Contact: Jennifer Snyder 386-822-7535 jsnyder1@stetson.edu Full Time Faculty: 5 Degrees Offered: Bachelor of Arts Our Graduates Attend: Boston College, Boston University, Boston University Law School, Brandeis University, College of William and Mary, Duke University, Emory University, Florida State University College of Law, Harvard University, Rollins College, Stetson University College of Law, University of Cincinnati School of Law, University of Florida, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Virginia, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin, Vanderbilt University Law School Our Students Intern at: Colonial Williamsburg, Daytona Beach Museum of Arts and Sciences, Heritage Foundation, History Channel, Jupiter Lighthouse, Mitrou Bronze Age excavation site in Greece, National Endowment for the Humanities, U.S. Army Center for Military History, U.S. Naval Museum, West Volusia Historical Society Museum

History majors frequently have a double major, the most popular being with Political Science, International Studies, and Russian Studies. The student majoring in history will develop both a knowledge and understanding of the past and present, and powerful skills that enrich any professional career.

Department Distinctions
History majors enjoy a high rate of acceptance of Stetson's Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) award, which offers support to a student to conduct a major research project during the summer, and of its Oxford Semester Abroad Program. History majors have been among recent J. Ollie Edmunds Distinguished Scholars. History majors have also received the Ann Morris Prize for Research on Gender the past two years and these same student recipients, Jake Blake ('03) and Julianne Farricker ('04), were elected by their peers to give the Commencement Address at spring graduation. Jake Blake also has the distinction of winning the Florida Historical Society's Carolyn Mays Brevard Award for the Best Undergraduate Florida History Essay, awarded for his "Integration at Stetson University: The Development and Failure of Stetson's Public Sphere," May 2003.

Faculty
Faculty members include:

• Eric Andrew Kurlander, Ph.D, Harvard University; Modern European historian and recognized expert on German politics and culture during the first half of the 20th century; has published extensively on German liberalism, nationalism, and anti-Semitism.
• David Shamus McCarthy, Ph.D, College of William and Mary; specialist in twentieth-century American history, with particular interest in American Foreign relations and the history of the Central Intelligence Agency. Currently revising his dissertation on the CIA into a book manuscript.
• Kimberly D. S. Reiter, Ph.D, University of Virginia; University of Virginia; Ancient and Medieval historian who specializes in the religious movements of the early Roman Empire and Roman Britain, and in environmental history.
• Paul D. Steeves, Ph.D, University of Kansas; Russian and East European historian who is one of the nation's foremost experts on the Russian Orthodox Church; has published extensively on the Russian Church, and monitors a website for the ongoing translation and transmission of articles concerning religion that appear in the countries of the former Soviet Union.
• Margaret L. Venzke, Ph.D, Columbia University; Middle East specialist and an internationally recognized expert on the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century; has published extensively on Ottoman Syria in the 16th century. Chair of the department.

History minors take the early and modern civilization survey and four other elective history courses. Total hours required for the minor: 18.

The department offers a broad and varied array of courses. Among these: Nazi Germany; the Holocaust; Modern Germany; The French Revolution, 1770-1815; Era of Conflict, Europe 1890-1945,;Europe Since 1945; Modern France; Seminar in European History; Eastern Europe Since 1815; World War II, A Global History; Early English History; Modern Britain; The Middle Ages; History of Ancient Greece; History of Ancient Rome; The Ancient Near East; Islamic Civilization to the Crusades; Modern Islamic Civilization; The Modern Middle East; Africa in the Age of Imperialism; The Far East--China; History of Russia to 1861; History of Russia Since 1861; History of Communism; Seminar in Russian Civilization; American History I; American History II; African American History; The American Civil War; United States Since World War II; American Foreign Relations in the 20th Century; American Military Experience; Modern Vietnam; Baseball--A Social and Cultural History; Environmental and Social Collapse.

Internship Opportunities
The Department offers internship opportunities at a number of organizations--such as the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach--, from which students have gone on to graduate work in public history and museum studies.

The Department also offers a field course to Great Britain every other year to explore the history of Ancient Britain and Medieval England and its preservation in modern British culture.

