I am delighted to step into the role of Director of Undergraduate Studies, taking over from Brett Whalen. Thank you, Brett, for your excellent work in this capacity over the past several years.
The History Department has been humming along this fall, propelled by our energetic faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students.
Chief among those enthusiastic members are the History Undergraduate Association (HUA) co-presidents, Grace Godfrey and Cody Constantine. Grace and Cody organized several events focused on building community among History students and anticipating their future careers. HUA’s November event featured members of the Career Mentoring Coalition (CMC), the network of graduated UNC History majors who advise our current majors. The CMC mentors offer crucial support for our undergraduates as they envision how to use the skills built through earning a History degree, whether they plan to enter the fields of government, business, law, education, or others.
Guided by our undergraduate students, the History Department also made a strong showing during University Research Week. UNC sponsored that campus-wide showcase of intellectual labors from October 10 to 14, 2022. Phi Alpha Theta president Emma Sinclair Powell organized a lecture by Marcus Bull, Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Professor of Medieval and Early Modern Studies in the Department of History. Prof. Bull’s fascinating talk, entitled “Why Sieges Matter to People: Malta 1565 and 1940-43,” marshalled compelling historical evidence including vivid images to connect the 16th, 20th and 21st centuries through the power of memory and narrative.
Four undergraduate History majors will make their marks overseas this spring. Studying abroad with support from Boyatt History Awards are Claire Loucks (Trinity College Dublin); Lawrence Weindorf (Waseda University in Tokyo); Jordanna Baldauf and Sarah Chocron (both Instituto Lorenzo de’Medici in Florence).
Closer to home, three undergraduates received Boyatt History Awards to support domestic travel for research on their History honors theses. Abigail Akins traveled to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. to conduct research for her thesis, entitled “Woodrow Wilson and the Black Army Soldier during the First World War” (Claude Clegg, advisor). Emily Orland traveled to Philadelphia to work in American Friends Service Committee Archives. Her thesis is titled “Meeting the Moment: How the Women’s Movement Impacted Anti-War Organizations and Peace Activists” (Erik Gellman, advisor). And Grace Taylor traveled to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. for research toward her thesis, which is titled “Advocacy and Policy Efforts to Address Maternal Health Disparities from 1960-1999” (Matt Andrews, advisor).
Our department’s undergraduate students continue to distinguish themselves with academic excellence campus-wide. This fall, fifteen History majors and double-majors were inducted into the Alpha of North Carolina Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest academic honor society. Congratulations to Carlos Daniel Barrero, Jared Philip Danaher, Justin Philip Evangelisto, Graham Paul Hill, Charlie Donald Hirsch, Kaelyn Rebecca Hixson, Jacob Antonio Hoechster, Sean Maxwell, Abigail Dian Mueller, Hunter Randall Nelson, Emma Sinclair Powell, Michael Adam Steed, William Gately Kagen Torres, Michael John Washington, Jr., and Christiana Hope Wayne.
Looking ahead to the spring, the History department will offer an array of approximately fifty undergraduate courses. From HIST 53, a first-year seminar on Traveling to European Cities taught by longtime faculty member Lloyd Kramer, to HIST 534H, an honors seminar on Slavery and the Civil War taught by our newest faculty member, Antwain Hunter, to our regular slate of dynamic lecture courses, there is something for everyone.