As my sophomore year begins to dwindle down, my mind begins to meander through all the courses I've taken while in college. My favorite classes have varied from Acting to Introduction to Creative Writing. But when I think of the class that has truly shaped my entire college experience, it would have to be History 150. I'll never forget the day I walked into the huge lecture classroom. My professor stood in front of us and the minute she started talking I was drawn in. The professor's name: Dr. Malone.
I think Malone's History 150 class is quite possibly the most fulfilling and exciting class anyone could take at Ball State University. It's the way she teaches her class. Her voice is filled with passion, enthusiasm and animation. Suddenly, learning about European battles and history was thrilling because of the way she presented it. She truly brought history to life.
She'd teach in a nontraditional sort of way, using art, music and literature to enhance her lectures. Her notes and tests were straight forward, no tricks to agitate my mind. And when she described the French Revolution, she made it appear like an intriguing story. I think the reason Malone is such a prestigious, exhilarating professor is because she feels what she is saying is something essential to life and must be remembered. She cares about what she talks about and it is obvious she loves what she does.
I was curious to know many things about Malone, so I set up an interview with her and I learned many things about her life.
Malone's childhood dream was to become a buyer for Bloomingdales. She originally went to SUNY Albany intending to get a business degree to fulfill this dream. However, finding that she was excelling in her English class, she would end up majoring in English, with a minor in history. She would also receive her master's in history from SUNY Albany, and then receive her Ph.D in history from the University of Rochester.
However, these were only minor details that built the foundation for Malone's love for history. She would take a Victorian novel class when she realized, "you couldn't understand Victorian novels if you weren't aware of all the changes that were going on in 19th century Britain. Changes related to industrialization." And so she would decide to become a social and cultural historian.
One of her favorite sections of history is modern Britain, with a focus on the 20th century. She is particularly interested in the subject of war and society.
Malone has fulfilled many achievements besides teaching. She published her first book in 2003, which revolve around the creation of labor laws to protect women workers in Great Britain. It focused on the regulation of women's work in trades that were considered dangerous for them. This was the first book to be done on dangerous trade regulations. All her research was conducted in England.
When discussing her idea for her third book, she races across the office and pulls a light silk coral shirt from behind the door and lays it out on the desk. She tells me the topic for her third book is going to be on the British government's fashion scheme - the Utility scheme - launched during World War II.
All this research to create these books sounded like an intense workload.
"Being a historian is like being a detective," she said. "You get a little clue, you follow up on that clue and hopefully you get another clue. You just go through all these different sources until you've compiled all these different clues to answer the question that you're interested in."
The problem with society is people don't think history is exciting. They think history is just dates and facts thrown into a textbook. But I beg to differ. As Malone describes, there is always something more to be learned. In fact, you could be the first person to write on a subject in history. The idea of learning about something that is forever changing is mesmerizing to me.
Malone is most intrigued with social history, the kind of history that focuses on ordinary people and the experiences of everyday life.
But a piece of history that Malone really loves is the legendary band, The Who. Roger Daltrey was her idol. Our interview is wrapped up with one of her favorite quotes by this so-called god: "rock n'roll was my savior." And once again, I am fascinated by the vast amount of information Malone has yet to teach.
Write to Meira at mabienstock@bsu.edu
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