dr. Pojmann: I can’t think of any career field that doesn’t value our ability to locate and gather data, analyze it, write coherently about it and present it to others in an interesting way. Research and writing might seem like solitary activities but they require us to cooperate with professionals such as librarians, and to solicit and accept critiques from our peers and supervisors. The capstone requires learning how to effectively balance our time and challenges us to produce high quality work. What employer wouldn’t want to hire someone who can do all of this?
HC: What’s the best advice you can give to a student about the Capstone?
Dr. Pojmann: Develop a schedule and stick to it. Research and writing are a process. Setting aside blocks of time during which you accomplish specific tasks helps it go much more smoothly, and seem far less daunting.
HC: Has the Capstone changed since you started working at Siena?
Dr. Pojmann: Yes, It was originally a one semester course in the senior year. The first trial runs led us to make a few changes to the overall history curriculum to be sure students were completing skill developing assignments. We also moved the proseminar from the sophomore year to the semester preceding the capstone to allow students to develop a project and complete preliminary research in one semester and then write the paper during the second semester in capstone. That model has proven superior.
HC: What was your most memorable moment teaching at Siena?
Dr. Pojmann: There are so many! What is especially fantastic is when I can see in a student’s face that he or she really gets it. There is a struggle and then an, “ah ha” moment and I see the thrill of resolution.
HC: How are you involved on campus?
Dr. Pojmann: Being a faculty member means being involved in many activities connected to teaching such as mentoring, advising, and supervising student groups. I am faculty advisor to our chapter of the history honors society, Phi Alpha Theta, for example. It also means though that we contribute to making the college thrive in other ways, such as supporting special programs, serving on committees and mentoring recently arrived colleagues. I am always interested in activities that support the quality of our academics first.
HC: What do you hope to publish in the future?
Dr. Pojmann: I am now working on a social and cultural history of espresso in Italy. I plan to examine the birth of espresso as a distinct moment of ‘made in Italy’ modern culture. It is also a good excuse to drink a lot of espresso while I visit historic espresso bars and interview fascinating people!