William M. Knoblauch
Associate Professor of History
Finlandia University
Education:
2012 Ph.D., U.S. History, Ohio University
2006 M.A., U.S. History, Northern Arizona University
2003 B.S., History, Business & Economics, Northland College
Publications:
Books:
Chapters and Articles:
“Globalizing Jamaican Music: From Reggae to New Wave,” in Whitt, David (ed.), Teaching Popular Music in the Classroom. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Books, 2018.
“Selling ‘Star Wars’ in American Mass Media,” in Bastiansen, Henrik G., Martin Klimke, and Rolf Werenskjold (eds.), Between Star Wars and Glasnost: Cold War and Media in the 1980s. New York: Plagrave Macmillan, 2018.
“Will You Sing About the Missiles?: British Anti-Nuclear Protest Music of the 1980s,” in Conze, Eckart, Martin Klimke and Jeremy Varon (eds.) Nuclear Threats, Nuclear Fears, and the Cold War of the 1980s. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016.
“SIMON: The Prelude to Modern Music Video Games” in Austin, Michael L. (ed.), Music Video Games: Performance, Politics, and Play. New York: Bloomsbury Academic Press, 2016.
“I’m Free: The Who on the Self and American Society,” (with Casey Rentmeester) in Conrad, Mark (ed.), The Who and Philosophy. New York: Lexington Books / Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.
“From Camelot to Watergate: Ten Years That Changed the Politics of Boomer Culture,” in Cogan, Brian A. and William Phillips (eds.), Baby Boomers and Popular Culture: An Inquiry into America’s Most Powerful Generation. Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2014.
“MTV and Transatlantic Cold War Music Videos” in TEMP: Tidsskrift for Historie (A Danish Journal of History), nr. 06 – 2013.
“Strategic Digital Defense: Video Games and Reagan’s ‘Star Wars’ Program, 1980-1987” in Kapell, Matthew Wilhelm and Andrew B.R. Elliot (eds.), Playing with the Past: Digital Games and the Simulation of History, New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013.
“The Pixilated Apocalypse: Video Games and Nuclear Fears, 1980-2012” in Blouin, Michael, Morgan Shipley and Jack Taylor (eds.), The Silence of Fallout: Nuclear Criticism in a Post-Cold War World. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013.
Reviews:
H-Diplo Review of Paul Rubinson’s “The Global Effects of Nuclear Winter: Science and Antinuclear Protest in the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1980s.” Cold War History 14:1 (06/25/2014).
Dictionary & Encyclopedia Entries:
“The Police” in Moskowitz, David V. (ed.), The 100 Greatest Bands of All Time. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, October 2015.
“Low Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act of 1985,” in Lindstrom, Matthew (ed.), Encyclopedia of the U.S. Government and the Environment: History, Policy, and Politics. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2011.
“The Las Vegas Strip” and “Haight-Ashbury” in Cross, Gary, Robert Maddox and William Pencak, (eds.) Scribner’s Dictionary of American History, Dynamic Reference, 2008.
Freelance:
“Game Over?: A Cold War Kid Reflects on Apocalyptic Video Games” in Goldberg, Daniel and Linus Larsson (eds.), The State of Play: Sixteen Voices on Video Games. New York: Seven Stories Press, September 2015.
Conferences / Colloquia:
“Assessing Jonathan Schell’s Nuclear Legacy: Theoretical Innovations and Political Impacts,” a Roundtable participant at the International Studies Association Convention, San Francisco, April 4, 2018.
“Publishing for Peace: Literary Dissent and the Reagan Administration’s ‘Peaceful Offensive,’ 1982-1984,” a presentation for the panel “The Other Side of the Cold War: Human Rights, Peace, and Antinuclear Activism during the 1980s” (Commentator: Daniel Sargent). Annual Meeting of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, San Diego, California, June 23-25, 2016.
“SIMON: Lessons from the Definitive Music Memory Game,” Film & History Conference, University of Wisconsin-Madison, November 4-8, 2015.
“’We Won’t Get Fooled Again’: The Who and Philosophy,” with Dr. Casey Rentmeester, The Heart of Arts & Sciences Colloquium Series, Finnish American Heritage Center, Hancock, MI, April 9, 2015.
“Containing The Day After: The Co-Opting of an Antinuclear Media Event,” invited presenter and panel chair at the History Graduate Student Association Conference of Ohio University, February 6-7, 2015.
“Selling ‘Star Wars’ in American Mass Media.” Media and the Cold War, 1975-1991, International Conference in Volda, Norway, November 20-22, 2014.
“Where Have We Been? Where Are We Going?” Civil Rights panel discussion at Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, January 21, 2014.
“Messages of Islam: Manichean Media Representations in the Post-Cold War World.” Presented at Genocide and Globalization. Finlandia University, Hancock, MI, March 13, 2013.
“Selling the Second Cold War: British Anti-Nuclear Pop, 1980-1987.” Presented at Accidental Armageddons: The Nuclear Crisis and the Culture of the Second Cold War, 1975-1989. German Historical Institute. Washington D.C., November 4-6, 2010.
“The Science of Salvation: Carl Sagan and Paul Ehrlich Confront U.S. Foreign Policy.” The Ohio University History Graduate Student Association Conference. Athens, OH, May 2010.
