Tag Archives: alumni

“Knowledge @ Work,” the fourth annual alumni event presented by the Division of Legal, Ethical, and Historical Studies at UB, was a wonderful evening this past Thursday.  Every October, UB’s History, Jurisprudence, Legal and Ethical Studies majors, and pre-majors, are invited to visit with program alumni who have parleyed their degrees into exciting careers here in the region.

This year, we had a panelist from each of LEHS’s programs:  Luke McCusker (History ’11) is the director of the Irish Railroad Workers Museum in Baltimore.  David C. Butler, Jr. (LEST ’09) manages an office in the U.S. Social Security Administration in Woodlawn, MD.  And Hannah Dawson (Jurisprudence ’12) is an attorney who works in the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, also part of the Social Security Administration.

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Alumni David Butler, Luke McCusker, and Hannah Dawson turned legal, ethical, and historical skills into great jobs.

 

These outstanding alumni talked about how their reading, writing, research, and communication skills, honed at UB, helped them find fulfilling positions, and helped them get promoted once on the job.  UB students who attended the event took the opportunity to network and pose their own school and career questions.  They also got to meet and chat with CAS dean Chris Spencer, a history major herself who went on to have a career in public health and higher education administration.

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History, Jurisprudence, and LEST students socialize with Dean Spencer over nachos and buffalo wings at the “Knowledge @ Work” event.

 

Many thanks to Dr. Yi for taking photos at the event, and Lyndsay Bates for helping make the event this year a success.

 

Rising UB Senior Is Army Photojournalist

History major Audrey Hayes is a U.S. Army Specialist who has contributed seven photo-illustrated news stories to the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System (DVIDS), a Web site for U.S. military and its partners’ news.  The DVIDS site “is provided as a public service operated by Third Army/U.S. Army Central (ARCENT) on behalf of the Department of the Army in support of all branches of the U.S. military and its Coalition partners serving with U.S. Forces in the Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility and throughout the world,” explains the Web site.

As part of the 214th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Hayes has photographed Army exercises in the U.S. and Europe, where she was stationed in Poland in 2014.  She says that studying history at UB has enhanced her love of investigating stories, and when the chance came to join a reporting unit in the Army Reserves, she grabbed it.  Hayes hopes to head back to Europe in that capacity some day.

History faculty members agree with Hayes that the research skills and global knowledge cultivated in the major make journalism a natural career choice.  In the digital world of social media, we need critical thinkers who can determine the “Who, What, When, and Where” of a story, and analyze the “Why” by tracing the roots of the world’s problems, conflicts, and reconciliations.

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A Polish color guard prepares to raise their nation’s flag alongside American Soldiers, as they assemble to pay tribute to the Polish Independence day and American Veterans Day, Nov. 10, 2014, at the parade field on Zlocieniec Army Base. U.S. Soldiers have been in Poland participating in training with the Polish army as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve. OAR is a demonstration of our continued commitment to the collective security of NATO and dedication to the enduring peace and stability in the region, in light of the Russian intervention in Ukraine specifically. (U.S. Army Photo by Spc. Audrey Ann Hayes)

 

History Alumnus Now Director of Irish Railroad Workers Museum

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Mr. Luke F. McCusker, UB History grad of 2011, is now Managing Director of the Irish Railroad Workers Museum in Baltimore.  The museum is situated within a group of 5 alley houses where the Irish immigrants who worked for the adjoining B&O Railroad lived. Two of the houses, 918 and 920 Lemmon St., are the museum.  A significant Irish presence established itself in Southwest Baltimore during and following the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s.

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Under the direction of the museum’s board of directors, McCusker interprets an Irish immigrant home of the 1870s, and develops the family’s story for presentation to visitors.  He says that the history major helped him develop critical thinking and “a heart for research and the ability to communicate my findings” clearly and concisely.  When asked what advice he has for new history graduates, McCusker says that becoming “as comfortable with technology as you can” will give you an edge.  The UB history faculty agrees that public history has become closely linked to digital history.

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Emigrants Leave Ireland, engraving by Henry Doyle (1827–1893), from Mary Frances Cusack’s Illustrated History of Ireland, 1868.

UB History Grad Clerking at SBW, Attending UB Law

Jessica Swadow (grad. 2011) tells Dr. Hudgins that she will be completing her third year at UB Law School and is clerking full time at SBW (short for Schlachman, Belsky & Weiner, headquartered on Lombard Street).  When asked how her history degree helped prepare her, Swadow says, “I have found that my research and writing skills learned at UB have helped to prepare me for law school and work.”  If law school and full-time work weren’t enough, she has also been working as a research assistant for one of her law professors.

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“My background in historical research has been immensely helpful in this area,” she says.  Swadow is helping her professor research a book about the intersection of secular and religious laws as they pertain to kosher frauds and scandals.  “I am able to efficiently and quickly find primary and secondary sources due in large part to the extensive research and writing I did at UB as a history major.”  The history faculty feel pretty confident that Jessica will be as successful with her budding legal career as she was in our history program.

