The 5th Annual Jerrell H. Shofner Lecture Series
October 20, 2017 The History Department hosted the annual Jerrell H. Shofner lecture series covering Florida culture and history earlier this week. Nearly 100 students, faculty and alumni attended this year’s lecture as guest speaker, Gary. R. Mormino, discussed “Florida and the Age of Terror.” Mormino explored Florida as it navigated its way...
Student Highlight: Rachael Rothstein-Safra, Knight of Distinction
October 19, 2017 Senior history major Rachael Rothstein-Safra was recently recognized as a Knight of Distinction. The Knights of Distinction Program highlights students who participate in experiences that allow them to apply knowledge learned within the classroom to real world situations and environments. You can read more about Rachael as she reflects on...
History Professor focuses on the Space Industry in Orlando Sentinel Column
October 19, 2017 The Orlando Sentinel featured visiting assistant professor, Yanek Mieczkowski in an online op-ed. In this piece, Professor Mieczkowski comments on the recent SpaceX launch of the Falcon 9 rocket and how it plays to what former president Eisenhower envisioned for the future of the Space Age. You can read Professor...
Professor Luis Martínez-Fernández shares insight into Puerto Rican Migration to Florida
October 19, 2017 Almost a month after Hurricane Maria, much of the island of Puerto Rico is still without power. Significant infrastructure damage and limited resources have given many Puerto Ricans reason enough to relocate to the U.S. mainland. UCF history Professor Luis Martínez-Fernández discusses a potential mass migration to the state of...
UCF Honors College documentary about the notorious "Johns Committee" to air on WUCF-TV Thursday, October 19th at 10:30pm
October 11, 2017 Fifty years ago, Florida’s Legislative Investigative Committee, led by Senator Charley Johns sought to remove homosexuals from Florida’s state universities. As a result of the “Johns Committee’s” efforts, more than 200 gay and lesbian students and teachers were expelled or fired. Featuring two of the victims and one interrogator, The...
Experiencing Chinese Culture through the Local Community
October 11, 2017 Students from Dr. Hong Zhang’s Chinese history class attended a local celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Also referred to as the Moon Festival, it’s one of the most important Chinese festivals and takes place when the moon is at its brightest during the lunar calendar. “Seeing the diverse array of...
Rebuilding Puerto Rico, From a Historian's Perspective
October 03, 2017 Central Florida is home to one of the world’s highest concentrations of Puerto Ricans. Almost two weeks since Hurricane Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico, efforts to grasp to magnitude of the devastation are still underway. In a recent interview, Professor Luis Martínez-Fernández, historian and expert on the Hispanic Caribbean,...
Important New Volume on the Jewish Enlightenment: The Maskil in our Time: Studies in Honor of Moshe Pelli
September 22, 2017 Three scholars, namely Zev Garber, Lev Hakak, and Shmuel Katz have recently undertaken to edit a jubilee volume (Festschrift) in honor of Moshe Pelli, authority on the Hebrew Haskalah (the Jewish Enlightenment), as well as longtime Director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Judaic Studies and the Abe and Tess Wise...
UCF Community Veterans History Project receives The Anne J. Caudal Foundation Grant
September 06, 2017 The UCF Community Veterans History Project, coordinated by the History Department’s Dr. Barbara Gannon, has been awarded the Anne J. Caudal Foundation Grant. The Anne J. Caudal Foundation’s grant helps to fund the UCF CVHP’s efforts to collect the stories of veterans in the Central Florida community as well as...
History Professor receives Community Based Research Grant
August 31, 2017 Dr. Rosalind Beiler, Associate Professor of History, received a Community Based Research Grant from the Office of Research and Community Engagement at the Burnett Honors College to partner with History Revealed, Inc., a historical research organization that focuses the public education of lesser-known groups of people from the past. The...
Faculty Summer Research Spotlight: Dr. Yovanna Pineda
August 03, 2017 The Harvester: The Memories behind the Machinery Dr. Yovanna Pineda spent three weeks in Argentina directing her documentary The Harvester. Joining her was Professor Scott Launier, UCF Department of Writing and Rhetoric, who assisted with filming, lighting, and driving through towns and cities in Santa Fé province to record interviews,...
Summer Internship Spotlight: Brandon Nightingale
August 03, 2017 History graduate student Brandon Nightingale is currently interning at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. His work this summer focuses on researching and developing WWI White Papers that will become interpretations for future exhibitions, identifying replacements for Gallery Loans and conducting research relative to African...
Dr. Scot French named one of Winter Park's Most Influential People
July 27, 2017 Associate Professor of History and Director of Public History, Scot French was recently recognized as one of Winter Park Magazine’s Most Influential People for 2017. Read why “The Historian” was selected by clicking here.
UCF History Alumni Spotlight: Where Are They Now: Meghan Ashley Vance, UCF BA in History, 2011 and MA in Public History, 2015
July 17, 2017 UCF History Alumni Spotlight: Where Are They Now Meghan Ashley Vance, UCF BA in History, 2011 and MA in Public History, 2015 Since completing her MA in Public History at UCF, Meghan Ashley Vance continues her work in Digital History and Preservation at the Morse Museum in Winter Park, FL....
UCF History Alumni Spotlight: Where Are They Now: Albert Tellez, UCF Class of 2016 – BA in History
June 30, 2017 UCF History Alumni Spotlight: Where Are They Now Albert Tellez, UCF Class of 2016 – BA in History After completing a history internship at the Museum of Military History in Kissimmee, FL, alumna Albert Tellez served as the museum’s Historian and Curator following graduation. He recently accepted a position with...
UCF History Alumni Spotlight: Where Are They Now – Anne Ladyem McDivitt, Class of 2010 & 2013
June 27, 2017 UCF History Alumni Spotlight: Where Are They Now Anne Ladyem McDivitt, Class of 2010 & 2013 While pursuing her PhD in Public History at George Mason University, Anne Ladyem McDivitt is interning this summer at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. She is working on curatorial...
Citizen Curator Project on RICHES
June 08, 2017 RICHES (the Regional Initiative for Collecting the History, Experiences and Stories) includes a permanent archive of Resilience: Remembering Pulse and Pulse: A Consultation, plus five additional projects: Florida Pride and Shame by Amanda Polk; Black in White by Kimari Jackson; Literature for the Resistance by Jaclyn Crawford; Central Florida Pulse:...
History Department's Dr. Tiffany Earley-Spadoni has been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science
May 26, 2017 History Department’s Dr. Tiffany Earley-Spadoni has been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science. Her article, “Spatial History, deep mapping and digital storytelling: archaeology’s future imagined through an engagement with the Digital Humanities,” argues for collaboration between GIS specialists and digital humanists, as well as collaboration in deep mapping, digital storytelling and...
UCF History Alumnus Receives Florida Historical Society Award
April 26, 2017 Terrell Orr (MA History 2016) has won the 2016 Gov. LeRoy Collins Award from the Florida Historical Society for his MA Thesis titled “Conflict and Modernity in New South Florida’s Phosphate Mines, 1900-1930.” You can read the abstract for Orr’s thesis here. Named in honor of the late Gov. LeRoy...
Longtime UCF history professor Jerrell Shofner dies at 88
April 17, 2017 Read on Dr. Shofner’s career at UCF in the Orlando Sentinel by clicking here.