Category / Alumni

by emoryhistorydept

Alumni Update: Nick Sessums (’24) Publishes Essay in ‘Central Europe Yearbook’

The History Department was pleased to receive an update from Nick Sessums, a 2024 alumnus who graduated with honors. After nine months of drafts, revisions, edits, and reviews, Sessums has just published an essay, titled “Russification and Russianization in Modern Historiography,” in the Central Europe Yearbook.

The essay project began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. As a student of history, politics, culture, and international relations, Sessums was captivated both by the historical moment itself and what it said about the world that we live in. Russia’s invasion went against everything that he had been taught about how people and governments were supposed to operate. He had to know why reality did not match his perception of the world.

In the Spring of 2023, he began researching and writing his undergraduate thesis, “Parallel Nations: Ukrainian, Russian, and Imperial Identity in Right-Bank Little Russia” (submitted in April 2024). While he answered many of his original questions in this process, he also began to ask new ones. He started to explore not just the current and historical events themselves, but how the people researching them talk about and interact with them.

Those questions led him to write the essay on Russification and Russianization. He addressed the current moment for Russian and Ukrainian Studies scholarship, particularly for the study of the Ukrainian-Russian borderlands that have faced the brunt of the Russian invasion. His article is also shaped by larger, structural questions regarding disciplinarity, as Slavic Studies in general faces both external and internal challenges in today’s academy. Finally, he highlights the continued role of memory in the field, as the way that we remember historical events often shapes how we study them going forward.

Sessums is especially grateful to his former professors, Dr. Astrid M. Eckert and Dr. Matthew Payne, who told him that his work was good enough for publication and helped him push it to the finish line.

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Dr. Craig Perry (PhD, ’14) Presents New Research on Medieval Africa through Lens of Jewish Merchants

Dr. Craig Perry, a 2014 alum of the Emory History doctoral program and currently Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Jewish Studies in Emory’s Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, presented new research at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, England, in the summer of 2024. Based on a new English translation and analysis of a twelfth-century letter written by a Jewish merchant, Perry’s research offers new perspectives on the social history of medieval African societies and peoples. Read his reflection on the presentation, and elaboration on the research, here: “Prof. Craig Perry Presents Paper at the International Medieval Congress.” Perry completed his dissertation, “The Daily Life of Slaves and the Global Reach of Slavery in Medieval Egypt, 969-1250 CE,” under the advisement of Marina Rustow (faculty from 2003-2010).

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Brunner (PhD, ’24) Publishes Article in ‘African Economic History’

Dr. Georgia Brunner, a 2024 graduate of the History doctoral program, has published a new article in the journal African Economic History. Titled “Famine, Labor, and Power in Colonial Rwanda, 1916–1944,” the piece explores how colonial administrators used famine to extract labor from Africans in Rwanda. Brunner completed their dissertation, “Building a Nation: Gender, Labor, and the Politics of Nationalism in Colonial Rwanda,” under the advisement of Clifton Crais, Professor of History. They are currently Prestigious Fellowships Advisor in the Office of Undergraduate Education at Georgia Tech. Read the abstract of Brunner’s piece below and find the full article here.

In the early twentieth century, Rwandans faced a number of colonial pressures, first from Germans interested in solidifying their vast East African empire, and then by Belgian troops fighting in the First World War. This article argues that Europeans exploited Rwandans in times of crisis, particularly during war and famine, to cement their control over Rwanda. Both Germans and Belgians fought over porters and land, causing significant famine throughout the war-torn territory. Later, Belgians capitalized on two subsequent famines to increase compulsory labor under the guise that such labor was needed to end famine. This article uses Anglican, newly available Catholic missionary documents, and Belgian colonial records to discuss (a) the cause of famines in colonial Rwanda, (b) the ways that colonial administrators used famines to extract unfree labor, and (c) how those systems of labor extraction continued in times of plenty and cemented colonial presence in the territory.

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Jill Rosenthal (PhD, ’14) Wins CUNY Award for Outstanding Research


Dr. Jill Rosenthal, a 2014 alumnus and now Associate Professor of African History at Hunter College, recently received the 2024 Wasser – Gross Award for Outstanding Research from the City University of New York. The award recognizes academically impressive assistant professors from all CUNY campuses. Awardees present their research as part of the Feliks Gross and Henry Wasser lecture series. Rosenthal’s research focuses on migration, identity, and international aid in the African Great Lakes region, with a focus on the legacy of colonial borders. Duke UP published her first book, From Migrants to Refugees: The Politics of Aid along the Tanzania-Rwanda Border, last year.


