Undergraduate successes

Yanelis Suarez has been accepted to Western Michigan University’s Medieval Studies program with full funding in Fall 2022. This is one of the top Medieval Studies MA programs in the country and she will be joining Sabrina Fernandez, also an FIU alum, who will be entering her second year in the program.

The following students have been admitted to top-ranked law programs starting in Fall 2022:  Catarina Alvarez, Anthony Freyre, Bruno Graff, Yuliana Perez, David Santos.  Congratulations all!

Congratulations to Nikkita Lynch, BA Spring 2021 and writing tutor, for selection for a Getty Marrow Undergraduate Internship at Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site in Long Beach CA. We wish her the best as she moves to an exciting new stage of her career.

Ryann Ellis, (BA Spring 2020) and longtime writing in history tutor, will be leaving to begin an MA in History, with a focus on Public History, at George Mason University. She was accepted to several excellent programs before making her decision.

Juan Debesa (BA, 2020) has been awarded the highly competitive Foreign Affairs Information Technology Fellowship. As one of only 15 recipients, Juan has been awarded up to $75,000 towards graduate work in a field related to international cybersecurity alongside two internships with the State Department.

Sabrina Fernandez (2021) has secured a fully-funded place at Western Michigan University, starting in Fall 2021, to follow their MA in Medieval Studies, a top-ranked program in the field.

Undergraduate History Major Yuliana Perez was accepted into FIU’s Law Path Pre-Law Program. This competitive summer program gives allows students to experience law school while preparing them to apply through LSAT prep, personalized counseling on the application process, and individualized mentoring by a member of the bench or bar, all at no cost!

Undergraduate History Major Daniela Gutierrez, has been accepted to the University of Georgia's History Summer Fellows Institute. Gutierrez is one of eight students who will spend a month at the University of Georgia immersing themselves in historical research through this fully-funded program.

Michael R. Mendez (BA 2003) reports his continued success with his own company, Mendez Fuel, a gas station chain.

Ricky Sandoval (BA 2018) has been appointed to a new full-time position with the National Park Service as a guide at Everglades National Park.

Jeremy Salloum (BA 2012, MA in Public History 2015) has a new position as Educational Curator at History Miami. He joins many fellow FIU history graduates at our regional history museum.

 

Jordan Pulido (BA 2020) has been selected as a Peace Corps volunteer. He will spend the next two years teaching English in Macedonia. 

Maria Laura Rodriguez (BA 2016) has been accepted into the MA program in German and European Studies at School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Let's hear from some graduates! Watch this student video to learn how a degree in history has helped our graduates.

 

Having joined the FIU community from out of state, the best thing about FIU's Department of History was the instant feeling of belonging ... The graduate students, rather than merely competing with each other, also have a strong sense of community and celebrate each others' successes.

Erika Edwards (PhD 2011)

Graduate successes

Our graduates occupy tenure-track positions in various institutions, ranging from liberal arts colleges to Research-1 and respected foreign universities. In addition to the universities highlighted below, some of our PhDs are in positions at University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Erika Edwards), High Point University (Renzo Honores), Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Germán Palacios), Jacksonville University (Jesse Hingson), and the University of West Georgia (Colleen Vasconsellos). In addition to these academic appointments, our graduates also occupy prominent positions at various governmental agencies demonstrating the competitive preparation that our students receive in the course of their studies. Here are some recent examples of successful scholars who graduated from our Atlantic History PhD program.

Chris Davis (Ph.D. 2018), has been appointed as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in African American History at Adelphi University, NY where he joins another alumnus, Dr. Micah Oelze. 

Erika Edwards (Ph.D. 2011), Associate Professor of Latin American History, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, has recently published her monograph Hiding in Plain Sight: Black Women, the Law, and the Making of a White Argentine Republic, a gendered analysis of black erasure in Argentina.  It has won the Association of Black Women Historians 2020 Letitia Woods Brown Memorial Book Prize and was named one of Black Perspectives best Black History books in 2020.   

"Having joined the FIU community from out of state, the best thing about FIU's Department of History was the instant feeling of belonging. Faculty and staff made me feel welcome from day one, and many professors emphasize the building of personal and professional relations that outlast a student's time in the program. The graduate students, rather than merely competing with each other, also have a strong sense of community and celebrate each others' successes."

Jordan Malfoy (PhD 2018), has accepted the position of Historian at the major Air Force base of Ramstein, Germany. Since graduating with a Ph.D. from the Department in 2018, Dr. Malfoy has been working at the Marine Corps History Division in Quantico and her move to Germany is marked by a promotion to GS12 level.

Richard Rodriguez (PhD 2017) has been appointed to the District Department of Social Sciences as a Curriculum Support Specialist tasked with helping Civics teachers throughout Miami-Dade Public Schools.

Micah Oelze (PhD. 2016), Visiting Professor at the Franklin and Marshall College, has his article "#hashtag pedagogies" published in The Magazine of Higher Learning as the cover article on the latest issue.

