Congratulations New Phi Alpha Theta Initiates!

On Friday April 13, faculty, students, and friends of the UAH History Department traveled to Rogersville, Alabama, to the "Castle," the home of Dr. Richard Gerberding, to celebrate the initiation of thirteen students into the Phi Alpha Theta national history honorary.

Congratulations to new initiates Diane Allaway, Jimmy Bedsole, Thomas Bockhorn, Winston Boyd, Jennifer Coe, Veronica Ferreira, Brittany Luchtefeld, Christine McIntosh, John McLaughlin, Alex Methvin, Christopher Paysinger, Jennifer Staton, and Daniel Taylor.

Several already initiated members also attended the initiation, including chapter president Whitney Snow, chapter vice president Daniel Lofgren, and Brad Lewis, John Michael Huggins, and Thomas Reidy.

The photograph, from left to right and front to back, features John Michael Huggins, Alex Methvin, Chris Paysinger, Veronica Ferreira, Brittany Luchtefeld, Jennifer Coe, Tom Reidy, Christine McIntosh, Daniel Lofgren, Whitney Snow, Daniel Taylor, John McLaughlin, and Brad Lewis.

Congratulations to all new members, and special thanks to Dr. Gerberding for welcoming over 40 people to the Castle!

2007 History Tournament

The annual Liberal Arts Tournament took place on April 12, 2007 in Chan Auditorium (for History and Political Science) and in Roberts Hall for Art. Nearly one hundred students from five schools (Ardmore, Catholic, Covenant Christian Academy, Hazel Green, and Randolph) participated in the World History and U.S. History portion of the competition, with awards given to teams and to individuals. The spirited team competition came down to a tight contest in which UAH history graduates coached the top two teams: Jeff Murphy at Randolph and Ann Lawson at Catholic (pictured here). By the narrowest margin in recent memory, Randolph won both history competitions, with Catholic High second. (Catholic won an equally close battle with Randolph in the Government competition.) Covenant Christian Academy finished third in the World contest, and Ardmore (coached by UAH history grad student Brad Lewis) finished third in the U.S. test. This is the first time that UAH history students or former students coached all three of the top teams in either contest. Kudos to Beverley Gentry, who pulled things together as she has in every Tournament since the first one, and in this case she rescued the day’s festivities by overcoming two daunting challenges: construction material (for a stage set) littered the auditorium when she arrived, and later in the morning lunches arrived much later than requested. Dean Sue Kirkpatrick and retiring UAH President Frank Franz, both long-time supporters of the Tournament, spoke briefly to the students.

Congratulations to our Student Award Winners!

At the Honors Convocation on April 10, four of our history majors received honors and awards. Daniel Lofgren received two awards, the "Outstanding Undergraduate Achievement Award" for the history department and the "National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Alabama History Award." John Michael Huggins won the "Outstanding Graduate Achievement Award" for the history department. The final departmental award went to Diane Allaway, who won the "Colonel Walter Aston Chapter of the Colonial Dames of the XVII Century History Award." In addition, history major Veronica Ferreira won second prize in the Kathryn L. Harris Women's Studies Paper Competition.

Check out the photographs of our students after the Liberal Arts Convocation, one featuring Daniel, Diane, and John Michael, and the other featuring Veronica with her husband Brian and children Cece, Timothy, and Lily.

Congratulations Daniel, John Michael, Diane, and Veronica. We are very proud of you!