M.A. Alumni: Where are they now?
M.A. History Alumni Interviews
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Masters Research Projects
All M.A. graduates complete independent research; their project titles can be found below.
- Zoe Brooks, "From Coal Creek to Brushy Mountain: A History of Race, Labor, and Punishment in the Tennessee Coalfields, 1890-1903"
- Sterling Bryant, "Syrians in America: An Exploration and Analysis of Immigration, Race, and Regional Belonging"
- Mercy Dwomoh, "Pens of Resistance: Gender, Ideology, and Print in Ghana’s Struggle for Decolonization"
- Joshua Ewudzie, "From Infrastructural Selectivity to Political Obligation: Land, Water, and Colonial Governance in Southern Ghana, 1874-1938"
- Bernard Homiah, "Land, Law, and Colonial Improvement in the Gold Coast: African Responses and the Making of Achimota, 1894-1950"
- Madison Smith, "Between Service and Exclusion: Chinese Migrants and Boundaries of Citizenship"
- David Watkeys, "Roots of Resistance: A Study of Indigenous Cultures Challenging Colonialism"
- Miles Abernethy, “Rebels on the Margin: White Confederate Perceptions of Marginal Populations in the South”.
- Paige Carter, "The Body Unsettled: Illicit Acts and Settler Colonial Progression in the Eighteenth-Century North Carolina Interior".
- Kylie Edington,"Between the Sheets and the Streets: Mapping Queer Intimacies and the Politics of Pleasure in New York City in the 1980s."
- Kaylen Griles, "Citizens and Surveillance".
- Mason Keyser, "Making Memory in Early Twentieth Century Virginia: A Study of Tribal Politics and Civil War Landscapes".
- Hannah Schetselaar, “Remembering Colonial Virginia: Erasure and Representation in American Memory”
- Harless, Kaitylnn. "Our Strike in West Virginia": Women's Labor, Militancy, and Activism in the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strikes, 1912-1913"
- Kimball, Jared. "Die Süd Strategie: Politics of the German 48ers in Richmond, 1852-1864"
- Okoe, Jonathan. "Ayaresa: The Licensure of Native Physicians in Kumase and Greater
Asante During the Colonial Period, 1934 to 1957" - Pfeifer, Tim. "Back to Nature: Bernarr Macfadden's Antimodern Modernism"
- Renner, Elizabeth. "As if by Magic: Finding Some Comfort During the War"
- Christy, Miranda. “That We May Exert Our Influence More Powerfully: Race, Politics and Identity in Ohio’s Southeast Borderland, 1802-1865”
- Dean, Amanda.“We don’t want them in our schools: Black School Equality, Desegregation, and Massive Resistance in Southwest Virginia, 1920s-1960s”
- Evers, Sarah. “The Story of His Life and Work: Public History at The Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial (1945-1956)”
- Blake, Erica. “Negotiating Sovereignty: Resistance and Meaning Making at the Bear Mountain Mission in Early-Twentieth Century Virginia”
- Flanagan, Savannah. “Unruly Sisters: Moravian Women, Dissent, and the 18th Century North Carolina Piedmont”
- Pearson, Derek. “The Steep Climb to Low Earth Orbit: A History of the Space Elevator Community’s Battle Against the Rocket Paradigm”
- Adkins, Clay. “The Great Appalachian Flood of 1977: Prisoners, Labor, and Community Perceptions in Wise, Virginia”
- Brabble, Jessica. “Save the Babies: Progressive Women and the Fight for Child Welfare in the United States, 1912-1929”
- Montoya, Sydney. “Creating a Nation: Fiscal Policy, Expansion, and Protest in Pennsylvania”
- Olex, Benjamin. “‘The Painful Task of Thinking Belongs To Me’: Rethinking Royal Navy Signal Reform during the American War of Independence”
- Balli, Tyler. “Reading Zion: Book Cultures of Mormon Youth, 1869-1890”
- Legg, John. “Unforgetting the Dakota 38: Settler Colonialism, Indigenous Resurgence and the Competing Narratives of the U.S.-Dakota War, 1862-2012”
- Stewart, Emily. “Standardization, Segregation, and Professionalization in Virginia Public Schools, 1898-1917”
- Furrow, Heath. “‘We can do very little with them’: British Discourse and British Policy on Shi’is in Iraq”
- Martin, Kaitlyn. “Religious Practices in Classical Thebes”
- Walters, Kathryn. “20,000 Fewer: The Wagner-Rogers Bill and the Jewish Refugee Crisis”
- Wesdock, Ryan. “The Floatplane Controversy: Proscription, Procedure, and Protection in Carroll County, Virginia, 1992."
