Le Sueur brings past into focus
Campus Times
September 26, 1997
photo by Alen Zilic
Dr. Jim Le Sueur, assistant professor of history, displays the work
of Chicago artist Christine O'Connor. It depicts Socrates, who sacrificed
private life for society and his work.
Each new school year brings new faces to the University of La Verne
and some include new professors, such as Dr. James Le Sueur who joins the
Political Science Department.
Dr. Le Sueur, an assistant professor of history, did his undergraduate
studies at the University of Montana. After graduation he began his career
as a photojournalist.
"I was a journalist when I started, and happened to fall into the
hands of some very inspiring professors, and I really liked to learn and
I liked to read, so this is a great profession [political science professor]
if you like to learn and read," said Dr. Le Sueur.
Dr. Le Sueur finished his master's and doctorate degrees at the University
of Chicago. He has taught at New Mexico State University, University of
Chicago and Grand Valley State University in Michigan before coming to the
University of La Verne.
"I love the area, I like the people, it's a nice college. It's
a smaller environment than most institutions, more personal and in that
sense it's positive," said Dr. Le Sueur.
Dr. Richard Gelm, associate professor of history, said, "We were
very excited about the depth of his experience. He has solid academic credentials,
and he is a very pleasant, articulate individual and we are very pleased
that he is here."
"What La Verne students get," Dr. Le Sueur said, is "an
extremely good education because they have that kind of personal contact
with the professors that at a big school you just can't get, it's the only
way to learn."
Dr. Le Sueur teaches Early Modern Europe, which is one of his passions.
In his upper-level classes, he teaches 10 students, which he believes is
a great forum for discussion and intellectual endeavors.
"It's challenging as heck for students because they have to be
prepared, have to be committed because in such a small environment they're
expected to participate," said Dr. Le Sueur.
He says he believes that history is not about learning facts or dates.
It is about the discussion of ideas.
Dr. Le Sueur said, "That's a hard concept for most students to
understand, that it's not just memorization where you have to go in and
memorize who was king here or who was queen there. It's just not like that,
even though facts are important of course, but there is a certain kind of
intellectual curiosity that is expected that is beyond that type of memorization
of facts."
Dr. Le Sueur is interested in studying about violence in the future.
He said there is no better method of studying violence than studying history.
"Teaching is a very unique profession. It's one of the only professions
where you should always be intellectually active, that's the name of the
game. You have to be intellectually active because that's what academia
is about,"said Dr. Le Sueur.
Currently, Dr. Le Sueur is studying Algeria, the North African country
in the midst of a civil war. He studies modern political issues and the
history of the political issues, which was the subject of his dissertation.
According to Dr. Le Sueur, history is really about learning, about "teaching
people how to interpret the past and coming to terms with and to think critically
about what the past means for themselves as students at the University of
La Verne."
He is writing a book on the French Intellectuals in the Algerian War.
He has worked on it for the last six or seven years.
"What I am most interested in looking at, is how do most people
come to terms with violence and how does violence impact the creation of
a national identity, that's the chief thing I look at," said Dr. Le
Sueur.
