During the spring semester, in addition to offering peerless classes in the discipline of history, our department was proud to award various kinds of funding for undergraduate research, travel, and internships through existing and new initiatives.
Working in conjunction with the Study Abroad Office, the department awarded Boyatt prizes to Payton Millikin for the summer UNC Life Writing in Ireland program; Meredith Hinshaw, also for UNC Life Writing in Ireland; Keely Curry, for the UNC Science in Dublin program; Jennifer Lao for the fall 2019 semester at the University of Melbourne; Daniel Ogunbamowo for the fall at the University of Hong Kong; and Katie Patton for the fall at the University of Aberdeen. Two students received funding from the new 398 Capstone Research award program: Klaus Mayr for travel to Puerto Rico related to his project “Exploring the Socioecological Legacy of U.S. Military Presence in Vieques,” and Edward Batchelder for travel to the Kennedy Library in Boston related to his project “The Inside History of the 1961 Berlin Crisis.”
This spring, the department launched a new competition for stipends to defray the expenses associated with unpaid summer internships by our majors. The first round of winners included Catherine Blake-Harris for her internship at the US Embassy, Madrid; Sarah Cheeley at the U.S. DA’s Office, Western District, Charlotte, NC; Mercer Brady at the Congressional Office of N.C. congressman Ted Budd; Kimberly Oliver at the Stagville State Historic Site, Durham, NC; and Aaron Sugerman at the Transatlantic Forum for Education and Diplomacy in London, England.
As always, the department was especially gratified to award three of its long-standing prizes, the Kusa award, Meador prize, and Frank Ryan prize. The Kusa award for travel and research by an incoming senior honors thesis student went to Kevin Gauch for travel to Tulane University and Louisiana State University related to his upcoming senior honors project, “The Debate over Reopening the Transatlantic Slave Trade, 1853-61” (directed by Harry Watson). The Meador prize for the best 398 capstone essay went to Kimberly Oliver for her work “Watching from the Windows: Women’s Suffrage and Institutional Support at Birth Carolina’s State Normal and Industrial College” (written for William Sturkey’s seminar on “Hometowns”). Last but not least, the Frank Ryan Chancellor’s Award for the best senior honors thesis went to Max Conley (co-advised by Morgan Pitelka and Miles Fletcher), “The World Whole: An Environmental History of Japanese Space Power.” The History department congratulates all its prize and award winners.
In addition to supporting students directly, this year the department also awarded three “teaching innovation” grants to faculty planning new and attractive undergraduate courses outside their typical areas of teaching expertise. These awards went to Ben Waterhouse for his proposed class “The History of the Computer,” to Michelle King for “Global Food History,” and to Lauren Jarvis for “Globalization since 1500,” which focuses key commodities that have shaped processes of globalization in the modern era.
— Brett Whalen