2020 Graduates
Emily Calomino
A native of Fullerton, California, Emily Calomino, triple majored in Political Science, Psychology, and History, with a minor in Law and Legal Reasoning. She served as Vice President of Finance for SMU Program Council, and was a member of Psi Chi, Pi Sigma Alpha, and Phi Alpha Theta. A University Honors Student, studying history was part of Emily’s plan because it allowed her to refine her analytical and research skills while she established connections across various fields she studied.
Her most memorable moment was SMU Rome-Paris program, a once-in-a-lifetime experience: “I will never forget walking the streets of Rome and Paris with my classmates and seeing the breathtaking sites, ruins, and art with my own eyes. Whether it was touring the Colosseum or the Palace of Versailles, that trip will live forever in my memory.”
Her most meaningful accomplishment was finishing her Junior Seminar paper, "The Feminist Themes of English Women Writers at the turn of the Seventeenth Century," with Professor Wellman. “I will never forget the overwhelming moment of relief in submitting and presenting my paper,” she notes. She also found the study of the Modern Middle East and the History of Islamic Empires with Professor Ates most interesting for both classes focused on a region and area of history that she had little knowledge of. “Taking them in the same semester offered me a broad view into centuries of Middle Eastern history and its relevance to current problems. By expanding my scope outside of the US and Europe, I learned a great deal about Islam and the Middle East and I now feel more educated on the topic,” she says.
Even though Covid-19 has hindered her job pursuits, she remains optimistic and hopes to work in Washington D.C, on Capitol Hill or at a non-profit, because her History degree prepared her for that.
Aisha Ahmed
A native of Dallas, Aisha Ahmed majored in History and Biology with a minor in Arabic. At SMU Aisha was involved with Mustang Heroes, the Muslim Student Association, and the Amnesty International. She majored in History because at the start of her freshman year, she had enrolled in history classes for the sole purpose of getting honors credit. But, as the semester went on, she could not help but be drawn to the people, cultures, and communities she was learning about. Motivated to better understand the progress and struggles of humanity, her history studies helped her comprehend the different point of views.
Aisha’s most memorable moment as a History major was her internship at DFW World Affairs Council, where she was able to apply what she had learnt in her classes to the present state of political, medical, and economic affairs around the world today. “Due to my history studies, I was able to carry on conversations with various world leaders the Council brought in and come to my own conclusions about the world and the type of impact I want to make by becoming a physician,” she notes. Her funniest moment was mixing up the name of the author of Classical Democracy, Jennifer Roberts, with the actress Julia Roberts for several weeks as she juggled between writing a research paper and watching movies, including one of Julia Roberts. We do not know what her professor thought when she encountered Julia Robert’s academic credentials.
Aisha’s most meaningful accomplishment was learning the art and thrill of writing research papers, which allowed her to argue passionately and write about various issues critically. The period of history that most interested Aisha was the 20th century, as it enabled her to learn about what her grandparents and their parents went through. Aisha’s Junior Paper was about medicine in interwar Germany. She chose this topic as a future physician, but also because she thought it would be interesting to see the effects of war on one of our most important social institutions -- health.
Aisha is currently applying to medical school for Fall 2021. Meanwhile, she is going to complete a Masters in Science for Medical Sciences at University of North Texas Health Science Center. Aisha thinks her study of history will be immensely helpful in her pursuit of a medical career because her work with physicians and epidemiologists showed her that hard biological facts are not always enough to understand the health of a person and the healthcare they require. We wish her the best in helping to create a healthier world.
Melissa Calderon
A native of Dallas, Melisa Calderon double majored in History and International Relations with a minor in Spanish. Melissa was involved in College Hispanic American Students (CHAS), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Sigma Lambda Gamma Sorority, Alternative Breaks, Rotunda Scholars, and Phi Alpha Theta (the national history honor society). Since high school, History was Melissa’s favorite subject, and she wanted to continue studying something she enjoyed and that also would help her understand the world better. Naturally she chose history as a major.
One of Melissa’s favorite aspects of the history major was learning how to improve her writing and analytical skills. “My favorite part was reading thousands of books,” she says. “Okay, maybe not thousands, but definitely a good number of books about different historical topics that expanded my understanding of how history works.” She wrote her Junior Paper about “Medical Authority in Early Modern England: The Fight Over Midwifery.” Her most memorable experience as a major was the D-Day/Normandy program. “It was my first time going to Europe, and the program did not disappoint. I received an active learning experience that one cannot easily find in a classroom. I got to visit the same historical locations as those I had read about and discussed. Whether it was on the Normandy beaches where soldiers fought for Europe’s liberation or in the RAF bar at the Eagle Pub in Cambridge, I re-lived the history of Operation Overlord in a way that made me feel like I was actually present when it happened.”
