Walsh, James P.
Date Updated
6-30-2023
Department
History
Academic Rank
Professor
Year Retired from SJSU
1995
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Educational Background
University of California, Berkeley, History and Education, Ph.D. 1970
University of San Francisco, History, M.A. 1962
University of San Francisco, History, B.S. 1959
Teaching Experience
San Jose State University, 1966 - 1987
Senior Fulbright Lectureships:
University College, Galway, Ireland, 1972-1973;
University College, Cork, Ireland, 1980-1981
Scholar-in-Residence:
National University of Ireland, Galway, 1997
Administrative and Professional Experience
San Jose State University: Interim Provost, 1995
Dean, College of Social Sciences, 1988-1995
Chair, History Department, 1982-1986
Selected Publications
See a retrospective of pre-retirement (1995) scholarly books: "The Evolution of the Thesis...," in The Irish in the San Francisco Bay Area: Essays on Good Fortune; Donald Jordan and Timothy J. O'Keefe, contrib. eds.; Irish Literary and Historical Society, pub., 2005.
Post-retirement: SJSU history books: San Jose State University: an Interpretive History, 1950-2000 (2003) & One and the Same: the History of Continuing Education at San Jose State University, 1857-2007 (2006).
Publishing Awards of California Historical Society
- Best Interpretive Article, California History, 1971
Abe Ruef Was No Boss: Machine Politics, Reform, and San Francisco. California Historical Quarterly, Vol. 51, No. 1 (Spring, 1972), pp. 3-16 - J.S. Holliday Career Achievement Award, September 18, 1992
Excellence in Research & Interpretation of 19th & 20th Century California History, Published Works & Presentations....
Files
Personal Commentary
San Jose State's History Department enjoyed a tenured faculty of 46 when I was privileged to become a member in 1966. I worked closely with all and claimed friendship with most. The chairs and faculty activists established the standards for university governance and sound academic policies within the Department and through the University.
Members of the History faculty dominated all University awards and recognitions then. All the historians published within their diverse fields. The super stars included Charles Burdick (German military history), Harry Gailey (African history and modern military history), and Edgar Anderson (Baltic Studies). By invitation Anderson lectured to Queen Elizabeth II (in Trinidad) and Pope John Paul II (in The Vatican). Burdick accepted repeat research grants and residencies in Bonn from Germany's von Humboldt Foundation. (His triumph, though, was at home in a DMH classroom.) Gailey's sponsored research travels focused upon Africa and the South Pacific. Behind the glamour of such awards remained SJSU's adequate institutional support which then was capable of advancing the careers of all aspiring teacher-scholars.
In 1966 I hadn't a clue as to the professional and intellectual quality of the environmental into which I had fallen. Happily, I learned fast. The original 46 are now reduced to 5. Our run was wonderful, our service was substantial, and my satisfaction remains immense. jpw 6-30-2023.