New Chair of the Department of History Named

Morgantown, WV, June 13, 2007: Dr. Steve Zdatny, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of History in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at WVU, has been named Chair of the History Department.

“I am very pleased to have been named chairman of the History Department. My goals are simple. I will work to burnish the Department’s well-earned reputation for first-rate teaching and excellent scholarship and continue to expand its relations within both the University and the greater West Virginia community,” he commented.

Dr. Zdatny earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1982. His teaching fields include Modern France, the Holocaust and World War I. His research fields are Modern French social and cultural history and the evolving practices and sensibilities of cleanliness in twentieth-century France. He has written several articles and books, including Hairstyles and Fashion: A Hairdresser’s History of Paris, 1910-1920 and The Politics of Survival: Artisans in Twentieth-Century France. He has also been the recipient of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Research Award.

“I look forward to working with Dr. Zdatny as Chair of the Department of History,” commented Dr. Mary Ellen Mazey, Dean of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. “I have confidence that he will continue to build the department's national and international reputation.”

For more information, contact Dr. Steve Zdatny at szdatny@wvu.edu.

W-V-U