As those of you heading into your fourth year of the History Honours program prepare to meet with a faculty advisor (see below!) and so forth, you should also know about a $1,700 scholarship that students must apply for in order to be considered for, let alone win . The Kathleen McKenzie Scholarship is awarded by the Department of History annually to student entering the fourth year of an Honours program in History who has received the highest cumulative average across all courses compared to others who apply.

Do you think for a moment that Lucas B. Lucre (B.A. hons), seen right, ever regretted applying? To this day, he likes to take out his scholarship money and count it just to remind himself of how very great he is. And that's the point, because for all you know you might be great, too! But you won't know unless you apply. To be considered for the scholarship, applicants must have completed 90 cu applicable to their History Honours degree, including at least 18 cu in History. The minimum academic standard is a grade average of 75 overall and 80 or better in History. The recipient must enroll in at least 18cu in his or her fourth year. Deadline for applications is April 30th, and the selection will be made by June 15th. Click here for the application form, or pick one up next time you are on the 7th floor.

The Department of History is home to the Prairie Region of the SSHRC-funded Network in Canadian History and Environment (NiCHE), proud sponsor of tomorrow's public lecture by Dr. David Schindler, who holds the Killam Memorial Chair and is Professor of Ecology at the University of Alberta. Professor Schindler is one of Canada's leading researchers, and a fine public speaker to boot. In "Are the Prairies Running Dry? Western Canada's Freshwater Supply in the 21st Century", he will discuss how natural drought, climate warming, damage to drainage patterns, and human water demands will cause water shortages in the prairies in the next few decades. Thursday April 3, 2008 at 4:00p.m. in Convocation Hall on the question of Everyone welcome!

Be Advised!
No less a personage than the Department of History Undergraduate Director himself has asked the What's Up team to remind all non-graduating History students to be sure to sign up and turn up for an advising session with a helpful and friendly History Faculty Advisor. Soon. The Advising season ends April 25th. There are still appointments open, and to make one you need only travel to the 7th floor and follow the signs to the sign-up sheet. Be Advised!

Timetable Change for 2008-09:
Those of you perusing the History Student Advising Handbook (see below, March 26th) for courses to take should note that Professor John McCannon's History 281.6, Military History, will run 8:30 a.m. MWF, rather than an hour later as in the printed Handbook and timetable. A notice has been added to the printed copies, and the online-versions will be amended shortly. The change was made so that students wishing to take History 281.6 would be able to enroll in the many MWF classes that run in the 9:30-12:30 slot. Professor McCannon was gracious enough to sacrifice an hour of sleep for the greater good, and we here at What's Up salute him for that.

On April 1, 2008, students in Pam Jordan's HIST 386 (Intelligence and Espionage in the Twentieth Century) participated in the second annual Spy Jeopardy Game. The game involved contestants’ answering challenging questions about spy history and breaking a secret code, while physically and mentally defending themselves from their opponents (who could cheat, steal, bribe other students, etc., in order to win the game—although defenestration was prohibited). This year, Michael Kunz (Double Honours in History and Political Studies) won the Spy of the Year Award and an entry in a Homeland Security log by earning the most points (Breonie MacMahon took the silver, and Carolyn Bartlett and Tyler Dovell tied for the bronze). His gold-plated certificate says that the award “also comes with a free copy of James Bond theme songs and a perpetual obligation to protect and defend the interests of the University of Saskatchewan’s Department of History.” Michael enthusiastically accepted the award before the class and pledged to fulfill his obligation to the best of his abilities.

Last week, John McCannon, seen left asleep at the podium, traveled to Moscow just long enough to jet-lag himself and take part in an international conference on "Imagined Space: Culture and Geography in Russia," sponsored by the Russian State Institute for the Study of Cultural and Natural Heritage, founded by Dmitrii Likhachev, Gorbachev's cultural and academic adviser during the perestroika years. John spoke (in Russian, mind you) on allegorical conceptions of geography in turn-of-the-century Symbolist painting, then flew back from Russia with exhaustion.