Faculty
Katrine Barber (Ph.D., Washington State University, 1999), Professor of History
Katy Barber has directed oral history projects for the Siuslaw National Forest, the Oregon Military Museum, the Washington County History Museum, and the Chinook Nation. She has also developed digital exhibits and organized public programs for the Center for Columbia River History, which she directed for five years. Her first book, Death of Celilo Falls, was published in 2005 by the University of Washington Press. She is also co-editor (with Andrew Fisher) of a special issue of the Oregon Historical Quarterly on the history of Celilo Falls and co-author (with William Robbins) of Nature's Northwest: The North Pacific Slope in the Twentieth Century (University of Arizona Press, 2011). Currently, her work has focused on the history of the Chinook Indian Nation and decolonizing public history practices. Her most recent book, In Defense of Wyam Native-White Alliances and the Struggle for Celilo Village, was published by the University of Washington Press in 2018.
Catherine McNeur (Ph.D., Yale University, 2012), Associate Professor of History
With a background in historic preservation in New York City and experience consulting on museum exhibits and organizing public programming, Professor McNeur teaches a range of public history courses at Portland State. Most recently she has taught public history laboratory courses on Portland’s Heritage Trees, where students’ archival research reached a large audience through apps, websites, geocaching, brochures, and walking tours. In addition, she has taught “Podcasts and History” in partnership with KBOO (90.7 FM) where students produced historical podcasts that were broadcasted weekly, learning the ins-and-outs of recording and editing, as well as program management and historical research. Partnering with WikiEDU, McNeur has had students create comprehensive biographies for women in science. She has also partnered with the Friends of Peninsula Park for a lab course on telling a more inclusive history of the park and surrounding neighborhood. In addition to public history courses, McNeur also teaches a range of other courses on environmental, urban, food, and American history. Her research is specifically on urban environmental history and her award-winning book, Taming Manhattan: Environmental Battles in the Antebellum City was published in 2014 by Harvard University Press. Her forthcoming book, Mischievous Creatures: The Forgotten Sisters Who Transformed Early American Science (Basic Books, 2023) is on the forgotten work of two nineteenth-century scientists, Margaretta Hare Morris and Elizabeth Carrington Morris.
Patricia A. Schechter (PhD, Princeton, 1993), Professor of History
Patricia A. Schechter is Professor of History at Portland State University, where she has taught since 1995. Her public history work involves oral history, archival collection development, and exhibits. Professor Schechter has worked on projects for the YWCA of Greater Portland, the Oregon Nurses Association, the Oregon Trail Chapter of the American Red Cross, and the Cambodian American Community of Oregon. Since 2007, she has been engaged in archiving civil rights materials in Oregon, including oral histories, in partnership with PSU’s Black Studies Department and leading families within the Portland African American community. One result of this effort, an oral memoir of Avel Louise Gordly, Remembering the Power of Words: The Life of an Oregon Activist, Legislator, and Community Leader (OSU Press), has been designated an Outstanding University Press Title for Undergraduates, 2011, by Library’s Choice. Her most recent historical exhibit was “Get it on Paper: Twenty Years of Street Roots,” at the Collins Gallery of Multnomah Public Central Library in 2019. Check out her complete Public History Portfolio online.