Faces of DePauw

Making Sense of the Past

“I’ve been obsessed with history since I was a kid,” says Tina Irvine ’09. “I love a good story, and I find there are no better stories than the ones that actually happened.”

Despite arriving at DePauw with tentative plans to pursue a career in law, Irvine’s affinity for history soon redirected her ambitions. “I quickly narrowed it down to what classes I enjoyed,” she recalls – and it turned out that most of those classes were in the history department. By forming close relationships with many of her professors and discovering a promising knack for research, Irvine began to envision a new path for her future.

Now as an assistant professor of history at Purdue University and author of the forthcoming book “Americanizing Appalachia: Mountain Reform and the Pursuit of a White American Identity, 1890-1933,” Irvine is putting her childhood interest to work. “I’m really curious to know why people do what they do,” she says. “Thinking about the historical context in which people act is one of the best ways to answer that.”

That connection between past and present is a prevalent feature of Irvine’s research. “I think of myself as a historian of ideas,” she explains. “It’s reasonable to look at our contemporary world and ask, ‘How did we get here?’”

In Irvine’s areas of specialization, the answers to that question are not always pleasant, often prompting her students and her readers to confront difficult topics such as racism, power and social control. Yet in her work she remains intent on demonstrating the value that historians bring to the most urgent and complex issues we face.

“It’s my job to speak up,” she explains. “I find it more depressing not to try to explain what happened, and why. It’s an exciting responsibility and honor that I get to try to make sense of the past, to understand some of the insidious things we’re stuck with today.”

For Irvine, a liberal arts background was instrumental in preparing her for the demands of this career. “The thing I loved about DePauw was that it forced me to take some classes I really didn’t want, but that I did in fact need.” This breadth of academic exposure – in addition to her experiences as an honor scholar, a cross country runner, and a member of Alpha Chi Omega – helped establish her sense of identity and independence. “I grew so much during those four years. I honestly don’t feel like I was the same person by the time I graduated.”