- Wild, Emily. “The Women of Waterford, Virginia: Gender, Unionism, Quakerism and Identity in the American Civil War”
- Boggs, Ellen. “That mountain is like a drug store”: Knowledge and Medicine in Southern Appalachia, 1900-1933"
- Brown, Katie. “‘When This You See, Remember Me’: Visual Culture and Civil War Soldiers’ Views of Permanence"
- Harmon, Emily. “Shaping the City from Below: Urban Planning and Citizens’ Battle for Control in Roanoke, Virginia, 1907-1928"
- Hemmingson, Grace. “‘This was a man’: Masculinity and Student Life at Virginia Military Colleges, 1905-1920”
- Atkins, David. “‘Perfectly White’: Light-Skinned Slaves and the Abolition Movement 1835-1865"
- Caprice, Kevin. “Won but Not One: The Construction of Union Veteranhood, 1861-1917"
- Cherry, Earl K. Jr. “Training Virginians: The Rural Training Schools of Virginia’s Segregated Education System, 1895-1955”
- Keller, Chris. “‘The Freshest and Yet Oldest Sound’: Flatt & Scruggs, Martha White, and the Negotiation of Change and Nostalgia”
- MacDonald, Jonathan. “Reel Guidance: Midcentury Classroom Films and Adolescent Adjustment"
- Nehrt, Jenny. “Promoting Positivity: Securing Memphis’s Image in Times of Crisis"
- Williams, Rebecca. “Weird Old Figures and a New Twist: Cultural Functions of Halloween at the Turn of the 20th Century" Additionally, Rebecca completed a video project as a part of the public history thesis option.
- Bolt, Carmen. “Dammed If You Don’t: The Palmertown Tragedy of 1924 in Collective Memory”
- Evenson, Sara. “Consuming Trade in Mid-Eighteenth Century Albany”
- Skiles, Debra Faith. “Building Cultural Bridges: American Women Missionaries in Korea, 1885-1910”
- Gogan, Claire. “To Play Jewish Again: Roots, Counterculture, and the Klezmer Revival”
- Nowland, Nicholas. “A Unique Hell in Southwestern Virginia: Confederate Guerrillas and the Defense of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad“
Profiles of Recent Alumni
Kaitlynn Harless
Hometown: Pearisburg, Virginia
Undergraduate Institution: University of Colorado Boulder
Research Interests: women & gender, activism, labor, oral history, and food studies
Research Paper Title: "Our Strike in West Virginia": Women's Labor, Militancy, and Activism in the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strikes, 1912-1913
What She's Doing Now: Archival Assistant and Oral Historian at the Charles M. Schulz Museum
Faculty Advisor: Marian Mollin
Jared Kimball
Hometown: Buchanan, Georgia
Undergraduate Institution: Brigham Young University
Research Interests: nineteenth century U.S. immigration and politics
Research Paper Title: Die Süd Strategie: Politics of the German 48ers in Richmond, 1852-1864
Post-Graduation Plans: Working in archival or a library and eventually pursuing a Ph.D. in history
Faculty Advisor: Dan Thorp
Jonathan Okoe
Hometown: Ngleshie Amanfro (Accra), Ghana
Undergraduate Institution: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
Research Interests: History of Health, Medicine, Science, African Diaspora
Research Paper Title: Ayaresa: The Licensure of Native Physicians in Kumase and Greater
Asante During the Colonial Period, 1934 to 1957
What He's Doing Now: Pursuing a Ph.D. at The University of Texas at Austin
Faculty Advisor: Matthew Heaton
Tim Pfeifer
Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland
Undergraduate Institution: Virginia Tech
Research Interests: U.S. cultural and intellectual history
Research Paper Title: Back to Nature: Bernarr Macfadden's Antimodern Modernism
Post-Graduation Plans: attending Duke University's School of Law
Faculty Advisor: Ed Gitre
Elizabeth Renner
Hometown: Longmeadow, Massachusetts
Undergraduate Institution: Virginia Tech
Research Interests: U.S. Civil War and environmental history
Research Paper Title: As if by Magic: Finding Some Comfort During the War
Post-Graduation Plans: attending Northeastern University to study environmental science and law
Faculty Advisor: Paul Quigley
Miles Abernethy
Hometown: Virginia Beach, Virginia
Undergraduate Institution: Virginia Tech
Research Interests: public history, war & society, nationalism, nineteenth century, Civil War era, history of Virginia Tech
Portfolio Project: Rebels on the Margin: White Confederate Perceptions of Marginal Populations in the South
Post-Graduation Plans: Park Guide with the National Park Service at Appomattox Court House National Historic Park
Faculty Advisor: Paul Quigley
Paige Carter
Hometown: Farmington, North Carolina
Undergraduate Institution: Catawba College
Research Interests: gender and sexuality, U.S. Indigenous studies, U.S. South, Colonial History of the U.S.
Portfolio Project: The Body Unsettled: Illicit Acts and Settler Colonial Progression in the Eighteenth-Century North Carolina Interior
Post-Graduation Plans: high school English teacher in North Carolina
Faculty Advisor: Marian Mollin
Kylie Edington
Hometown: Fairfax, Virginia
Undergraduate Institution: Randolph College
Research Interests: gender & sexuality, pleasure & leisure, and U.S. urban history
Portfolio Project: Between the Sheets and the Streets: Mapping Queer Intimacies and the Politics of Pleasure in New York City in the 1980s
Post-Graduation Plans: Admissions counselor at Hollins University
Faculty Advisors: Dennis Halpin and Amanda Demmer
Kaylen Griles
Hometown: Halifax County, Virginia
Undergraduate Institution: Christopher Newport University
Research Interests: American nationalism and citizenship, early modern espionage, the Republic of Letters, networking/network analysis
Portfolio Project: Citizens and Surveillance
Post-Graduation Plans: Pursuing a paralegal certificate in Florida and, in the future, a J.D. or a Ph.D. in Public Affairs.
Faculty Advisor: Rachel Midura
Mason Keyser
Hometown: Hot Springs, Virginia
Undergraduate Institution: Virginia Tech
Research Interests: the role of landscapes in historical bias, the resurgence of tribal politics in eastern VA in the early 1900s
Portfolio Project: Making Memory in Early Twentieth Century Virginia: A Study of Tribal Politics and Civil War Landscapes
Post-Graduation Plans: Writing, editing, and proofreading in Richmond, VA
Faculty Advisors: Jessica Taylor and Mark Barrow
Hannah Schetselaar
Hometown: Gainesville, Virginia
Undergraduate Institution: Roanoke College
Research Interests: colonial U.S., race, and gender
Portfolio Project: Remembering Colonial Virginia: Erasure and Representation in American Memory
Post-Graduation Plans: Currently seeking a position in public history, especially one involving teaching, research, and/or programming.
