E-mail this pageSenior Projects
History majors at Plattsburgh cap their studies by writing an original work of historical scholarship. The one-semester course (HIS 485 ) is an independent study where students are matched up with History faculty who serve as mentors for the project. At the end of the semester, 485-students present their research in a public forum. Below is a list of the participants and titles of senior projects over the past few semesters.
Spring 2008
Joshua Brown, “Irish Presence in the North Country Through Family History”
Mentor: Dr. Wendy Gordon
Daniel Haley, “The Dungeon and Dragon Controversies: How And Why the Religious Right Attacked the Role-playing Game”
Mentor: Dr. James Lindgren
Benjamin Irwin, “The Role of Religion in Anti-Irish Prejudice and the Formation of the Irish American Identity
Mentor: Dr. Vincent Carey
John Kopaskie, “Knights of the Air: How Propagandists Developed Aviators into Heroes”
Mentor: Dr. Jeff Hornibrook
Jennie McFadden, “Memorials and Museums as Legal Tools in Genocide Trials”
Mentor: Dr. Vincent Carey
Jason Patrie, “Evolution of an American Sport: The Emergence of Competitive Road Cycling in the United States”
Mentor: Dr. James Rice
Nicholas Strange, “‘Ride Further and Talk Less, Few Words and Fast Action: A Comparison of Cowboy Autobiographies and Interviews”
Mentor: Dr. Wendy Gordon
Matthew Whitening, “Ainu Autonomy and the Japanese State: A History from Independence to Dependence”
Mentor: Dr. Jeff Hornibrook
Anthony Williams, “‘A Perfect Union?’ Changing Views of Biracial Identity in the United States, 1990s to Present”
Mentor: Dr. Connie Shemo
Janusz Zaremba, “Conspiracy Silence: The Historical Memory of the Katyn Forest Massacre”
Mentor: Dr. Richard Schafer
Fall 2007
Chris Amaturo, "'Look Baby, Nobody is Going to Help You But Yourself:' How America's Mass Resistance Forced the Black Community to Take Such a Radical Stance During the 1960s"
Mentor: Dr. Kevin Dann
Jonathan Buhs, "Monumental Injustices: Elitism, Racism, and the Veneration of War in the Lake Champlain Tercentenary Monuments"
Mentor: Dr. James Rice
Danielle Circelli, "Butterflies and Plant Diseases: The Role of Science in the World Popular Crisis"
Mentor: Dr. Gary Kroll
Neil Duquette, "Poets Make Poor Historians: Longfellow's Evangeline and the Cultural Appropriation of Acadian Identity"
Mentor: Dr. Sylvie Beaudreau
Lindsay Fitzgerald, "'Give Us Children and Guns:' German Women of the Third Reich and American Women on the Homefront"
Mentor: Dr. Connie Shemo
Zachary Hoffman, "The Contested Role of Science in the United States Environmental Movement"
Mentor: Dr. Gary Kroll
Katy Isenberg, "'Only Good Girls:' Women in the Plattsburgh Shirt Factory at the Turn of the Twentieth Century"
Mentor: Dr. Connie Shemo
Samantha Lorey, "There and Back Again...A Utopian Tale"
Mentor: Dr. Wendy Gordon
Stephen Loughman, "And the Red Flag has Flown: The Watkins Glen Grand Prix Course 1971-1981"
Mentor: Dr. Stuart Voss
Krystal Lugo, "The Economic Promise Hitler Needed: The Nazi Imagination and the Volkswagon"
Mentor: Dr. Richard Schafer
Jared Markham, "Batman: Examining a Cultural Icon as He Approaches 70"
Mentor: Dr. Jessamyn Neuhaus
Richard Medwid, "Guilty of Conduct Unbecoming a Conventionalist: Owen Lattimore and the China Debacle"
