Fall 2018

Welcome to the fall 2018 issue of the Department Historian! I’m pleased to thank two graduate students in the department, Aubrey Lauersdorf and Melanie Sheehan, who wrote the articles for this edition of the newsletter, and to thank our faculty editor for this year, Prof. Eren Tasar, for overseeing the development of this informative snapshot of the department’s activities. Prof. Tasar is not our only faculty member in a new position this year: I’ve begun a term as Chair, and Ben Waterhouse has signed on as Associate Chair. Sarah Shields and Brett Whalen are continuing their valued service as Directors of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies. In addition to their accounts of initiatives in our educational programs, you’ll read in this issue about innovative new undergraduate courses, accomplishments by two impressive PhD alumni, our newest program of graduate study, and some of the ways that history students are working for positive social change. We also feature the reflections of a UNC alumnus who followed his history degree with a successful career in business.