On Tuesday, April 4th, seven History graduate students showcased their research at UCF’s 2017 Graduate Research Forum. The Graduate Research Forum allows students from all disciplines to share their research and projects through academic posters. Along with creating a poster that showcases their work, students are given the opportunity to explain their research, answer questions and gain feedback.
This year, MA History candidate Holly Baker placed 1st for Master’s in the Business Administration, Hospitality Management and Fine Arts and Humanities section with her project, Documenting Diversity: The Folk Song Collecting Expeditions of the Federal Writers’ Project in Depression Era Florida. Holly’s project looks at folk song collecting expeditions of the Federal Writers’ Project in Florida between 1935 and 1942. Holly argues that looking at these folk song recordings, Florida’s diversity is demonstrated and creates awareness and allows for public understanding of the cultural variety within the state of Florida. Her advisor on this project is Dr. Robert Cassanello.
Texts and Technology PhD candidate Abigail Padfield placed 1st for First Place Doctoral with her project, History Harvest: Teaching the Community to Preserve History. Abigail’s project centers on the impact of UCF’s History Department’s History Harvest events where members of various communities are invited to bring artifacts that are significant to their community to be scanned and digitized. Her mentor on the project is Dr. Scot French.
Along with first place winners Holly and Abigail, the History Department had several more graduate students presenting on their work. Below are the students, their projects and advisors/mentors.
James “Mike” Burke
Mining and Mapping the Mississippi
Advisor/Mentor: Barbara Gannon, PhD, History
Kayla Campana
Death Was Choice of Red Cross Twins”: Gender and War Trauma During the Great War
Advisor/Mentor: Amelia Lyons, PhD, History
Jose Flores
Pan Africanism in Harlem: Alfonso Arturo Schomburg and the Quest for Community Identity
Advisors/Mentors: Scot French, PhD; Richard Crepeau, PhD, History
Gramond McPherson
Parramore: A Community’s Representation in Public
Advisor/Mentor: Scot French, PhD, History
Sarah Schneider
Remapping the Social & Spatial Dimensions of ‘Home’: Château de la Guette Children’s Home in France as a Site of Memory for WWII-Era Holocaust Refugees from Germany and Austria
Advisor/Mentor: Scot French, PhD, History
Elizabeth Tammaro
A Hidden Talent: A Look at Sculptor Albin Polasek’s Written Archive
Advisor/Mentor: Scot French, PhD, History
For more on this year’s Graduate Research Forum, check out the College of Graduate Studies News and Announcements linked here.