While he was completing his PhD in History, Justin Vos joined the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability which is the non-partisan research office of the Florida legislature. In this interview, Vos describes his work responsibilities: conducting research, analyzing data, and writing reports on a variety of topics. Vos explains that historians "are trained to ask 'why' which is a valuable question that can get lost when just reporting data and numbers. Historians can look beyond the numbers to ask what the data is telling us. Historians are storytellers. They can help take numbers and turn them into a story with meaning."
News and Features
Elizabeth Richardson took Dr. Andrew Frank's 'FSU and the Seminole Tribe' for her senior seminar class. The project she researched and wrote on provides an in-depth analysis of the Native American imagery utilized by Florida State from the time the university chose the Seminoles as its icon in 1947 to the symbolism employed by the university today. "Being raised a Gator, I knew only a little about Florida State’s traditions and nothing about FSU’s real connection to the Seminole tribe. This course provided me with mountains of information regarding FSU’s history, becoming my favorite undergrad course, ...".
A tribute to Dr. Laurie Wood (1985-2023)
In this interview, Taylor Tobias shares his experiences transitioning from graduate school to working as an assistant professor of History at Castleton University in Vermont. Tobias comments: "While not all parts of the move have been easy (Vermont’s bone-chilling, seven stages of winter have certainly been a hurdle for someone who has lived his whole life in Florida), I’ve nonetheless been surprised at how many of the new challenges at my job engage skills I learned at FSU."
In this interview, Daniel Arenas, a PhD candidate working on Napoleonic Europe under the supervision of Dr. Blaufarb, talks about his research in archives in France and Spain. His dissertation topic is the French occupation of Spain from 1808 to 1814. Arenas came to Florida State University in 2014 for his undergrad and joined the PhD program in 2018.
Olivia Lanaghan double majored from Florida State University in History and Communication in the fall of 2021. For law school, she decided on Stetson University College of Law. In this interview, Lanaghan shares how she prepared for law school and what sets law school apart from undergrad.
In this interview, Hope Evans discusses her experiences as a summer camp assistant and museum educator at the John G. Riley Center/ Museum of African American History and Culture. Recently, Evans started a new position at the Riley Center as curator and education director.
In this interview, Anne Tirrell shares her thoughts on being a History major and a student at Florida State. "The best thing about coming to FSU was the opportunity to know and work with like-minded friends and peers in the History Department, with whom I can both share my research and passions and learn from in turn. This is something I am incredibly privileged to have."
Dr. Abe Gibson recently created the project "Honest Abe," in which he examines the impact that artificial intelligence could have on the historical record and the historical profession. He was especially curious about the sudden rise of deepfakes, generative AI, and other synthetic media. In this interview, Gibson talks about his aims in setting up the website.
In this interview, Carlos Campos (FSU 2023) reflects on researching and writing an Honors in the Major thesis. Carlos worked with Dr. Maier Katkin and Dr. Stoltzfus on Clarence Darrow, one of the key figures of the progressive era.