Melissa’s most meaningful accomplishment as a major the opportunity to be an intern in the Archives of Women of the Southwest at SMU’s renowned DeGolyer Library, where she processed the archives of amazing Texas women. She worked with Samantha Dodd, the curator and a great supervisor, Melissa emphasizes, who taught her the importance of archival work. And so, equipped with great writing, critical thinking, research, and analytical skills, she plans to attend law school and pursue a career in Intellectual Property or Immigration Law.
Madeline Dixon
A native of Tampa, Florida, Madeline graduates with majors in History and English and a minor in Philosophy. During her time at SMU Madeline was involved in her sorority, Alpha Chi Omega, as well as Phi Beta Kappa, SMU’s Honor Council, and the Historical Society. She received the Larrie and Bobbi Weil Undergraduate Research Award, the Jacobus Junior Paper Prize in History, and the Herbert Pickens Gambrell Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement. She also wrote Distinction papers in both History and English.
Madeline says she always knew that she would major in History. “History was something that I’d loved throughout my life, and I enjoyed looking into the past to understand how our current world has been shaped by it,” she says, and she feels that the most valuable part of the major was the opportunity to learn from so many wonderful professors both on campus and abroad. Madeline’s most memorable moments as a major occurred while studying abroad with Professor Dowling at Oxford, where she learned so much about herself and history. Visiting museums that had no air conditioning and sketching (as sweat ran down her face) incredible artifacts such as a bust of Alexander the Great, the Rosetta Stone, and friezes of the Parthenon was quite an experience; it made Madeline feel as if she was a part of history.
Her most meaningful accomplishment was learning from Dr. Hochman in her junior seminar on Weimar Germany and writing her junior paper, “The Weimar Republic and the War of Memory.” Madeline later expanded it to pursue distinction in History. Her junior paper later won both the Weil Undergraduate Research Award and the Jacobus Junior Paper Prize in History! She actually was most interested ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt as well as nineteenth and twentieth-century European history (most notably Professor Hochman’s course on Weimar; and her study of those periods separated by so many centuries taught Madeline that, in many ways, human nature has not changed all that much.
After graduating Madeline will attend Florida State University’s College of Law. Her short-term goals are to finish reading “The Iliad” and continue her ballet lessons. Her long-term goals are to survive law school and become an attorney.
Carson Dudick
Carson Dudick is from Boca Grande, Florida. She majored in History and Human Rights on the Public Policy Track. While at SMU Carson, a Pre-Law Scholar, was active in the University Honors Program, the O'Neil Center for Global Markets, and the Freedom McLane Reading Scholar program. She was an Engaged Learning Fellow as well as an undergraduate Research Assistant for “The Voices of SMU Oral History Project.” She also served as Treasurer for Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity, as Co-Chair of Academics for Philosophy Club, and as a History Ambassador; and she was a member of Alpha Kappa Psi Fraternity, Delta Gamma Sorority, Fair Care, and Phi Alpha Theta.
Her favorite part of being a History Major was her University Archives internship with Joan Gosnell at the SMU’s DeGolyer Library. But it was her freshman classes and her exciting work with “The Voices of SMU Oral History Project” that inspired her to major in History. Running across campus with 30 pounds of camera equipment in 105-degree Texas heat to interview alumni for this project helped to make the experience one of her most memorable. American women’s history, with Professor Crista DeLuzio, was particularly interesting to her due to the content’s relation to her other major, in Human Rights, and her minor in Women and Gender Studies. For, consequently, she wrote her Junior Paper on “Eleanor Roosevelt: The Evolution of Public Opinion in the New York Times.”
Carson considers graduating in three years while becoming a Phi Alpha Theta member as her most meaningful accomplishment. In the fall of 2020, she will attend the University of San Diego Law School. She is certain that the study of History has prepared her for how to carry out research and to manage her time in her legal studies.
