Annual Event Celebrates Senior Thesis Writers and Inductees into Phi Alpha Theta
Pictured (left to right): Laura Roa with Professor von Klimó; senior thesis writers in attendance; Olivia Brogan with Professor von Klimó
On Wednesday 20 April, the Department of History hosted its annual celebration of student achievement, honoring History Majors who wrote their senior theses during the 2021-2022 academic year, and inducting the newest members of The Catholic University of America’s Theta Omicron chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the national honor society for students of history. The event emphasizes the Department’s commitment to fostering research and writing for its students.
Emceed in his inimitable style by Professor Árpád von Klimó, Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department, the event marked a return to normalcy after two years of pandemic-caused disruption: two years ago, the event was entirely online, and in 2021 it was hybrid, but this year’s gathering brought students and faculty together in an in-person, facemask-optional environment.
Eligibility for Phi Alpha Theta requires a minimum grade point average of 3.75 in History courses, and (for non-Majors) a minimum number of 12 semester hours in History. This year’s inductees are Abigail Baxter, Mariana Fajardo, Kelly Forrester, Jane Krukiel, Maria Letizia, Anna Mowery, Madeleine Smith, Elizabeth Solferino, Ryan Stansbury, and Isabella Wagner.
In 2021-2022, 22 History Majors wrote senior theses, ranging in topic from female spies during the American Civil War, to Henry VIII’s “Device Forts”, to the life of a British mercenary in post-independence Congo, to school atlases in pre-World-War-II Germany and their relationship to national identity. At the event, faculty members who taught respective sections of Senior Thesis Seminar proudly summarized the accomplishments of each of their thesis writers, and the event also afforded one student from each section the opportunity to reflect upon the experience.
Curtis Stratton, a graduating senior, commented: “To uncover this record and glean from it something of value is what makes history a living thing, one of utmost importance in an uncertain and changing world. The ability to so engage with history is greatly indebted to those junior seminars and other history courses I have taken before my thesis which, when combined, have allowed me to contribute a small amount to that living tome, in which questions are asked by one and answered by another. I enjoyed the experience of working so closely with a small and true group of seniors last fall, and I am moved by my education here in the History Department.”
A highlight of this annual event is the announcement of winners of the Zeender Prize and the Farrell Prize (named for John K. Zeender and John T. Farrell, former faculty members of the Department). This year the Zeender Prize, for the senior thesis judged most outstanding by a panel of faculty, went to Olivia Brogan, for her thesis entitled “Treasures of Old Philadelphia: An Analysis of Two Gilded Age Mansions in Suburban Philadelphia”. The Farrell prize, given to the graduating senior with the highest grade point average, went to Laura Roa.