Walbolt Fellowships

Dan and Sylvia Walbolt, through a series of generous donations, have created a set of three fellowships that enable a number FSU history graduate students each year to pursue their graduate research in history:

• Dan and Sylvia Walbolt Fellowships
• Daniel Sr. and Sylvia Walbolt MA Fellowships
• Walbolt Dissertation Fellowships

Who are the Walbolts?

Dan R. Walbolt, Sr. completed his Bachelor of Science degree in History at FSU in 1962 where he excelled at his studies, played on the baseball team, was a member of Omicron Delta Kappa, and served as the Chief Justice of the Honor Court. He was a student in the first class (in Fall 1960) of Professor Jim Jones' storied course "The Civil War Era" that Jones has taught for half a century. In 1965 Dan Walbolt was awarded the J.D. from New York University Law School. During the next four years he was an Associate at the law firm of Carlton Fields. After 1969 he held various positions at the University of South Florida, concluding as Vice President of Student Affairs. In 1995 he founded the company Best Evidence with his son Dan Walbolt Jr., and has served as Chairman since then.
 
Sylvia H. Walbolt received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics at the University of Florida in 1961. In 1963 she was awarded her J.D. from the University of Florida Law School. She has served in various positions at the law firm of Carlton Fields, including Chair of the Board of Directors. Her passion in her career has been for pro bono work. Among her long list of honors is the 2007 Florida Bar Presidents Pro Bono Service Award and the ABA Section of Litigation 2006 John Minor Wisdom Public Service and Professionalism Award. She was named one of the Top 10 Women Litigators by theNational Law Journal (December 2001), and was awarded the 2009 Medal of Honor Award by the Florida Bar Foundation. She is the second woman elected a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and is former President and Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Florida Supreme Court Historical Society.

Current Walbolt Fellows

Daniel Hutchinson arrived at Florida State in the fall of 2006. He brought with him a bachelors degree from Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina and a masters from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. A doctoral student who specializes U.S. southern history and the World War II period, Daniel studies with Professor Maxine Jones. His dissertation examines the impact of World War II on the southern homefront and focuses on communities transformed by the establishment of military bases. Other research interests include the prisoner of war experience during World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, and American popular culture. Daniel hails from Hanceville, Alabama.
 

Chris Gunn, who entered the Ph.D program in 2007, grew up in southeastern Connecticut. Following his graduation from the University of Virginia with a bachelors degree in foreign affairs, he completed a masters in political science at the University of Rhode Island. Chris currently works with Professors Grant, Creswell, Wynot and Hanley, and his research interests focus on the Turkish Republic, the Caucasus, the eastern Mediterranean, southeastern Europe and the Ottoman, Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires.
 

Abe Gibson was born and raised in Franklin County, Virginia.  He earned his bachelors from James Madison University, where he majored in creative writing and minored in astronomy, history, and environmental studies.  In 2008, he graduated from Virginia Tech with a masters in history and a Graduate Certificate in Science and Technology Studies. That same year Abe entered FSU and studies environmental history with Professor Fritz Davis.  His other research interests include the history of the life sciences, Native American history, and public history.  Abe's dissertation research examines the history of feral animals in America and the unique management issues to which they give rise.
 

Matthew Scroggins is originally from Dayton, Ohio. In 2003 Matt graduated magna cum laude from Indiana Wesleyan University where he was named the Most Outstanding Student in the Social Sciences department. After a period of wandering and soul searching he enrolled at Knox Theological Seminary in Fort Lauderdale in 2005, where he graduated summa cum laude with a M.A. in Christianity and Culture. In 2008 Matt entered FSU and is a masters student working with Professor Gray. He is interested in the topic of survival medicine among prisoners of war and victims of disaster.

Sherri Reinhardt won the Fall 2011 Walbolt Dissertation Fellowship.  She will travel to Mexico City to research her dissertation, "'Sacrifice their Hears in a Holocaust of your Love': The Virgin Mary and the Mexican Independence War, 1810-1821."