Are you a History program alum with news about your studies or your career?  Please contact Dr. Hudgins at nhudgins@ubalt.edu

History Senior Completes Internship at Sports Legends Museum

History Major Brian Jeffries had a great experience with his internship at the Sports Legends Museum in Baltimore.  The museum, located just next to Oriole Park, fills the old Camden train station, and contains artifacts and interactive exhibits related to athletics in Maryland, including native son Babe Ruth.

Faculty members in the History program at UB have long known that Jeffries’ first love is sports, whether present or past.  He said he really enjoyed helping to preserve sports history at the museum, working with artifacts, and museum staff.  Students who are interested in public history can gain good experience by interning or volunteering at the wide array of museums around the city.

UB History Alumnus Leads Irish Railroad Workers Museum

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Luke McCusker,  an outstanding history student at UB, won the Fisher Award in his senior year and went on to pursue a career in public history. He now serves as the first paid  director of the Irish Railroad Workers Museum near the B&O Railroad Museum in Southwest Baltimore.  On Monday, March 23, Luke led a class in Dr. Nix’s 19th-century social history class on a tour of the compact neighborhood where Irish immigrants worked, lived, worshipped, shopped for food and educated their children.

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As a student in Dr. Nix’s methods course, Luke had uncovered the story of H.L. Norris, a Baltimorean who had started to work for the B&O at age 11. Norris went on to design a refrigerated rail car for transporting milk, and he shared his profits with his community through his philanthropic efforts.

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Luke has continued to conduct research into the lives of railroad workers, discovering that the family that lived in the homes that now house the Irish Railroad Workers Museum fled the potato famine to settle in Baltimore. They started out renting the property, eventually bought their home, then bought another larger home in the same neighborhood and rented this smaller property out to new arrivals.

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UB grads like Luke continue to add to our understanding of our city and to the interpretation of our history to a wide audience.

 

 

LEHS Alums Return to UB to Share Career Advice and Words of Wisdom

The second annual “Knowledge at Work: A Conversation with LEHS Alumni” event took place last night with students, faculty, and alumni sheltered from the rain in the Bogomolny Room.  Seven History, Jurisprudence, and Legal Studies graduates fielded student questions about how they parleyed their degrees into interesting careers.  Whereas Stanley Brown (M.A. ’00) used his LEST degree to enter higher education administration, Godswill Agbagwa (M.A. ’12) used his to establish an NGO to cultivate leadership skills in Nigeria.  History graduate Natasha Jones (B.A. ’11) uses her research skills to make the archives at Johns Hopkins University more accessible; while Zippy Larson (B.A. ’82) has been conducting historical tours in Baltimore for many years.  This array of LEHS alumni definitely showed that the division’s programs prepare students for a wide variety of fulfilling careers.

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Professor Jeffrey Sawyer opening the event last night

History Alum Receives Scholarships for Graduate School

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History Major Tony J. Johnson (YGCAS 2013) has received Maryland Senatorial and Delegate scholarships to pursue his graduate studies in Public Administration.  Tony will start graduate school right here at UB in the fall, across the street in the College of Public Affairs.

Information for how to apply for a Senatorial or Delegate Scholarship is available online here.  Good luck with your studies, Tony!

History Alumna Profiled in the Baltimore Social Innovation Journal

Ms. Natasha Jones (UB class of 2011) gave a shout out to the UB History program in a recent magazine feature about her work in public history.  Jones, a digitization specialist for the Johns Hopkins University’s Sheridan Libraries, hopes to create an online database of information about Baltimore’s public art treasures.  Ultimately, she hopes that locals and visitors alike will be able to use their smartphones to enjoy public-art walking tours, discovering the history behind the murals, statues, monuments, and contemporary installation along the way. We’re always happy to hear from our history alumni, so let us know what you’ve been up to by emailing the program director, Nicole Hudgins, at nhudgins@ubalt.edu.

Why is there a statue of Martin Luther at Lake Montebello?

History Alumnus Michael Bealefeld Wins James Madison Fellowship

Michael Bealefeld (YGCAS ’13) is the new recipient of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship award for new graduate students aiming to teach history at the secondary school level.  The founders of the Fellowship hoped to strengthen the American Republic by encouraging the study and teaching of U.S. Constitutional history.

The winner received $24,000 dollars to use for the history graduate program of his choice, and will attend a special seminar at Georgetown University to get him started.  Michael told us he’d like to “thank all of the great professors I had at the University of Baltimore who truly helped me achieve this award.”  Thanks, Michael, and good luck!

** Update**

Michael was hired by the Cambridge School in Pikesville in 2016 and is teaching history and humanities to the sixth graders.  We think the kids at Cambridge are fortunate to have such a passionate historian.  The UB History faculty also congratulate Michael on his upcoming wedding!