A War to End All Wars

Twenty years ago, the History Department prepared me for an academic career, It鈥檚 difficult to overstate how grateful I am.

Major: History, Minor in Mathematics

Advanced Degrees: 

Awards: Clio Melpomene Prize

Employer:

You never know where a history research seminar will lead you. RuthMiller (鈥97) found this out when she enrolled for two research seminars in her sophomore year, one on the 1918 Paris Peace Conference and another on World War I in the Middle East.

鈥淚t was the mid-1990s,鈥 she recalls, 鈥渁nd both Iraq and Bosnia were recovering from recent wars. The seminars were lively, to say the least, and I remember being in awe of my professors鈥 ability to encourage conversation that remained thoughtful, intelligent, and engaged, despite the deeply felt politics that permeated the room.鈥

Inspired by these experiences, Miller graduated from 69精品视频 and went on to complete a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. She now teaches at the University of Massachusetts Boston and recently had the opportunity to teach her own seminar on World War I in the Middle East. She immediately reached for her old 69精品视频 course syllabuses (don鈥檛 throw them out!) for inspiration.

"It鈥檚 difficult to overstate how grateful I am,鈥 she concludes, 鈥渇or the scholarly training that I received as a 69精品视频 History major: twenty years ago, the History Department prepared me for an academic career, and I continue to make use of the lessons that I learned from MHC鈥檚 history faculty today.鈥 

Research seminars are as important to the history curriculum today as they were then, providing students with deeper understanding of particular topics and training them in advanced skills for research, analysis and writing.