Towards the end of a grueling job search, Arkansas State University (ASU) offered me a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor of History, which I happily accepted. My family and I will be moving to Jonesboro, Arkansas, July 15th. I will be teaching Mexican, Latin American, and world history.
Obtaining this position will allow me to further expand my research on Modesto C. Rolland, providing access to a regular salary, research funds, and a scholarly community conducive to producing quality work. ASU is also working on building a sister institution in Querétaro, which when completed, should allow even more opportunities for me to teach and research in Mexico.
I am currently revising my dissertation on early radio, the Revolution, and the Mexican state for publication. I plan to submit my book proposal within the next couple months. Although only a small part of the overall project, I do discuss Rolland's work as a communications officer for Venustiano Carranza and Rolland's work as president of the Central Mexican Radio League.
I am also going to start the first draft of the first chapter of the Rolland book this month. I am tentatively titling it "Child of the Porfiriato." I want to explore the time from Modesto's birth until the beginning of the Revolution. In addition to Modesto's life, which will be the main thread of this chapter and the entire book, I want to focus on the context that surrounded him, that is the Porfirio Diaz administration, life and development in the Baja California territories during the late 1800s and Mexico City in the early 1900s, education, engineering, and the expansion of Mexican nationalism and political unrest.
On another note, I know the Rolland family recently had another gathering in Mexico. Many of them toured the Plaza de Torros, which Modesto built in the 1940s. Modesto's grandchildren, Jorge Rolland and Deana Wicks, have dug up a number of documents and photographs of their grandfather's work on the stadium and of the designs for the Ciudad de los Deportes, which the stadium was a part of.
Construction at the Ciudad de los Deportes
Saludos,
Dr. Justin Castro
