Current M.A. Students

This page is intended to give a sense of the range and focus of graduate student research in our department. Current dissertation titles for Ph.D. students are provisional. You may write to current students care of the Department of History, Herter Hall, University of Massachusetts, 161 Presidents Drive, Amherst, MA 01003-9312.

Jump to a page: Current Ph.D. Students | Current M.A. Students | Recent Ph.D. Recipients | Current Public History Students

Richard Anderson

Fields: Public History, 19th and 20th Century US Faculty: Education: BA, History, Northeastern Illinois University (2006); MS, Journalism, University of Illinois (2008) Interests: Historic preservation, the concept of community, and particularly the social consequences of urban planning, development and municipal policy.  As a public historian with a background in journalism I hope to combine oral history, museum exhibits and traditional scholarship in my research. Ambitions:

Erika Arthur

Fields: 20th Century U.S., Women’s & Gender History, Public History Faculty: Education: B.A. Social Thought & Political Economy, UMass Amherst Interests: I’m interested in the buildup of the U.S. prison industrial complex and how it intersects with race, class, gender, and capitalism. Also interested in labor and working class history (particularly in Anthracite coal country), oral history, GLBTQ radicalism, and anti-racist organizing and cultural work. Also love food, bicycles, books, my dog, and the ocean Ambitions:

Bette Elsden

Fields: Early Modern Europe, Medieval Europe, 20th Century U.S. Women Advisors: Jay Berkovitz, Anna Taylor, Joyce Berkman Thesis Title: Education: B.A., Judaic Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst Interests and Ambitions: I am currently working on religious and intellectual history in medieval and early modern Europe; my third field will incorporate my interest in Jewish and Muslim women immigrants to the U.S. in the 20th century, particularly those who came from traditionally observant religious backgrounds. My master's thesis is about Yiddish prayer books for Jewish women in early modern Europe, and is tentatively titled, "Proper Jewish Daughters: *Tkhine* Books in Historical Context." My non-academic interests include interfaith dialogue and education. Email: bkelsden@gmail.com

James Fiorentino

Fields: 19C US; 20C US; History of Science and Technology Faculty: Sigrid Schmalzer Education: B.A., University of Massachusetts; History Interests: My interests include the history and sociology of science and technology, American working-class radicalism, and pasta.

Kate Freedman

Fields: Public History, Early America, women's history Faculty: Marla Miller Education: B.A., History, Hampshire College (2004), MLIS, Archives and Information Literacy Instruction, University of Rhode Island (2007) Interests: Finding ways to use new media to help bring historical knowledge to a broader population. Non-academic: reading, watching movies, going to concerts, cooking, hiking, and spending time with friends.

Paul Gard:

Fields: 16th-17th Century Europe, 17th-18th Century North America; both with an emphasis on religion Faculty: Barry Levy and Brian Ogilvie Education: B.A., University of Wisconsin—Green Bay (2006) Interests: Religious freedom in Europe and America. I am interested in the connections between the Protestant Reformation in Europe and the religious experiments in the British North American colonies. Further, I wish to draw connections between that and the work of the 'founders.' I am a firm believer that a Republic cannot work without freedom of religion/conscience, speech, and the press. Additionally, I would like to advance a better understanding of American history in K-12 education. Ambitions: Earn my Ph.D., teach at the university level, and write.

Fields: 20th Century US, Science and Technology, and 19th Century US Faculty: Chris Appy, Larry Owens, Frank Couvares Education: Interests: I am interested in gender and the history of science and technology as well as social and cultural US history. I plan to eventually teach at the college level.

Rebecca Guernsey

Fields: Early American and Early Canadian history Faculty: Education: B.A., History and French, Vassar College, 2006 Interests: Material culture and architecture of colonial America, New England maritime history, interactions between English and French colonists in the 17th and 18th centuries, colonial folklore Ambitions:

Morgan Hubbard

Fields: 20th C U.S., U.S. military history, public history Faculty: Education: B.A., History, University of Maryland, College Park Interests: Race, gender and the U.S. armed forces, civil-military interaction, historic preservation Non-Academic Interests: Hiking, camping, science fiction Ambitions:

Tim Macuga

Fields: 19th + 20th century U.S, Soviet Russia Faculty: Heather Cox Richardson, Audrey Altstadt, John Higginson Education: B.A, History, University of Massachusetts Amherst (2005) Interests: Elements of spirituality, black nationalism and masculinity in the jazz avant garde (1955-1970), urbanization and machine politics (particularly 20th c. Chicago), political mobilization in the early Soviet period and post- WWII U.S, Cold War diplomacy. Ambitions: Research, write, teach at the collegiate level, expand LP collection.

