Graduate
Graduate History Society
The Graduate History Society (GHS) is composed of all full- and part-time graduate students in the Department of History. The GHS works to enhance the student community in the history department in a variety of ways: working with faculty members, the Chair, and the Graduate Coordinator on student and program issues, organizing scholarly seminars, introducing new students to the department and the city, and arranging social events. The GHS also administers a listserv to which all graduate students are encouraged to subscribe.
Each fall, graduate students registered in the department elect an Executive Committee to lead the GHS. Eight GHS members express graduate students’ concerns and serve as voting members at departmental meetings, and the society has four seats (3 PhD and 1 MA) on the department’s Graduate Program Committee. The GHS is also a member of the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU), from which it receives annual funding. All registered graduate students in the department are welcome to attend and participate at the monthly GHS meetings.
The GHS office, located in Sidney Smith Hall (room 3104), contains a wide variety of academic and professional resources, including graduate course evaluations, winning scholarship applications from recent years, and past comprehensive exam questions. There are also numerous guides on subjects ranging from teaching techniques to campus resources.
For more information about the GHS, please visit our website.
GHS Awards
The GHS Executive Committee puts out a call for nominations for and bestows three awards each spring. The Distinguished Service Awards recognize substantive contributions to graduate student intellectual and social life in the Department of History over the past academic year, and are awarded to a graduate student and a member of faculty. The Dana Wessell-Lightfoot Award (formerly the Long-term Service Award) recognizes distinguished service by a graduate student over several years. Individuals who have successfully defended their dissertations in the department in the past twelve months are eligible, with the winning nominee being deemed to have contributed substantially to the department and the graduate student community through his or her involvement in GHS, departmental, or other activities and projects. In bestowing this award, the GHS will recognize outstanding contributions to the culture of the department, and a longstanding commitment by the recipient to improving the graduate student experience in the Department of History.
| GHS Distinguished Service Award – Graduate Student | 2014-15 Susie Colbourn 2013-14 Kathryn Segesser 2012-13 Jennifer Evans 2011-12 Seth Bernstein 2010-11 Jonathan McQuarrie 2009-10 Katie Edwards 2008-09 Peter Mersereau 2007-08 Alexandra Guerson 2006-07 Jennifer DeSilva 2005-06 Wilson Bell and Jennifer Polk (co-winners) 2004-05 Heather Dichter |
| GHS Distinguished Service Award – Faculty Member | 2014-15 Russell Kazal 2013-14 Steve Penfold 2012-13 Franca Iacovetta & Russell Kazal 2011-12 No nominees 2010-11 Prof. Lynne Viola 2009-10 Prof. Lori Loeb 2008-09 Prof. Doris Bergen 2007-08 Prof. Barbara Todd 2006-07 Prof. Carol Chin 2005-06 Prof. Mark Meyerson 2004-05 Prof. Ken Mills |
| Dana Wessell Lightfoot Long-term Service Award* | 2014-15 Jennifer Evans 2013-14 Daniel Rosenthal 2012-13 Auri Berg 2011-12 David Stiles 2010-11 Denis McKim and Katie Edwards (co-winners) 2009-10 Mairi MacDonald 2008-09 Heather Dichter 2007-08 Sarah Amato and Ariel Beaujot (co-winners) 2006-07 Amy Milne-Smith and Michael Pettit (co-winners) 2005-06 Dana Wessell-Lightfoot |
*Renamed after the inaugural winner