Katherine Aaslestad, professor of history at West Virginia University, passed away last Saturday (April 24) at the age of 59. Aaslestad was a respected scholar, a caring mentor and adviser and a teacher devoted to her students.
She taught in the Department of History at the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences for 24 years and also served as the Phi Alpha Theta/History Club adviser for many years. She worked with colleagues across the University, serving as the Rhodes faculty advisor in the ASPIRE Office and collaborating with friends and colleagues in the Department of Philosophy, the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, the Honors College and beyond.
Born in Belfonte, Pennsylvania, Aaslestad earned her bachelor’s degree from Mary Washington College (now University of Mary Washington) in 1985 and received a teaching certificate from the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in the same year. She completed her doctoral degree in history at the University of Illinois in 1997 and joined WVU. Aaslestad was an historian of the long nineteenth century (1789-1914) in Germany. In her thought-provoking and award-winning scholarship, she analyzed the multifaceted nature of conflict and the experiences of individuals with that conflict, exploring how societies were organized for war and how they coped following conflict, how civilian audiences produced and consumed political culture and the ways in which war was publicly commemorated or purposefully neglected. She left a lasting mark in teaching as in research, winning the Caperton Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Writing and the Benedum Distinguished Scholar Award as well as outstanding teaching awards from the WVU Foundation, the Eberly College and the Honors College.
In a 2014 profile by the American Historical Association, Aaslestad said, “I believe history is one of the most important and relevant subjects for college students and enjoy my classes, especially when students realize the past is both amazingly interesting and complex, yet very connected to their own lives.”
“The Eberly College is both saddened and diminished with the loss of Katherine Aaslestad,” said Gregory Dunaway, dean of the Eberly College. “Professor Aaslestad epitomized the very best values in our faculty. Her scholarship, her teaching and her tireless efforts to serve her department, college and WVU are legend. Most of all, Katherine’s compassion and dedication to her students’ success was magnificent. Her contributions and her presence will be sorely missed, but we remain truly grateful for the impact she had on the entire Eberly community.”
A visitation for Katherine Aaslestad will be held this Friday (April 30) from 6-8 p.m. at Jenkins Funeral Home in Morgantown. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the funeral will be limited to family on Saturday at 11 a.m.
An online guestbook is provided by Jenkins Funeral Home where you can leave thoughts and memories for the family.