Siobhan Judge
Hailing from St. Paul, Minnesota, Siobhan Judge majored in History and Accounting. During her time on the Hilltop, Siobhan was involved in Delta Gamma, Beta Alpha Psi, and Phi Alpha Theta. Her original plan was to minor in History, but she decided to turn it into a major because she enjoyed the classes so much! Her favorite undertaking as a History major was SMU’s Study Abroad Program. She signed up for the highly popular Rome and Paris program, with Professors Melissa Dowling and Kathleen Wellman, and loved especially the on-site classes, along with the experience as a whole. More importantly, she is happy to have had unforgettable adventures in learning about ancient Rome and Renaissance France, including such rare opportunities as having as class at Notre Dame before the big fire.
Siobhan’s two most favorite classes were the History of Modern Germany, with Professor Hochman, and the History of American Consumer Culture, with Professor McCrossen. She found both of these courses absolutely fascinating, and ended up actually combining them in the junior seminar paper that she wrote, “The Rise of Consumer Culture in the Weimar Republic.” After graduation she will be launching her career at Price/Waterhouse/Cooper as an Assurance Associate. She previously completed an internship with that firm and found that she benefited from the writing skills acquired from History a lot more than most people would probably expect in an accounting role. Now, Siobhan says, “I am really excited to see how my History major will continue to help me in the future!”
Diana Miller
Born in San Antonio but raised in Dallas, Diana Miller graduates with a history major and two minors in Human Rights and Jewish Studies. She chose to study history because she was curious to learn about the historical roots of our nation, culture, and world. Perhaps her interest in history was innate, for her mother has a BA and MA in history.
Through her work in the department, Diana came to appreciate that the history major allowed her to consider larger issues and to learn to synthesize her thoughts. She was gratified to see her writing improve each semester as well. Those skills came into play in her Junior Seminar paper with Professor Erin Hochman, titled “Lesbians, The New Woman, and The Weimar Republic.” She particularly enjoyed cultivating her interest in German history with Professor Hochman and only wishes she had a chance to take still more history courses at SMU with Professors Andrew Graybill, Edward Countryman, and Melissa Dowling. A highlight of her time at SMU was her participation in the SMU-in-Oxford Program where, as she observes, “taking two classes, an SMU class with Dr. Dowling and an Oxford class with Dr. Mitchel is something I will always remember.”
Diana has no intention of leaving the study of history behind. She plans to take some time preparing for the GRE before applying to graduate programs in history where she would like to focus broadly on Canadian history and, more specifically, on the history of the Hudson’s Bay Company and Red River Colony.
Amanda Oh
Amanda Oh came to SMU from Arlington, Virginia, and graduates with majors in both History and Political Science. Amanda was involved in Student Senate as the Asian-American Senator and served on the Finance Committee member for which she was recognized as Member of the Year 2018. She served as Vice President of Asian Council for three years. Moreover, she was a member of Mustang Heroes on the College Bound trip and a small group leader in InterVarsity.
Amanda’s academic accomplishments have garnered many awards. Her research in the British Library -- for her distinction-in-history project -- received a Richter Fellowship and an Engaged Learning Fellowship. She also was in the University Honors Program and inducted into Phi Alpha Theta and Phi Beta Kappa. Her junior seminar paper, "The Latitudinarian Influence on Early English Liberalism," directed by Professor Kathleen Wellman, received both the department’s Jacobus Junior Paper Prize in History and Fondren Library’s Weil Undergraduate Research Award. Amanda’s outstanding work in the Political Science Department was recognized as well; she received the Arnold Fund Dennis M. Simon Award for Academic Excellence from that department, and the Herbert Pickens Gambrell Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement from the History Department.
Amanda majored in History because, as she puts its “In order to solve the dilemmas society faces today, we must first understand their causes.” She found Professor Melissa Dowling’s Ancient Warfare especially intriguing as it traced the development of the warrior ethos in the ancient world. She appreciates that her studies taught her to evaluate arguments and draw meaningful conclusions from a variety of sources. Her most memorable moment as a major, she notes, “was presenting her Junior Seminar paper and hearing about all her peers' wonderful research as well!” Her proudest moment was when her advisor, Professor Wellman, told her that she had passed her senior thesis defense with distinction.
Amanda will immediately begin work as a project manager at Capital One. Her long-term goal is to go to law school. “My History major has undoubtedly prepared me by providing me with ample opportunities to exercise and improve my reading, writing, and critical thinking skills,” she adds.
