UMass History Alumni Dinner 2026

The UMass History Alumni Networking Dinner brings together current UMass History majors with UMass History alumni who are currently working in a wide range of career fields. Students will have the opportunity to network with alums over dinner in a relaxed setting. This is a great chance to explore new career possibilities, to get to know professionals working in different career fields, and to start thinking about your next steps after graduation. 

Questions? Contact Career Advisor Dr. Jessica Keene at [email protected].

JAFFAR SHIEK

He/Him | Associate Attorney, Dunbar Law PC | BA 2017

Jaffar Shiek graduated with his degree in history from UMass in 2017 and earned his JD from Suffolk University Law School in 2020. He is a Boston-based litigation attorney who is currently an associate at a boutique firm where he mainly represents small to mid-sized businesses through all phases of complex commercial litigation. He also assists and advises clients with government investigations and internal business matters. Immediately after law school, Jaffar worked as an attorney at Berry, Appleman, and Leiden LLP in Dallas, Texas where he assisted blue-chip corporations in employment and immigration matters.

Outside of the firm, Jaffar is part of several different organizations, such as the Boston South Asian Coalition, where he works to educate, bring awareness and justice to causes that are local to the Boston area. Jaffar also works with Kids in Need of Defense as a volunteer attorney where he represents unaccompanied children seek asylum or obtain lawful status in the United States.

ALLISON SMITH

She/Her | Public Programs Manager, Mystic Seaport Museum | MA 2022

As the Public Programs Manager at Mystic Seaport Museum, Allison is responsible for concepting, planning, and overseeing public programs and events ranging from academic lectures to weekend-long festivals. Allison maintains the Museum's program calendar, plans long-term exhibit-related programming, generates marketing content, manages a programming associate, assists other department's events with logistical support, and chaired the Museum's America 250 Committee. Allison joined the Museum in 2022.

Originally from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, she holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Smith College, a master’s degree in history and a public history certificate from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is currently pursuing a leadership certificate in Arts Management through the same university. She’s earned certificates from the Eastern CT Chamber of Commerce Leadership program and Disney Institute’s Leadership Excellence program.

KATE FREEDMAN

They/Them | Librarian for History and Graduate Student Services, University of Massachusetts Amherst | MA 2009 | PhD 2018

Kate Freedman is the Librarian for History and Graduate Student Services at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. They hold a BA from Hampshire College (2005), an MLIS from the University of Rhode Island (2007), an MA in Public History, and PhD in Anglo-Atlantic History from the University of Massachusetts Amherst (2009 and 2018, respectively).

Before beginning their position as a librarian at UMass Amherst in 2013, they held internships and positions in a variety of history-related fields, including performing educational and collections-related work at Historic Allaire Village (in Farmingdale, NJ), the Litchfield (CT) Historical Society, the Newport (RI) Historical Society, the Amherst (MA) Historical Society, and the Emily Dickinson Museum (in Amherst, MA); as an archival assistant at the University of Rhode Island; and as an assistant and researcher on digital history projects at UMass Amherst and Springfield Technical Community College.

DENISE HERSEY

She/Her | Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning, Libraries, University of Massachusetts | MA 1992

Denise Hersey MA MLS, is the Associate Dean for Research & Learning at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Libraries where she has worked since 2024. She currently leads a team of librarians and staff who directly support the instruction and research of students and faculty in the many departments on campus. She has spent most of her career in academic science and health science librarianship, particularly supporting clinical research and education, and has co-authored numerous peer reviewed publications with faculty from across multiple disciplines.

Her research interests include systematic reviews, user experience, AI resources for research, and science communication. Prior to coming to UMass she held roles as the Assistant Director for Clinical Information Services at the Yale Medical Library, the Head of the Princeton Science Library, and the Director of the University of Vermont (UVM) Health Sciences Library where she was also promoted to a Full Library Professor.

ELIZABETH PANGBURN

She/Her | Humanities Programs Director, The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum | MFA 2015 | PhD Student

Elizabeth creates and writes at the intersection of public history, dress, labor and performance.  She is the Humanities Programs Coordinator at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, where she designs exhibits, directs the internship program and develops programming. She is the archivist for the Le Gip Archive, a historic clothing collection that preserves the creative production, personal clothing, and ephemera of Byron Le Gip- an African American fashion designer, dancer and drummer active in NYC from 1949-1985. In 2013 Elizabeth co-founded TheatreTruck, an arts collective and organizing tool that makes site-specific and mobile performance from the historical record in partnership with community organizations. 

She is pursuing a PhD in History at UMass Amherst, and holds an MFA in Costume Design and History from UMass Amherst. She taught dress history, costume design, and performance history, most recently at Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, UMASS Amherst and Westfield State.  She is a member of the LGBTQ+ History Association, the Interpreting Slavery NEMA Community of Practice, and the MuseumTen Museum Educator Working Group. 

