{"668448":{"#nid":"668448","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Meet Victoria Thompson, Chair of the School of History and Sociology","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAlthough we might pause occasionally to appreciate an aesthetic view, most city dwellers fail to consider how urban spaces help us build a sense of who we are, the culture we live in, and the roles we can play in society at large.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EVictoria Thompson, who began her new role as chair of the School of History and Sociology at Georgia Tech on July 1, is passionate about exploring these questions in her scholarship and the classroom.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe urban landscape isn\u2019t neutral \u2014 it has power,\u201d said Thompson. \u201cIt influences how people think about things like power and politics, democracy and human rights, and who gets a say in these things and who doesn\u2019t.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe skills and perspective students gain from learning and thinking critically about the past are vital for the 21st century, especially for students at a STEM- and technology-intensive institution, Thompson said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHistorians and sociologists study all of the context for technological innovation. It\u2019s where we get our knowledge about how people use technology and what their practices are \u2014 from how an innovation might be used, to how that can change over time, to how new technology can change our culture.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThompson says she was drawn to the Ivan Allen College and Georgia Tech because here, teaching and research in the humanities and social sciences are considered an invaluable and necessary part of technological and scientific innovation and advancement.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOne thing I want to do is help build interdisciplinary connections for the School. We have an amazing faculty doing really interesting work, and I\u2019m excited to help foster new conversations and opportunities for partnerships, programs, and more.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn her research on 18th- and 19th-century Paris, Thompson uses a combined cultural and social history approach that examines historical images, popular novels, letters, and city spaces to understand how people of that time thought and lived.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe tell ourselves stories about the spaces that we live in, where important things have happened in our lives, and we attach meaning and significance to those spaces and how they fit together,\u201d said Thompson. \u201cWhat I try to do is take that idea, which I think students can relate to, and then help them think about how people did that in the past.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThompson also encourages students to reflect on the similarities and differences between historical and modern society, while keeping the focus on the past. She uses historical images to start the conversation.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cStudents are adept at deciphering images in ways that often surprise me,\u201d she said. \u201cHopefully, you whet their appetites, so they want to know more \u2014 and you get them to think about images and pop culture critically, instead of just absorbing them.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn particular, she finds political cartoons, which became popular in the 18th century, help her students connect with more abstract concepts like democracy, monarchy, revolution, and individual rights.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHistorical images are a great way to bring students into the past and let them reflect upon the differences and make the connection with the present, without making it all about the present,\u201d she said. \u201cIt gets them thinking about how culture influences the way people understand and justify their political system and their role in society.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThompson joined the School of History and Sociology from Arizona State University, where she held positions including co-director of the Institute for Humanities Research and associate professor of history. In her spare time, she likes gardening and reading fiction. After 24 years of living in Phoenix, Thompson says she\u2019s enjoying the lush Atlanta city landscape. During the rest of the summer, she\u2019s looking forward to exploring Atlanta\u2019s many parks with her dogs, Meyer and Benny.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI want greenery,\u201d she said. \u201cWe visited Atlanta about a year and a half ago. We were standing outside, and I couldn\u2019t quite place this fragrance in the air. My husband said, \u2018Those are plants,\u2019 and I thought, OK, I need to get out of the desert.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EVictoria Thompson began her new role as chair of the School of History and Sociology at Georgia Tech on July 1.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Victoria Thompson began her new role as chair of the School of History and Sociology at Georgia Tech on July 1."}],"uid":"35777","created_gmt":"2023-07-12 16:14:06","changed_gmt":"2023-07-13 17:35:00","author":"Stephanie Kadel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-07-12T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-07-12T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"671162":{"id":"671162","type":"image","title":"Victoria Thompson, Chair of the School of History and Sociology","body":null,"created":"1689193199","gmt_created":"2023-07-12 20:19:59","changed":"1689193199","gmt_changed":"2023-07-12 20:19:59","alt":"a photo of Victoria Thompson in the Clough Commons","file":{"fid":"254174","name":"Victoria Thompson, Chair of the School of History and Sociology.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/07\/12\/Victoria%20Thompson%2C%20Chair%20of%20the%20School%20of%20History%20and%20Sociology_1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/07\/12\/Victoria%20Thompson%2C%20Chair%20of%20the%20School%20of%20History%20and%20Sociology_1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":13162222,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/07\/12\/Victoria%20Thompson%2C%20Chair%20of%20the%20School%20of%20History%20and%20Sociology_1.jpg?itok=8bsEmldy"}}},"media_ids":["671162"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/news\/item\/665587\/victoria-thompson-selected-chair-school-history-sociology","title":"Victoria Thompson Selected as Chair of the School of History and Sociology"}],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1288","name":"School of History and Sociology"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"147521","name":"HSOC"},{"id":"169352","name":"School Chair"},{"id":"2222","name":"chair"},{"id":"192832","name":"victoria thompson"},{"id":"192833","name":"victoria"},{"id":"192834","name":"thompson"},{"id":"168508","name":"School of History and Sociology"},{"id":"192835","name":"new school chair"},{"id":"192836","name":"new chair"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:stephanie.kadel@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EStephanie N. Kadel\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["stephanie.kadel@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}