Adam M. Silvia (PhD 2016) has published in journals such as Social History of Medicine and The Americas. He has worked with the Digital Library of the Caribbean to build the online encyclopedia Haiti: An Island Luminous. Silvia also processed TIME journalist Bernard Diederich’s collection, and published the biography Diederich & the Americas: The Story In-Between the Lines. Upon graduation, Silvia moved to Washington, D.C., where he now works at the Library of Congress in the Division of Prints and Photographs.

"Ideally situated at the crossroads between Latin America and the United States, Florida International University provides an excellent environment to study Atlantic and World History. The Department of History's doctoral program in Atlantic History includes top experts who are very knowledgeable about the region. In the process of producing my dissertation on American-Haitian relations, I received generous funding from several of the school's institutions."

Paula de la Cruz Fernández (PhD 2013) received a "Work and Human Life Cycle in Global History" Postdoctoral Fellowship from the International Research Center at Humboldt University in Berlin to turn her dissertation ("Atlantic Threads: Singer in Spain and Mexico, 1860–1940") into a monograph.

Amanda Snyder (PhD 2013) held an Ahmason-Getty Fellowship at the Clark Library of the University of California, Los Angeles, where she started turning her dissertation ("Pirates, Exiles, and Empire: English Seamen, Atlantic Expansion, and Jamaica Settlement, 1569–1659") into a monograph.

Julio Capó (PhD 2011) formerly Assistant Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, has returned to his alma mater as an Associate Professor with interests in Latina/o studies and inter-American relations with a focus on sexuality, gender, ethnicity, and immigration.

"FIU's graduate program was a perfect fit for me and molded my training to match the needs and gaps in the field. My professors honed and developed all the professional skills I needed along the way, from presenting a conference paper to applying for an academic job. Of course, the benefits of studying history in a culturally diverse city like Miami with countless—and often untapped—resources cannot be overstated."

Rodney Walton (PhD 2009) published Big Guns, Brave Men in 2013. His first monograph is based on his dissertation on the history of the forward artillery observers in the Pacific theater of World War II. Read more in FIU News.

My professors honed and developed all the professional skills I needed along the way, from presenting a conference paper to applying for an academic job. Of course, the benefits of studying history in a culturally diverse city like Miami with countless—and often untapped—resources cannot be overstated.

Julio Capó (PhD 2011)

Postdoc successes

This is what alumni of the department's postdoctoral programs say about their experience:

Peter Ferdinando held a Writing in History Postdoctoral Fellowship during the 2015/16 cycle. Subsequently, he accepted an appointment as a Visiting Lecturer at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. At UNC, Peter teaches courses on Native Americans and Caribbean history, including a popular course titled "Pirates of the Caribbean: Privateers, Buccaneers and Pirates, 1562-1720."

"The postdoc position represented a vital link between my graduation and my ventures into the job market. Hiring committees questioned me about the strategies and skills I could bring to their students. Being able to talk at length about strategies to assist students with the writing process was a tremendous benefit. The chance to develop two courses, including both an introductory course and an advanced history seminar, also gave my portfolio of syllabi a boost."

Greg Weimer worked as a Writing in History Postdoctoral Fellow in 2015/16 as well. After his postdoc year, Greg went on to accept a job as Academic Designer with McGraw-Hill Education.

"The fellowship gave me various opportunities to focus on the teaching of writing and a wide array of pedagogical approaches. As I completed the tasks of the Writing in History Postdoctoral Fellowship (e.g. managing the tutoring program, leading writing workshops, and working with the faculty to integrate writing training in undergraduate teaching), I developed my own ideas of how to structure lectures and courses. As a result, my approaches to teaching have become much more effective."

Amanda Snyder held a Writing in History Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2014/15. After a year in a visiting post, she officially joined the faculty at the University of Central Florida. At UCF she is the primary and full-time online professor, teaching American and Caribbean history with a thematic focus on borderlands and frontiers.

"Every school I interviewed with wanted me to talk about my time as a Fellow. My interdisciplinary work in that position proved fruitful for my efforts at UCF in bringing the ideas and principles behind the Writing in History Postdoctoral Fellowship to my current institution. As a Fellow, I strengthened my approach to the teaching of academic writing as a result of experimenting with many assignment types to form the ideal approach to helping students develop professional communication skills."

Carolina Zumaglini was a Writing in History Postdoctoral Fellow in the 2014/15 academic year. She is now based in Buenos Aires, where she works as an independent content editor for W. W. Norton & Company.

"The Writing in History Postdoc appointment gave me the opportunity to advance in my career as a researcher, teacher, and writing tutor. Besides being an editor, I also work as a freelancing career coach, advising Latin American students who desire to study abroad. The postdoc program has provided me invaluable insight in the practical aspects of teaching at the university level that I now apply in my efforts to prepare future international students as best as I can."

As I completed the tasks of the Writing in History Postdoctoral Fellowship (e.g. managing the tutoring program, leading writing workshops, and working with the faculty to integrate writing training in undergraduate teaching), I developed my own ideas of how to structure lectures and courses. As a result, my approaches to teaching have become much more effective.

Greg Weimer (PhD 2016)