If you have yet to take a class with Dr. Sonnelitter, I highly suggest you remedy that situation immediately. One of the reasons I am a history major is because I, obviously, love history. But, even I will admit that learning history can sometimes be dry and boring. The great thing about Dr. Sonnelitter is that she always makes an effort to insert some humor into class and gets you to think about why the various people and events are significant, as opposed to just throwing names and dates at you. Trust me, I am taking a class with her for a third time this semester, so I would definitely know. These are just a couple of the reasons why she is, personally, one of my favorite professors, not to mention the fact that we have a shared love of Queen Elizabeth I (seriously, one of the best queens ever!). Read on to find out more about her:
Her Campus Siena: Where is your hometown?
Karen Sonnelitter: Technically, I was born in Oklahoma. I grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia, outside of Atlanta. And my family moved to Bethel, Connecticut when I was a teenager. So, I’m not sure which one of those is my hometown. It’s one of them.
HCS: What are your hobbies outside of Siena?
KS: I like to run; I’m training for a marathon in a couple of weeks. I’m a big soccer fan, so I play soccer in a rec league. I particularly follow the US Women’s Soccer Team. Aside from that, I have a dog, so I like walking and playing with her. I also like hiking and camping. I’m a very outdoorsy person. And, I like to read.
HCS: Why did you decide to become a history professor?
KS: I don’t know that I made a conscious decision to become a history professor. When I was in college, I loved it. I love learning and I felt like my mind was constantly being opened up to new things. I wanted to continue that, so I decided to go to graduate school. It became clear to me when I was in graduate school that the best career track that would allow me to always feel that way, that I was always learning new things and opening myself up, was to try and pursue a career in academia. It’s a very difficult career track to follow and I didn’t always know if I would be able to find a full-time job, but I’m fortunate enough that I was.
HCS: What is your educational background?
KS: I have a Bachelor’s Degree in history and philosophy from Ithaca College. I have a Master’s in history from the University of Connecticut and a Master’s Degree in Irish Studies from Queen’s University Belfast. And then I have a Ph.D. in European history from Purdue University.
HCS: Why did you choose to teach at Siena? Did you teach anywhere else before coming here?
KS: Before I came here, I taught in Indiana. When I was in graduate school, I taught a few classes at Purdue. I was a lecturer there for a while, teaching online classes, and I adjunct taught at various schools in that area. As for why I came to Siena, they offered me a job, so there was that. But what I liked about Siena was the location. I liked the idea of getting to move back to the Northeast. I really liked that it was a small, liberal arts college because I attended a liberal arts college and teaching at a big university is very different. I never knew my students and teaching huge classes is very disconnected, so I liked that I could come here and get to know students and work with them over the course of four years. It’s a lot of fun.
HCS: What is your favorite class to teach?
KS: I think the England from 1485-1815 class that I’m doing now. It’s my field. Early Modern England is what I know the most about and I just always find it fascinating. I like discussing it with people and people always have opinions, even if it’s just about Henry VIII and his wives and all those things. People always have opinions about that stuff. People don’t always have opinions about grain prices in eighteenth century France, but they have thoughts about Henry and his wives.
HCS: Can you tell me about your book Charity Movements in Eighteenth-Century Ireland?
KS: So, I got into studying social reform movements when I was in graduate school. I became really interested in voluntary societies that people formed in the eighteenth century. A lot of them are focused on charity or philanthropy, because there was nothing else to provide those services. So, my book studies a couple of different philanthropic organizations that emerged in Ireland in the eighteenth century and what roles they played in helping to secure the Protestant’s rule over the country. I look at organizations that worked to provide education, because there’s no public education in the eighteenth century and health care, the best they can because there’s nothing like that in the eighteenth century. So, I look at how these things are providing what we know think of as important social services, but they’re doing so privately. And, the point of them is to strengthen the state to make it more stable.
HCS: Do you have any plans for your next book?
KS: I do. I have a couple of things I’m working on now. I’m going to be doing a primary source reader on the Irish famine of the 1840s, the Potato Famine. That will be a short primary source reader designed to be used in undergraduate classes for students to learn more about the Potato Famine by reading primary sources about it. For my other project, I don’t know if it will become a book. I’m not sure about that yet, but I’m working on a conference paper and an article on soldiers’ children. There was a large army stationed in Ireland in the eighteenth century and, apparently they were fathering a lot of children, and a lot of the philanthropists I studied in my book were very concerned about these children. So, I’m really interested in why they were so interested in these soldiers’ children and why they were regarded as a special case, as opposed to other poor children, and the kind of things they did to provide services for them.
HCS: If you could meet any figure in history for a day, who would it be and why?
KS: I would meet Elizabeth I; I have a lot of questions. I would probably be disappointed by any historical figure because we are admiring these people in the abstract. It’s out of context and, knowing them in context, they’re going to be human and flawed and disappointing. I’m sure that Elizabeth I would be arrogant and rude and I probably wouldn’t like her very much as a person, but I still have so many questions.