Lane Pounds
Having grown up in Rockwall, Texas, Lane Pounds did not have far to travel to come to SMU, where he successfully completed a History major and a Philosophy minor. During his time with us, he was extensively involved in the History Department as a stellar work-study student and in a variety of departmental activities, plus his membership in Phi Alpha Theta, the history honor society. To study history was an easy decision for Lane, for history books were his favorite reading material and history his favorite high-school subject. Lane found his ancient history courses highly engaging because, as he puts it: “Learning about cultures of thousands of years ago is interesting on its own, but Professor Dowling being such a great teacher helped make those classes my favorite at SMU.”
Lane appreciates that the history major taught him how to convey his ideas through effective writing and how to do thorough research. For his Junior Seminar with Professor Hochman, he researched the Catholic Center Party during the Weimar period of modern Germany, and wrote a major paper, “The Evolution of the Center Party in Weimar Germany: From Republican to Conservative Politics.” He expanded his research into project that won for departmental distinction in history. “My most memorable and proudest moment in history major,” he notes, “was learning I had successfully completed my distinction project.”
Lane’s post-graduate plans look forward to further study in graduate school or law school. In either case, he recognizes “the History major prepared me for either of these by giving me the research, writings, and presentation skills necessary to succeed.”
Garrett Sciortino
Garrett Sciortino came to SMU from Laguna Beach, California, and graduates with double majors in History and Philosophy. He was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, the Real Estate Club, History Ambassadors, and Phi Alpha Theta. Garrett majored in History owing to his first history course with Professor Ariel Ron, on the causes of the Civil War. As he remembers, “This class captivated my attention and made me consider a major in History.” Persuaded by the success of history majors in achieving high LSAT scores, Garrett concluded that the major would be the most beneficial for his future legal career. He has also enjoyed his relationships with professors and his fellow majors, which he hopes will continue. He comments on the springtime transition to Zoom classes: “I would have never imagined that I would be learning at home, but it was entertaining seeing all my professors’ various pets and animals before class.”
Garrett cites three courses as especially meaningful to him: He had not known much about African history before his class with Professor Jill Kelly, whose teaching style was inspiring. Dr. Ron’s course, about the different interpretations of the causes of the Civil War, “made me realize that history was not as straightforward as I once thought.” His senior seminar in Mexican-American History with Professor John Chavez was especially important. He says, “I can say that I am a lot more confident in my abilities as a student following that class and I thank Dr. Chavez for pushing me the way that he did.”
Garrett’s proudest moment was when a research guide he produced was posted to the Texas Archival Resources Online (TARO) database during his internship at DeGolyer Library. “The project that I undertook became the topic for my admissions essay for law school, and so I was really happy that the History department gave me the opportunity to work with Joan Gosnell that semester,” he notes.
Garrett will attend Loyola Marymount University Law. He hopes ultimately to become a general counsel as a contract and negotiation attorney for some corporation. “My history degree has definitely prepared me for my future career because I am now an efficient reader and writer,” he said. “I am confident that I will be able to achieve my goals because of the countless readings that have been assigned over these past four years.”
Michael Seaman
Michael came to SMU from Simsbury, Connecticut. He majored in History and minored in Economics. He was actively involved in Alpha Kappa Psi, the professional business fraternity, from 2017-2020, and served on its executive board from 2018 to 2020. He was an Ambassador for the History Department and a member of the SMU Retail Club (2016-20), and was inducted into Phi Alpha Theta, the history Honor Society.
Michael has always been research minded and enjoyed history classes in high school. While at SMU, he initially thought he was going to minor in History, but the classes he took in his freshmen year persuaded him to pursue his passion whole-heartedly and major in it. Along with the support from the Department, he found the wide variety of captivating courses it offered every semester to be the most valuable part of being History major.
His most memorable experience as a major was participating in the SMU-in-Normandy program, led by Professor Jeffrey Engel. “Being able to learn and visit the historical sites of the Allied invasion of Normandy during World War II is something that was invaluable, and I will cherish my time in the program forever,” he says. He also enjoyed immensely his courses on the Soviet Union with Professor Orlovsky. Michael’s favorite historical topic has always been World War II and his first class with him sparked a new-found interest in Soviet History. As for his most meaningful accomplishment as a major, he points proudly to his Junior paper, “Objection to Military Service During World War II and Vietnam,” for Professor Engel’s seminar, “At War and Peace in the Era of FDR.” After an entire semester of researching and writing, Michael attests, pressing the send button on the email with his paper attached to it “came with both a sigh of relief and a gratifying feeling.”