JOHN MORTON

He/Him | Executive Director, Paul Revere Museum of Discovery and Innovation | MA 2012

John Morton is the Executive Director of the Paul Revere Museum of Discovery and Innovation in Canton, Massachusetts. He has a BA from the University of Vermont, a MA from UMass, and a PhD from Boston College. He has served as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Early American and Public History at both Boston College and St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. In the museum world, he has worked at the Astor's Beechwood Mansion in Newport, RI, the William Cullen Bryant Homestead in Cummington, MA, and the Ashley House in Sheffield, MA.

ROBERT LARUSSA

He/Him | Principal, Navigating Washington, LLP; Principal, Robert S. LaRussa and Associates Law Firm | BA 1976

Mr. LaRussa is a Washington D.C.-based international trade and national-security attorney who worked for two decades at the global law firm Shearman & Sterling and now runs his own law and consulting business. Prior to practicing at Shearman, Mr. LaRussa spent eight years in the Clinton Administration as an international trade official, including as Commerce Undersecretary for International Trade, one of the country’s highest-ranking international trade positions.

He held two earlier positions in the Clinton Administration, as Assistant Secretary of Commerce in charge of administering US trade laws, and as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the US Government’s global export promotion network. Prior to that, he was an international trade counsel in the US House of Representatives; he is an attorney and former journalist and a UMASS graduate of the History Department. Over the course of his career, he has negotiated numerous international trade agreements for the United States and for private parties. He worked on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as a Commerce Department official, the Uruguay Round of international trade talks as a congressional attorney and negotiated a number of trade and antidumping agreements for the United States.

MELANIE R. MEADORS

She/Them | Associate Editor, Biographers International Organization | MA 2023

Melanie R. Meadors is a public historian and history communicator who specializes in Ancient Rome as well as book history. She has a master’s degree in history and a graduate certificate in public history from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has taken part in internships handling rare books and archives at the American Antiquarian Society and the Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center at UMass. She has trained in the book arts at the North Bennet Street School in Boston, and creates hand-bound books with creative versions of historical bindings. She is currently the associate editor at the Biographer’s International Organization, where she edits their monthly newsletter, The Biographer’s Craft. Melanie is also a NASA Solar System Ambassador, the public outreach officer at the Aldrich Astronomical Society, and a science communicator who speaks at various venues.

ALISON RUSSELL

She/Her | Consulting Historian, National Park Service | MA/PhD Candidate

Alison Russell is a PhD candidate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her dissertation focuses on the social and cultural history of the U.S. Constitution. Alison is interested in how the document contributed to dialogue about and the formation of national identities in the early 19th century. The research encompasses the fields of intellectual history, gender studies, black studies and memory studies.

Prior to returning to graduate school, Alison taught 7th through 12th grade history, government, and women’s studies in Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland. She has contributed to the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Historic House, and the National Park Service. She is currently a Consulting Historian for the National Park Service’s Cultural Resource Office of Interpretation and Education in partnership with the National Council on Public History.

CHRISTINA POLETTO

She/Her | Freelance Journalist & Book Writer | BA 1998

Christina Poletto is a freelance journalist and book writer based in Brooklyn, NY. She often writes about design and real estate, and is the writer collaborator for various design books for Clarkson Potter, a division of Penguin Random House. Currently, Christina is working on a historical book about the popularity of mid-century modern style. A well-regarded and award-winning journalist, Christina’s work appears in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Architectural Digest, among others.

Christina also writes about the illimitable wonders of parenting a child with a rare neurogenetic condition and is at work on a book of personal essays about the experience of raising her son in New York City. Christina is grateful for the skillset that comes with earning a history degree. It has fostered a wonderful and flourishing journalism career which is rooted in research, storytelling and the ever-present desire to chase curiosity and ask questions of the world around us.

ELLIE COSTELLO

She/Her | Paralegal, Northeast Legal Aid | BA 2023

Ellie Costello graduated in Spring 2023 with a B.A. in History and a minor in Economics, with a primary focus on Latin American history. She was an Editor in Chief for the 2022 and 2023 editions of the UMass Undergraduate History Journal, and worked with Professor Joel Wolfe for her honors thesis, which examined the intersection of domestic banking and politics in early neoliberal Mexico. Outside of the classroom, she was a defenseman on the Mount Holyoke College club ice hockey team.

After graduation, Ellie worked as a housing paralegal for two years through the AmeriCorps Legal Advocates of Massachusetts program. She is now a staff paralegal at Northeast Legal Aid in Lynn, Massachusetts, working with low-income tenants to defend against eviction. Ellie will start law school this fall and hopes to continue her career in public interest law.