News and Views

Students in history P.h.D candidate Sarah Yu’s (third from left) class about Chinese diasporas spent a day acting as tour guides in Chinatown. (Image: Courtesy of Yvonne Fabella)

Talking about Chinese diasporas. History Ph.D. candidate Sarah Yu’s class transformed students into tour guides and podcasters as they honed their public speaking skills while learning about Chinese migration.(Kristen de Groot)

History Department Undergraduate Teaching Awards 2021-22

Beth Wenger Headshot

Beth Wenger – Winner of the the American Jewish Historical Society 2022 Lee Max Friedman Medal for excellence in research and teaching, and service to the field
Award Winners

Class of 2022 President’s Engagement, Innovation, and Sustainability Prize winners announced. Six prize-winning teams will design and undertake post-graduation projects that make a positive, lasting difference in the world. Two of them, History Majors
History Ph.D. student Sam Finkelman helps a Ukrainian refugee out of a van in Budapest, Hungary, earlier this month. (Image: Courtesy of Sam Finkelman)

Sam Finkelman - Ph.D. candidate’s initiative brings refugees out of Ukraine and supplies in. When Sam Finkelman’s yearlong research trip to Russia, Hungary, and Ukraine was interrupted by war, he went into action (By Kristen de Groot)
Natalie Shibley

Natalie Shibley (Upenn History and Africana Ph.D. 2018): Congress is taking a good first step to address the mistreatment of LGBT veterans. The U.S. has long mistreated LGBT soldiers — and denied them veterans benefits
Salem witch trials image

Kathleen Brown: Possessed: The Salem witch trials. On the 330th anniversary of the Salem witch trials, Prof. Brown discusses the stories, theories, and contemporary parallels to one of America’s stranger chapters in history.(By Kristina Garcia)
Cover of traveling black

Histories of Travel Segregation and Chinese Migration Win Bancroft Prize. The scholars Mia Bay (UPenn) and Mae Ngai (Columbia) have won the award, considered one of the most prestigious in the field of American history (By Jennifer Schuessler, NYT)
Professor Emma Hart

Emma Hart - From tracing art thieves to tracing Early American history. The new director of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, discusses her former career, her new role, and her goals for the future.(By Kristen de Groot)
Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, Ph.D. student in history

OMNIA Q&A: THE WAR IN UKRAINE - Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, Ph.D. student in history, on the nation of Ukraine, how things got to this point, and what’s being overlooked in the discussion about the war.(By Alex Schein and Susan Ahlborn)