After graduation, Michael will attend Wake Forest University to pursue a Master’s degree in Accountancy, concentrating in Financial Transaction Services. His goal is to work in the financial due diligence sector and assist with mergers and acquisitions of growing companies. “I would like to see myself finishing a career in Financial Due Diligence,” he says, and then possibly become “either a high school or middle school history teacher.”
Heather Brooke Smith
Reared in Houston, Texas, Heather forged an undergraduate program built around an array of her own interests. She majored in both History and Art History, and completed minors in European Studies, Medieval Studies, and Italian Area Studies. Heather’s unforgettable trip to Italy was an integral part of it. In Florence and Rome, her visits to the Uffizi, the Borghese, and the Vatican Museums gave her invaluable opportunities to observe the architecture of both grand cities and to sharpen her Italian language skills.
Heather was an active participant in many organizations, including the Historical Society, Classical Studies Club, Medieval Club, and the Italian Club. She enjoyed her time with the Mustang Ballroom Dance team, and she also took on leadership roles, first as Event Coordinator, then as President, and finally as Captain. She also served as a history intern and as the student assistant for the Special Collections Department at Bridwell Library.
Her academic accomplishments garnered significant recognition: Along with making Phi Beta Kappa, Heather has been inducted into the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Phi Alpha Theta (the History Honor Society) and Eta Sigma Phi (the Classical Studies Honor Society). She also received the 2020 Art History Division Outstanding Senior Award.
Heather’s history classes defined her passion. As she says, “Studying didn’t feel like work because I was genuinely interested in what I was doing.” She appreciated the chance to study different geographical regions, time periods, and cultures alike -- ranging from Ancient Greece and Rome to Weimar Germany. The latter period was the focus of her junior seminar paper “Putting the Bauhaus in the Doghouse: Art and Politics in Germany 1870s – 1930s,” which she wrote for Professor Erin Hochman.
Many of Heather’s most memorable moments as a History major took place in Professor Dowling’s Age of Augustine; as she describes it, the class would go off on “tangents about the elements of propaganda in Virgil’s Aeneid or Horace’s poetry or Ovid’s Metamorphoses; or we would argue which was objectively the most horrible form of torture in Ancient Rome; or we would start praising Augustus’s political savvy. Then, too, she adds, “Everyone’s individual presentations were both incredibly interesting and engaging as well as often quite humorous.” This was often the case. “My cheeks were often sore from smiling and laughing by the end of our classes,” she reminisces. “You know you are surrounded by passionate history majors when all the jokes involve research from primary sources.” It was “an amazing journey that I will treasure always especially due to the wonderful History Department professors.”
In fall 2020, Heather will attend Tufts University in Boston to pursue a master’s degree in History and Museum Studies. Her long-term goal is to work in a museum, possibly as an education/outreach curator.
Sydney Snowden
Sydney majored in Political Science and History and minored in Arabic. At SMU she was involved in Mustang Heroes, Student Foundations, Relay for Life, the Hunt Leadership Scholars Program, Hilltop Scholars Program, Pi Beta Phi, The BIG Event, the Pre-Law Scholars Program, History Department Ambassadors, and Phi Alpha Theta. In her junior year she finished her Political Science requirements and almost all of the History major requirements by simply taking those classes because she liked them.
Sydney notes, “The most valuable part of my History major was undoubtedly the opportunity to work with such unique and intelligent professors.” Her political science interests specifically led her to take Jeffrey Engel’s “President’s at War” class as a freshman -- her first History class at SMU. In her junior year, she was able to take the D-Day course with Professors Engel and DeToy and walk the beaches of Normandy and study Operation Overlord. It was a transformative moment in her academic career. Sydney continued her work in Dr. Engel’s Junior Seminar. Her research paper, “The Remarkable Journey,” analyses the unique alliance between President Franklin Roosevelt and King Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia during World War II. “Dr. Engel has continued to mentor me and advise me as I gear up for the ‘real world’ and face all of the scary ‘what-ifs’ that doing so may entail,” she says.
Her funniest but also most memorable moment as a History major was her Age of Augustus class with Professor Dowling. During the first class everybody seemed to be an expert on Rome, and Sydney wondered, “What in the world have I gotten myself into?” Nonetheless, the class became an unforgettable learning experience.