Kelly Marino

Fields: Women's History, 20th Century U.S. Faculty: Joyce Berkman Education: BSEd in History, Central Connecticut State University; Connecticut Teacher Certification in History and Social Studies, Grades 7-12 (2008) Interests: The history of the Progressive Era, suffrage, women's rights movement, social reform, leisure, family, social networking, race/class/gender, and immigration.

Aaron Minton:

Fields: Early Modern Europe Faculty: Brian Ogilvie

Fields: U.S. Women’s History, 20th Century U.S. Faculty: Education: B.A. History, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2009) Interests: My interests include protecting women’s rights, preserving women’s voices, as well as analyzing the ways in which race, class and gender intersect in society.  I am also interested in researching the dynamics of violence in 19th century America.   Ambitions:I hope to go on to obtain a Ph.D., teach at the college level and write.  Email:amolina@history.umass.edu

Zamir Nestelbaum:

Fields: Modern Middle East, 19th C. European History Faculty: Mary Wilson Education: B.S., University of Massachusetts (1975), M.D., University of Massachusetts (1981), M.P.H., University of Michigan (1981) Interests: To integrate my background in psychiatry with ideological formation in the Middle East. Ambitions: To continue my studies, to write, and to publish.

Stephanie Pasternak:

Fields: Public History Faculty: Marla Miller Education: Interests: My interest in community history began during my years as an ESL teacher in a public high school in Boston where I worked with immigrant students on community oral history projects and adapted the Facing History and Ourselves curriculum to address student needs. More recently, my work with the grassroots women's oral history project, the Valley Women's History Collaborative, as well as the historical commission in Cummington, Massachusetts has raised for me questions about the role of the professional historian as an insider or outsider of a community as well as the impact the ethnocultural background of the community and historian has on the process and outcome of a project.

Kate Preissler

Fields: Historic Preservation, 20th Century US, Medieval Europe Faculty: David Glassberg, Max Page, Anna Taylor, Chris Appy Education: B.A. in History and English Lit., Bates College, 2003. Interests: Landscape, secular sacred, built environment, sustainability American identity, pilgrimage, spirituality, environment, and social activism.

Justin Shatwell:

Fields: Public History Education: B.A., Northwestern State University of Louisiana.

Fields: Modern Europe, Colonial Africa, Early American Republic Faculty: Jennifer Heuer Education: B.A., Union College, 2007 Interests: My interests focus heavily on Modern France. I am particularly interested in the history of French Republicanism, its birth and development, and the political adversaries that continue to challenge it to the present era. Currently, I am working on an examination of French memory of the Occupation and the Resistance through the recent controversy of the Guy Môquet Affair with Jon Olsen. Ambitions: To obtain my Ph.D., teach European history at a University.

Fields:19th and 20th Century US Faculty: Chris Appy Education: B.A., History and Political Science, Hamline University (2006), M.A., Political Science, University of Massachusetts-Amherst (2009). Interests: US Labor, with a focus on the New Deal and postwar eras, and US social and cultural history. Ambitions:

Fields: U.S. Social History, Interwar Europe, Gender Studies and Sexual History Faculty: Education: B.A. Liberal Studies, University of Missouri St. Louis Interests: Interested in the history of global communism and social theory, utopian thought, iconoclastic historical figures, and the sociology of technology. I am currently working on a historical fiction novel based on the life of Aviator Alfred W. Lawson. Ambitions:

Miriam Wells

Fields: Public history, 19th and 20th Century US Faculty: Education: AB, History, University of Chicago (2001); MS, Historic Preservation, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2009) Interests: Generally, the way that written histories or museum exhibits use oral histories, material culture, ethnography, and the built environment to tell stories.  Specifically, New Deal arts programs, public art and building, labor and trades, nursing, Progressive Era social programs and immigration. Ambitions: Website: maxwellstreet.blogspot.com

Eesha Williams:

Fields: Recent history of local newspapers and local radio news programs in the U.S.; 20th C. land use in rural Europe Education: Education: B.A., Community Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz (1997) Faculty: Laura Lovett Interests:: hiking, swimming in local rivers, my wife's organic farm, supporting the U-Mass grad student employee's union and promoting my book: see www.grassrootsjournalism.org. Ambitions: To be a history professor.

Brian Eagan, in memoriam (1959-2007)