“New Media, Popular Culture, and the History Classroom.” The Ohio Historical Society Roundtable Discussion on Teaching. Capital University, Columbus, OH, March 2010.
“Popular Culture as a Historical Text.” Guest Lecture, English 300. Kansas State University. Manhattan, KS, December, 2009.
“Rethinking ReOrient: An Economic Analysis of Andre Frank’s ReOrient and World History.” The Ohio University History Graduate Student Association Conference. Athens, OH, April, 2009.
“Synthesizing Protest: Antinuclear Pop of the 1980s.” The SW/Texas American Culture Association / Popular Culture Association. Albuquerque, NM, February 2008.
“Reagan vs. Sagan: Star Wars, Nuclear Winter, and the Battle over Foreign Policy, 1983-1986.” The National Meeting of the American Culture Association / Popular Culture Association. Boston, MA, April 2007.
“What’s so Unpopular about Nuclear Winter?: The Failure of Nuclear Winter to Permeate Popular Culture.” The SW-Texas American Culture Association / Popular Culture Association Conference. Albuquerque, NM, February 2006.
“Strange Bedfellows: Pornography’s Role in Shaping Media Technologies in the 20th Century.” The Far West American Culture Association / Popular Culture Association Conference. Las Vegas, NV, February 2005.
Grants / Fellowships / Awards:
2011 Richland County Historical Society Grant
2010 – 2011 Ohio University: Contemporary History Institute Fellowship
2007 – 2008 Ohio University: Contemporary History Institute Fellowship
2006 Northern Arizona University: Departmental Award for Service
2000 – 2003 Northland College: Alpha Chi History Honor Society
2002 Northland College: Wall Street Journal Award
2000 – 2002 Northland College: Lands End Academic Scholarship
Teaching:
Assistant Professor of History, Finlandia University (Fall 2012-Present):
World History until 1500
World History since 1500
U.S. History until 1877
U.S. History since 1877
History of Rock & Roll
History through Film: The Atomic Age
History through Film: The 1980s
History through Film: The 1990s
Rise of American Capitalism
American Environmental History
Energy and World Power
Historiography
America in the World, 1776-Present
Modern Times, Modern Media: American Culture and Politics since 1960
Visiting Assistant Professor, Northland College (Winter / Summer 2012):
American Environmental History
America in the World, 1776 – Present
Cold War America
American History, 1865 – Present
Lecturer, University of Wisconsin – Richland (Fall 2011):
World History until 1500
U.S. History, From the Period of Columbian Exchange until the Civil War
Instructor, Ohio University (Summer 2009 – Summer 2010):
Non-Western History, 1750-Present
History through Film: The Atomic Age
U.S. History, 1600-1865
Teaching Assistant, Ohio University (Fall 2006 – Spring 2010):
History through Film: America, 1945-Present
Non-Western History, 1750 – Present
U.S. History, 1865 – Present
Non-Western History, Ancient – 1750
History through Film: America in the 1970s
Espionage in History
Nazi Germany
Teaching Assistant, Northern Arizona University (2005-2006):
Historians and the Writing of History
Teaching Assistant, University of Hawaii at Manoa (Fall 2004):
World History until 1500
Teacher, Ashland School District, Ashland WI (2003-2004):
Substitute teacher for grades 9-12.
Certificates and Awards:
2012 Contemporary History Institute Certificate.
2012 / 2011 Advanced Placement U.S. History Exam Reader, Louisville, Kentucky.
2008 “Teaching World History” pedagogy seminar at Ohio University
2006 Teaching History seminar at Northern Arizona University.
2004 “Teaching World History” seminar at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Research Assistantships:
2005-2006 Northern Arizona University
Learner-Centered Education Grant funded project to construct the Northern Arizona University History Writing Lab. I also worked as a writing tutor, mentoring undergraduates in researching and writing capstone papers.
2005 Northern Arizona University
Teaching American History Grant-sponsored position in which I compiled Arizona state history education standards and created resource websites for Arizona secondary teachers.
2002 Northland College
Compiled and analyzed data and performed a cost/benefit analysis assessing the financial feasibility of establishing central purchasing office.
2000 University of Minnesota / Northland College
Part of a two-person team who created an online fisheries resource on the Ruffe, a Great Lakes invasive species of fish.
University Service & Community Outreach:
Finlandia University
2013 Academic Advising Committee Member
Academic Search Committee: Professor of Religion & Philosophy
2012 Institutional Resource (i.e. Classroom Tech) Committee Member
Sustainability Committee Member
Northland College
2012 WRNC-LP Radio Station DJ—“Generation X” Radio Program, featuring historically-informed commentary about pop music.
University of Wisconsin – Richland Center
2011 Richland Center Heritage (Oral History) Project Collaborator
2011 Richland Center “Smart Farm” Project Collaborator
Ohio University
2010 Graduate Student Senate Election Coordinator
2009 History TA Orientation: Workshop Leader for 1st Year TAs
2008 History Graduate Student Association Fundraiser
2007 History Graduate Student Association Treasurer
2006 History Graduate Student Association Webmaster
Northern Arizona University
2006 History Department Web Developer
2005 Arizona History Educators Web Developer
Language / Research Skills:
German (Translation Proficiency)
Sociological Research Methods
Bill Knoblauch 