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Eric Fenrich

Announcements

Fall 2012
I am on IHC Fellowship for the Fall Quarter.

Cold War History


Doctoral Candidate
B.A., California State University Fullerton; M.A., California State University Fullerton

Advisor: Salim Yaqub
Download CV

My primary interest falls within the realm of Cold War ideology and propaganda. My dissertation examines how racial concerns influenced the projection of NASA's public image and its internal recruitment policies. In addition, it will analyze how African American activism and media coverage shifted from an integrationist approach that accepted the validity of the space program as a Cold War imperative to an approach that questioned American priorities of spending federal monies in space rather than on Earth. Finally, this project will incorporate the experiences of individual African American astronauts and scientists who pursued careers in science and space exploration during the Civil Rights era. (more...)

Dissertation Title

  • The Color of the Moon: The American Space Program and Racial Inclusion, 1957-78

Teaching Assistantships

  • Engineering 101 - Ethics in Engineering
    Winter & Spring 2012 - Olivia Walling; Spring & Summer 2012 - Ken Hough
  • History 17C - The American People, World War I to Present
    Spring 2011 - Dr. Salim Yaqub; Spring 2010, Winter 2009, Spring 2008 - Dr. Laura Kalman
  • History 4C - Western Civilization, 1750 to Present
    Fall 2010 - Dr. Adrienne Edgar; Fall 2008 - Dr. John Talbott
  • History 4B - Western Civilization (1050 CE to 1715 CE)
    Winter 2011 - Dr. Carol Lansing
  • History 2C - World History (1700 CE to Present)
    Fall 2009 - Dr. Harold Marcuse; Spring 2009 - Dr. Randy Bergstrom

Publications

  • “Irony in Indonesia: Promises, Aspirations, and the Japanese Military Presence, 1942-46.”
    Welebaethan (Fullerton: California State University, Fullerton Press, 2007).

Awards

  • Interdisciplinary Humanities Center Pre-Doctoral Fellowship; Bernath Research Prize; Richard and Jeanne Williams Endowed Graduate Fellowship
    2012
  • History Associates Fellowship
    2011, 2012
  • Donald Van Gelderen Memorial Challenge
    2010
  • Darcy Ruth Ritzau Graduate Student Award
    2008

Papers Presented

  • “Guns, Butter, or Rockets: The Evolution of Presidential Rhetoric and the Race to the Moon.”
    International Graduate Student Conference on the Cold War, Santa Barbara, California, 14-16 April 2011.
  • "Preparation and Responsibility: Judy Chapel and the Cuban Missile Crisis."
    Phi Alpha Theta Southern California Regional Conference, Orange, California, 12 April 2008.
  • “The Constant and Changing Experience of American Military Combat.”
    Phi Alpha Theta Southern California Regional Conference, Fullerton, California, 29 April 2006.

Invited Lecturer

  • "Apollo, the Space Shuttle, and NASA’s Institutional Culture"
    27 August 2012 at UCSB