Career Opportunities
Recent Stetson history students have gone on to careers in academia and public education, business, government, politics and public affairs, the FBI, law, librarianship, and the museum world.

Alumni Highlights

• Ryan Lynch, History, 2009, is pursuing his Masters degree in Islamic Studies and Middle Eastern History at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
• Parker Redman, 2009, is attending Wake Forest Law School.
• Jennifer Shaller, 2009, is attending New England School of Law in Boston, MA, to pursue Human Rights Advocacy.
• Kara Doyle, History, 2008, is pursuing as a second degree, a Bachelor of Business Administration degree at St. Louis University as the quickest route to show full-time student status while she completes the requisite science courses that will allow her to apply to veterinary school.
• Todd Gibson, History, 2008, since graduation commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, has completed two training courses, at Fort Sill, OK and at Fort Jackson, SC, before being stationed to his first duty post at Fort Stewart, GA, from where he expects to be deployed to Iraq in November 2009 unless his unit is diverted to Afghanistan.
• Heather Smith, History, 2008, has just been accepted to the Museum Studies program at the University of South Florida.
• Caroline Kurtz, History, 2007, reports that in December 2008 she received her graduate certificate in Museum Studies from the University of South Florida, a program that included 'a great internship' at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota.
• Katherine Wright, History and Russian Studies, 2007, is currently employed at the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative in Washington, D.C.
• Hilary Gage, History, 2006, was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy at the end of 2008. She graduated from the Information Warfare Basic Course (IWBC) in Pensacola, Florida and is now pursuing a career as a Navy Information Warfare officer in Hawaii. This needs to be updated.
• Philip Handyside, History, 2006, entered a graduate program in Medieval Studies at the University of Cardiff, Wales. This needs to be updated.
• Jenna Zielinski, History, 2006, completed her master's degree in Heritage Preservation at the University of York, England, and since fall 2008 has begun a doctoral program in this field at the University of York.
• Alexa Clapp, History, December 2005, an Oxford program participant, is currently in her third year of medical school at the University of Florida and is receiving some scholarship aid.
• Sherry Kent, History, 2004, who was the history department's administrative specialist for some five years, earning at Stetson both her B.A. and an M.A. in Education (2005), has since been teaching Social Studies at one of the high schools in Deltona, Florida.
• Kate Saxton, History, 1999, is an associate attorney in the litigation department of Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale, and Dorr, LLP, in Boston, specializing in intellectual property litigation. She received her law degree from Boston University.
• Kristopher Reed, History 1998, reports that since 1999 he has been a faculty member of Seminole Community College, Lake Mary, Florida, where he teaches adult education classes.
• Holly Keris, History and Humanities, 1998, received her M.F.A. degree from the University of Virginia in 1999, and has since worked in a succession of museums in Orlando, Winter Park, Daytona Beach, and, currently, the Cummer Museum of Art and Garden in Jacksonville, where she has recently been promoted to Curator/Department Head

Among these speakers were: Dr. David Blackbourn, then chair of the History Department at Harvard University, who spoke on the impact of hydraulic engineering on the historic German landscape; Dr. Yohuru Williams, of the History Department at Delaware State University, who spoke on the Black Panther Movement; and Dr. Thomas Childers, of the History Department at the University of Pennsylvania, who spoke on one of the last bomber missions in World War II, one on which his uncle lost his life.

The History Department also hosted the Florida State Phi Alpha Theta Conference in March 2003. Stetson students distinguish themselves in both the state and national Phi Alpha Theta competitions, often winning the Florida best undergraduate research prize.

Scholarships and Financial Aid
The Malcolm Wynn Travel Scholarship was established to help majors travel to out-of-state conferences and present research.

The Evans Johnson Retention Scholarship is a need-based award given to worthy History and Political Science majors.

Department Awards
Annual awards include the Gilbert L. Lycan Outstanding Senior Award in History, the Gilbert L. Lycan Outstanding Junior Award in History, and the John Taylor Rhett Manuscript Award presented for the best research paper in History, all carrying a cash prize plus the inscription of the recipient's name on a plaque on permanent display in Elizabeth Hall.