Mentor: Dr. James Lindgren
Josh Phelps, "October 11, 1776: A Forgotten Battle Revisted"
Mentor: Dr. Sean Moore
R.J. Salvec, "Where Italian Culture Becomes American Popular Culture: A Twelfth Grade A.P. History Lesson Plan"
Mentor: Dr. Jessamyn Neuhaus
Thomas Timmons, "'Let not the American people put all the blame on the poor, ignorant Irish:' The Irish and the New York Draft Riots of 1863"
Mentor: Dr. Martha Lance
Barbara Vigorito, "Remembering the Romanov Murders"
Mentor: Dr. Kevin Dann
Jordan Wallance, "I am the Saxon goo goo g'joob: A Look at the 900th Anniversary of the Battle of Hastings and its Interpretation to the Populace"
Mentor: Dr. Wendy Gordon and Dr. Doug Skopp
Corey Wright, "From the Pepper Street Gang to Civil Rights Advocate: The Untold Story of Who Jackie Robinson Really Was"
Mentor: Dr. Stuart Voss
Spring 2007
Michael Benanti, "The Greensboro Sit-Ins: the Source and Power of National Media Attention"
Mentor: Dr. Stuart Voss
Justin Chirico, "The Knowlton Brothers of Watertown New York"
Mentor: Dr. Jeff Hornibrook
Larry Dolan, "The Flats: A Positional History of Place"
Mentor: Dr. Jessamyn Neuhaus
Kevin Fox, "The Adirondack Park: A Certain Amount of Environmental Impoverishment for a Certain Degree of Human Prosperity"
Mentor: Dr. Martha Lance
Justin Gardner, "The Adirondack Park Agency: Varied Views and Impacts Within the Adirondack Park, 1970-1978"
Mentor: Dr. Gary Kroll
Kelly Gansfuss, "The Queen's Men; An Intimate Look into Queen Elizabeth I's Advisory Council"
Mentor: Dr. Wendy Gordon
John Gherardi, "From acclaimed heroes to uncompensated victims: The Fate of Rescue Workers from 9/11's Ground Zero"
Mentor: Dr. Sylvie Beaudreau
Joe Guilder, "From the Seabed of the Atlantic to the Display Cases of the Mariners' Museum: Preserving the Historical Legacy of the Lost War Vessel, the USS Monitor"
Mentor: Dr. James Lindgren
Erik Huus, "The Underground Ally"
Mentor: Dr. Jessamyn Neuhaus
Michael Haller, "Pierre Vallieres' White Niggers of America and Quebecois Consciousness"
Mentor: Dr. Sylvie Beaudreau
Erin LaPoint, "'Feather-Bed Resistance:' Zora Neale Hurston, Orientalism, Primitivism and Race"
Mentor: Dr. Connie Shemo
Jacqueline Lieske, "'Satans Schoolhouses': Playhouses and Puritans, 1599-1610"
Mentor: Dr. James Rice
Melissa Mansfield, "The 'Dullesenhower Administration'"
Mentor: Dr. Doug Skopp
Jared McGuckin, "A Tale of Two Cities: The Struggle for Identity in Times Square"
Mentor: Dr. Connie Shemo
Russell Mitchinson, "Patton the Enigma"
Mentor: Dr. James Lindgren
James Rasi, "'Your Excellencie I Confesse Hath a Most Difficult Game to Play:' Sir Thomas Fairfax and The Radicalism of the English Civil Wars, 1630-1649"
Mentor: Dr. Wendy Gordon
James Tracy, "The Maranse: A Forced Dependency"
Mentor: Dr. Jeff Hornibrook
Jessica Wyser, "Japanese Noras: Male Literature and the Modern Girl in 20th Century Japan"
Mentor: Dr. Connie Shemo
Questions, Comments, Suggestions?
For more information about the History program at SUNY Plattsburgh, please contact
Wendy Gordon, Chair
History Department
Champlain Valley Hall
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
Phone: (518) 564-2213
Fax: (518) 564-2212
E-mail: gordonwm@plattsburgh.edu