Sydney’s proudest accomplishment as a major was finishing her junior paper. She was able to combine all of her fields of study and create a work she could call her own to show what she had learned at SMU. She aspires to work in international relations and help shape the strategic and security studies of the United States.
Barrett Stout
From McKinney, Texas, Barrett Stout graduated with a B.A. in History and a B.S. in Anthropology, with minors in Spanish, Human Rights, and European Studies. She was an undergraduate research assistant in the SMU Archaeology Research Collections and a student worker at the Meadows Museum, as well as a Resident Assistant in Cockrell-McIntosh Commons, where she lived for all four years. She was also a History Ambassador, a Program Assistant for the 2019 SMU-in-Oxford program, a Marr Scholar for undergraduate research, and a member of Phi Alpha Theta, the History Honor Society, and Lambda Alpha, the Anthropology Honor Society; and she participated in the University Honors Program, the Meadows Museum Student Collective, and the Anthropology Club. In appreciation of her wonderful work she received from the History Department the annual Stanton Sharp Award for Outstanding Service and Academic Achievement.
Barrett came to SMU aspiring to major only in History. She thought she would become a high school teacher; but then, during her sophomore year, she added Anthropology and decided that she wanted to become a historical archaeologist. She realized that combining the Anthropology and History meant that she could both contribute to the historical record and to our understanding of the past. Her favorite part of the History major was the palpable sense of community that it offered to students. Volunteering as a History Ambassador, for instance, introduced her to a lot of other people in the major and afforded the opportunity to connect students interested in majoring or minoring in History with the rest of the department.
Barret’s most memorable moment as a major was probably the Battle Proms concert during the Oxford program. “It was a local event with cannons and music and a “Spitfire” flyover -- a history lover’s ideal day.” Her major led her to two happy summers in England and thus to her most meaningful accomplishment in History. She spent the summer of 2018 as a student in Oxford; and then she was hired to be a Program Assistant there in summer 2019. “The Oxford program was my favorite experience. I got to help other students have the same opportunity and make their experience as meaningful as mine was,” she explains.
The field of study that interested Barrett the most was 19th- and 20th-century Europe. She loved Dr. Hochman’s Holocaust class, which led to her Human Rights minor. She wrote her Junior Seminar Paper, “Mass Culture and Consumption in the Weimar Republic” for Dr. Hochman’s Weimar Republic class. Her first history course at SMU was “Civilization of India” with Dr. Ball-Phillips, “which couldn’t have been a better introduction to the major,” Barrett,” maintains. “We got to go on field trips all around Dallas, which I loved because it was my first chance to really explore the city.” She later audited the same class at Oxford.
Barrett is now doing archaeological survey work for AR Consultants, a company based in Richardson that does site mitigation and cultural resource management work. Her long-term goal is to earn a Ph.D. in Anthropology and work either as a professor or a museum curator.
Paige Wilson
Paige Wilson is from Frisco, Texas, and majored in History and Political Science at SMU. She was involved in Gamma Phi Beta, Best Buddies, Her Campus, and The Daily Campus. She was also an intern for the campus exhibit on Woman Suffrage at the DeGoyler Library. History was an obvious choice for Paige because she always loved the subject and learning how events of past events have shaped the world we know today. She also appreciates learning how to analyze those events and perspectives and to improve her writing skills, she notes.
Her favorite aspects of the major were the people she met and the intellectual and social community they created: “I love how the History Department is like a family and how all History majors know each other. My junior and senior seminar classes became really close and we still hang out. I love being able to send history memes to one another and talk about new shows.” Her most memorable moments occurred in Dr. Dowling’s Senior Seminar, where every class had hilarious moments, and the discussions made it a very atypical college experience.
Paige is most interested in 20th century Europe. She found this period in Russian history especially fascinating because it was so different from the rest of the world, and she liked learning about the political, economic, and social perspectives of Soviet Russia. Like many other majors, her proudest moment was finishing her Junior Seminar paper. For Dr. Engel’s seminar on Franklin Roosevelt, she wrote “The 1944 Warsaw Uprising and the Failure of the Grand Alliance,” based on research on the different responses of the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union to the uprising.
Perhaps not surprisingly, after graduation she will apply to graduate programs in Russian Studies, and she plans to improve her Russian and study another Eastern European language. Paige’s long-term goals are to get her Ph.D. in History and either work at the State Department or become a professor!