Senior History Projects at SUNY Plattsburgh

Senior Projects

History majors at Plattsburgh cap their studies by writing an original work of historical scholarship. Students are assigned to work with faculty mentors in designing and carrying out this intensive research project.

Registration for the Senior Project (HIS 485/486/490) requires formal departmental approval of a formal project proposal. Proposal materials are available in the History Department Office.

A sampling of senior projects from recent semesters:

Spring 2013

• Paige Dustin, “Liberty and Justice for Some? The Impact of Johnson v. M’Intosh and Fletcher v. Peck on Native American Sovereignty”
• Stephanie Burrows, “Discipline in Salem: a Role Reversal”
• Phoebe Nolan, “The Oka Crisis – A Legacy of Broken Promises”
• Jamie Knapp, “The Walking Dead: Women and Children in Rwanda after the Genocide”
• Rob Brandes, “Not ‘On Bended Knee’: Left Leaning Newspapers’ Reaction to Ronald Reagan’s Foreign Policy Speeches”
• Conner Ferguson, “Indigenous Child Removal in the United States and Australia: A Teacher Resource Guide”
• Vanessa Traves, “The Great Canadian Whispering Campaign: Good Girls, Bad Girls, and the Policing of Women’s Sexuality in the CWAC During WWII”
• Michael Pelzer, “Military Training and Human Rights: Hugh Thompson and William Calley, a Comparative Analysis of Actions in My Lai”
• Justin Spear, “Robert Moses: Public Servant or Public Enemy?”

Fall 2012

• Umberto Angilletta, “No Replastering, the Structure is Rotted: A Transnational Examination of Youth Social Dissatisfaction and Revolutionary Dissent in the 1960s-70s”
• Whitney Derocher, "Teaching Frederick Douglass: A Classroom Guide"
• Doug LaFlamme, “David Hume, Philosopher-Historian”
• Matthew MacDonald, “Weapons, Oil, and Politics: U.S. Relations with Saudi Arabia Surrounding the 1973 OPEC Embargo”
• Stephen Minchin, “‘Fair Day’s Wage for a Fair Day’s Work’: The Value of Work in the 19th Century Cotton Industry, 1821-1854”
• Rachel Miraglia, “Anti-Semitism in Canada in the 1930s: A Comparative look at Quebec and Alberta”
• Ethan Ross, “Eugenics in America: Fear, Racism, and Social Change”
• Justin Holzer, “Entertaining Memory: Gettysburg’s American Commemoration in 1938 and 1963”
• Gladimir Sanon, “Executive Order 9981: How Harry Truman Desegregated the Armed Forces”
• Jake Spurr, “Oral History as a Method of Historical Research: A Retrospective Analysis”

Spring 2012

• Kevin Murray “Slavery in Clinton County 1790-1827”
• Eric Hunt “The Carter Center: The Post-Presidencey of Jimmy Carter”
• Patrick Allen (486) “My Industrial Backyard: Teaching American Industrialization through Local History”
• Shannon Egloff “American Preparedness and its impact on Military Training Camps in the early 20th century”
• Brian Hanlon (486) “Teaching the American Revolution: Joseph Galloway and the Myth of Inevitability”
• Garrett Sherman “Road Kill: Overshadowed and Understood”
• Chad Gnass Welcome to the Wasteland: The Migration of Loyalists into the Quebec Frontier
• Sam Prevost “’Why the Hell Can’t I:’ The Lunch Counter as the Space for Revolution in 1960 Greensboro”
• Samantha Soroka “The Boom and Bust of Turtling in Key West”
• Sarah Burnette “The Family Man as ‘Real’ Man: Subverting a Reasserted Masculinity in ‘The Man Next Door’”
• Robert Michelin “For the Love of Gloves: Gloversville's Socio-Industrial Impact in American Industry”
• Ian Burnell “Lenin and Plekhanov: The Division of Russian Socialism in Europe”
• Justin Crannell “One Blade to Two: The White Water Derby in the Age of Extreme Sports

Questions, Comments, Suggestions?

For more information about the history program at SUNY Plattsburgh, please contact

Wendy Gordon, Chair
Office: Champlain Valley Hall 220
Phone: (518) 564-2213
Fax: (518) 564-2212
Email: gordonwm@plattsburgh.edu