Faculty Advisors: Jessica Taylor and Dan Thorp
Zoe Brooks
Hometown: Appalachia, Virginia
Undergraduate Institution: Hollins University
Research Interests: U.S. Social History, U.S. Labor History, and Appalachian History
Portfolio Project: "From Coal Creek to Brushy Mountain: A History of Race, Labor, and Punishment in the Tennessee Coalfields, 1890-1903"
Post-Graduation Plans: Applying for positions in a museum setting (as of June 2026)
Faculty Advisors: Dennis Halpin
Sterling Bryant
Hometown: Lubbock, Texas
Undergraduate Institution: Virginia Tech
Research Interests: U.S. Foreign Relations, Cold War, Middle East, War and Society
Portfolio Project: "Syrians in America: An Exploration and Analysis of Immigration, Race, and Regional Belonging"
Post-Graduation Plans: seeking opportunities to work for non-profits that assist with immigration services (as of June 2026)
Faculty Advisors: Dennis Halpin
Mercy Dwomoh
Hometown: Accra, Ghana
Undergraduate Institution: University of Cape Coast
Research Interests: Ghana’s decolonization, Gender and Nationalism
Portfolio Project: "Pens of Resistance: Gender, Ideology, and Print in Ghana’s Struggle for Decolonization"
Post-Graduation Plans: Pursuing a Ph.D. in history at Rice University
Faculty Advisors: Jennifer Hart
Joshua Ewudzie
Hometown: Assin Aworabo, Ghana
Undergraduate Institution: University of Education, Winneba
Research Interests: African history, colonial governance, urbanization, and environmental history with a focus on water supply infrastructure in colonial Ghana
Portfolio Project: "From Infrastructural Selectivity to Political Obligation: Land, Water, and Colonial Governance in Southern Ghana, 1874-1938"
Post-Graduation Plans: Pursuing a Ph.D. in History at Vanderbilt University, focusing on African urban history, infrastructure, and sanitation
Faculty Advisors: Jennifer Hart
Bernard Homiah
Hometown: Ajumako, Ghana
Undergraduate Institution: University of Cape Coast, Ghana
Research Interests: Ghanaian Environmental History
Portfolio Project: "Land, Law, and Colonial Improvement in the Gold Coast: African Responses and the Making of Achimota, 1894-1950"
Post-Graduation Plans: Gain professional experience and enroll in a Ph.D. program
Faculty Advisors: Jennifer Hart
Madison Smith
Hometown: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Undergraduate Institution: Roanoke College
Research Interests: classics and the ancient Mediterranean, ancient cultures, post-Civil War (U.S.), Anti-Black/Anti-Asian racism in Southern US, religion in minority groups, Apartheid impact, 19th/20th-century US history
Portfolio Project: "Between Service and Exclusion: Chinese Migrants and Boundaries of Citizenship"
Post-Graduation Plans: Currently applying for positions in a museum setting, hoping to work in an archive or public history but is also open to teaching (as of June 2026)
Faculty Advisors: Paul Quigley
David Watkeys
Hometown: Bryan, Ohio
Undergraduate Institution: Virginia Tech
Research Interests: ethnobotany, medicine, psychedelics in society, substances and cultural change, Indigenous history, colonialism, American Buddhism movement
Portfolio Project: "Roots of Resistance: A Study of Indigenous Cultures Challenging Colonialism"
Post-Graduation Plans: seeking opportunities, potentially within higher education
Faculty Advisors: Edward Polanco
Recent Graduates Photo Gallery
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History M.A. graduates, class of 2025
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2026 M.A. graduate Sterling Bryant at commencement
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Graduate students from the Class of 2024 and Class of 2025
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2026 M.A. cohort
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2026 M.A. graduates Madison Smith and Zoe Brooks
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2026 M.A. graduate Mercy Dwomoh
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2026 M.A. cohort after hooding ceremony
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Faculty advisor Dennis Halpin and 2026 M.A. graduate Zoe Brooks celebrate her receiving the Outstanding Masters Student of the year award for the college
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2026 M.A. graduates embrace after their hooding ceremony