History MA Student Profiles (or “what can I do with that?”)
Our MA students follow a range of paths after graduation. A substantial number pursue PhDs and end up as University Professors. Others work in libraries, museums, archives, think-tanks, non-profits, the state and federal governments, journalism and media, book publishing, and the corporate world (i.e., Amazon) to name but a few. You will find below a collection of some of our recent MA students with a short description of how they fared after graduation.
Dana Smith, MA (2011): went on to receive PhD from Queen Mary College, University of London, then post-doc at NYU, now tenure-track assistant professor at Keene State College, NH. Buy her 2022 book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Art-Nazi-Germany-Routledge/dp/0367749300
Lauren Fedewa, MA (2018): Fulbright in Germany 2018-2019 and now finishing up PhD in History at University of Toronto.
Alix Harrow (Heintzman), MA: is a successful science-fiction author, see this NPR piece: https://www.npr.org/2020/10/17/924561383/the-once-and-future-witches-will-have-you-spellbound. She has won a Hugo award (the top award in science fiction!) and her book was most recently reviewed in the New York Times, where she wrote her own opinion piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/02/opinion/future-virtual-reality-stories.html
Mark Alexander, MA (2015): went on to do PhD at George Washington University, now staff researcher at the Levine Institute for Holocaust Education at the at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, see: https://www.ushmm.org
Michelle Magin, MA: went on to do PhD at University of Manchester, UK, now Associate editor ofHolocaust and Genocide Studies,the leading English-language journal in the field, at the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, see: https://www.ushmm.org
Michael Diambri, MA (2020): is now Recruiter at Skills Alliance | Biotech, a pharmaceutical company based in Seattle, see: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-diambri-5669a1103
Kassandra LaPrade Seuthe, MA (2016): is now acquisition curator in the archives of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, see: https://www.ushmm.org
Nate Gondelman, MA (2016): is now deputy director of Center for Academic Success, UVM.
Scott McDowell, MA (2012): is now a PhD candidate at the University of Minnesota working on Legal History, U.S. labor history and the history of Capitalism.
Christie Nold, MA (2008): Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine 2008-2010, currently social studies teacher, South Burlington High School. See this recent VPR piece on her teaching: https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2023-03-10/s-burlington-teacher-sharing-experience-in-ukraine-to-develop-empathy-in-the-classroom
Michelle Sigiel, MA (2013), M.L.I.S. (2017 Simmons College): currently librarian at the Jewish Book Center, Amherst, MA.
John O’Sullivan, MA (2003): author of multiple books on coaching and youth sports, President and CEO of the Changing the Game Project, which seeks to get parents and pressure out of youth sports: https://changingthegameproject.com
Kiara Day, MA (2020): now works as a history editor at McGraw-Hill publishing, see: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kiaraday
Alex Ellis, MA (2019): is now the registrar and assistant studio manager at Naples Studio, LLC, a fine arts conservation studio in Kent, CT. He previously held positions at the Fort Ticonderoga Museum and the Sharon Historical Society & Museum.https://ahellis.com/about/
Ron Macneil, MA (2019): is now a PhD candidate in twentieth-century US history at the University of New Mexico. He did his MA at UVM while working as a history teacher in Burlington schools, and after his retirement he began the PhD program. His MA thesis utilized the Warren Austin papers at UVM's Silver Special Collections.
Kason Hudman, MA (2019): is the director of operations at the non-profit Peace & Justice Center in Burlington, see: https://www.pjcvt.org/people/kason-hudman/
C. Max Kendall, MA (2016): went to Japan to teach English after completing his MA degree. COVID kept him there longer than they intended, but he recently returned to the United States and is teaching at a community college near his native Detroit.
Adam Quinn, MA (2016): is a PhD candidate at the University of Oregon, with a dissertation that focuses on the environmental and labor history of computers. He recently had articles published in Radical History Review and Smithsonian Contributions to History and Technology.
G. Scott Waterman, MA (2015): began the MA program after becoming an emeritus professor of psychiatry at UVM. He conducted the bulk of his MA thesis research at the Tamiment Library & Wagner Labor Archives at New York University. He is also the Chair of the Miller Center of Holocaust Studies Board of Advisors.
Carl Greer, MA (2013): began the MA program after retiring from the US Coast Guard. He now combines teaching at Hillsborough Community College in Florida with work as a VA benefits advisor.
Ben Lindsey, MA (2012): currently works for Penguin Random House as a product manager for eBooks. Directly after his MA program, he did similar work at Amazon.
Zackary Garner, MA (2008): earned his PhD in History at Georgetown, then began a career as a history teacher in private high schools. He currently works for Worcester Academy. He has also held a variety of different internships and part-time positions, including at the National Park Service and for an independent historical research consulting firm.
Courtney Smith (now Courtney Barter-Colcord), MA: is now a fifth year PhD candidate in medieval history at Princeton. She published two articles from the MA thesis, including one in the top tier “Journal of Medieval History.”
Maria Carriere, MA: is finishing her first year as a doctoral student in medieval history at Fordham University after defending a first-rate MA thesis here last year.
Sarah Chute, MA: is now pursuing a history PhD on a full scholarship at University of Toronto. Her 2021 M.A. thesis was “Bound to Slavery: Economic and Biographical Connections to Atlantic Slavery Between the Maritimes and West Indies After 1783”. Check out her U of T page: https://www.history.utoronto.ca/people/directories/graduate-students/sarah-chute
Heather Moore, MA: is now Executive Director of Shelburne Craft School, after working as Dean of Students for the Vermont Commons School. She also earned her EdD from UVM and a Certificate in Financial Management from Cornell University. See: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-moore-759185111
Emily Burrill, MA: is now Associate Professor of History at UNC Chapel Hill, and Director of the African Studies Program. After completing her MA she went to Stanford University on a full ride for her Ph.D. Her recent monograph is out: https://www.ohioswallow.com/book/States+of+Marriage
Jodie Marshall, MA: received her PhD in African History from Michigan State University. Her thesis is a history of migration of regular people throughout the Indian Ocean, using sources in Kiswahili and Arabic. Indeed, Jodie did a lot of oral history, and conducted 235 interviews in Kiswahili to get access to the historical experiences of people otherwise left out of written sources. Check out her website: https://www.jodiemarshall.com
Franco Paz, MA (2018): is now a PhD candidate at Harvard, working on Early American History. See the article he wrote about Harvard’s bad behavior: https://hyperallergic.com/731707/harvard-is-paying-a-small-price-for-laundering-its-past/
Erik Wallenberg, MA: is now a PhD candidate (CUNY) and is a Visiting Assistant Professor at New College Florida. He just wrote “Staging Environmental Racism: The Free Southern Theater’s Environmental Justice Script and Documentary Theater,” which is forthcoming from The Journal of African American History, Fall 2023. See: https://www.ncf.edu/directory/erik-wallenberg/
Ruby Daily, PhD Northwestern and just got a tenure-track job at the University of Arkansas in British cultural history.
Stephen Hausmann (2011) PhD Temple, assistant professor at St. Thomas University, St. Paul, Minnesota
Chris DeMairo (2016), archivist at Smithsonian Gardens, part of the Smithsonian Museums.
Angie Grove (2015), director of the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum in Burlington.
Alex Lehning (2012), director of the St. Albans (Vermont) Museum.
Brandon Moblo (2013), archivist at Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Kieran O’Keefe (2016), Phd George Washington University 2022, visiting assistant professor Lyon College.