Rosenthal completed her graduate work under the advisement of Dr. Clifton Crais. Read more about Rosenthal’s exceptional research and teaching: “Hunter Professor Wins CUNY Award for Outstanding Research.”

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Marissa L. Nichols (PhD, ’23) and Arturo Luna Loranca (PhD, ’24) Receive Dissertation Awards


Two of the Emory History Department’s recent doctoral graduates, both from the department’s top-tier Latin American History program, have been awarded prizes for their dissertations. Dr. Marissa L. Nichols, whose dissertation is titled “Nurses, Indigenous Authorities, and Rural Health in Oaxaca, Mexico, 1934-1970,” received two prizes: the Teresa E. Christy Award from the American Association for the History of Nursing (AAHN) as well as honorable mention for the Richmond Brown Dissertation Prize from the Latin American & Caribbean Section (LACS) of the Southern Historical Association (SHA). Dr. Yanna Yannakakis, History Department Chair and Professor, advised Nichols’s dissertation. The award committee offered the following assessment of Nichols’s dissertation:

The study by Marissa Nichols is a layered and fascinating account of public health efforts in rural Mexico.  This dissertation is very readable and well documented and makes a serious contribution to the literature on development initiatives, especially in healthcare and education in indigenous communities in Mexico. It is original in that it asks new questions of the source data and centers nursing history in contexts other than the usual Eurocentric framework and many of the concepts can be applied globally.

Using the close reading of primary sources and ethnohistory along with a native linguist, Dr. Nichols develops a strong argument for new, rigorous review of how translation of documents impacts the conclusions drawn by researchers of cross-cultural concepts and constructs. The use of a wide variety of methods and approaches to uncover lesser-known aspects of the work of rural nurses, Dr. Nichols provides a scholarly ethnohistory that is a true pleasure to read.

Dr. Arturo Luna Loranca also received honorable mention for the Richmond Brown Dissertation Prize for his doctoral thesis, titled “The Dog Remains: Mexico City’s Canine Massacres During the Enlightenment, 1770-1821.” Associate Professor Dr. Javier Villa-Flores advised his dissertation.

Congratulations to you both!

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Alumni Update: Dr. Rachel M. Johnston-White (BA, 2010)

The History Department was pleased to receive an update from Dr. Rachel M. Johnston-White, a 2010 graduate of Emory College. After graduating with a BA in French and High Honors in History, Johnston-White headed to Yale Graduate School. She completed her doctorate in French History in 2017. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. The volume Social Justice in Twentieth-Century Europe, to which she contributed a chapter, was published with Cambridge University Press this spring. 

Johnston-White also just learned that she has won a one-year Open Competition XS grant from the NWO (Dutch Research Council) to work on a brand-new project on soldiers’ photographs of wartime atrocities, a subject that unfortunately remains all too relevant. Soldiers’ photographs not only shape public opinion, as in the current Israel/Gaza conflict and the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, but also constitute an evidence base for legal action against states and individual perpetrators. Yet soldiers’ unique positionality and its impact on their photography are poorly understood, leaving scholars and the public alike blind to the subjectivity of such photographs. Her project will use an earlier conflict, the Algerian War for independence from France (1954- 1962), to contextualize and compare the photos of soldiers who were participants in or opponents of war atrocities in order to answer the question: does a soldier’s attitude towards war atrocities shape the photographic choices they make, and, if so, how?

Are you an Emory History alum? Please share updates on your life and work with us!

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Billups Investigates Global White Supremacist Networks in South Africa

Earlier this year, Emory History Department PhD candidate William (Robert) Billups investigated connections between antisemitic networks in South Africa and civil rights opponents in the US South. Emory’s Tam Institute for Jewish Studies (TIJS) supported Billups’ research on this topic, which included three weeks at two South African archives, the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and the University of the Free State’s Archive for Contemporary Affairs. Records from those archives helped Billups to understand the links between some US civil rights opponents and far-right groups outside of the US.

In an excellent reflection on the research published by the TIJS, Billups writes:

“As KKK members increasingly perpetrated violence in the civil rights South, some white South Africans sought to join US-based KKK organizations. To study South African Klan members, I spent two weeks in the Archive for Contemporary Affairs in Bloemfontein. Following guidance from the South African historian Milton Shain and the archivist Lwazi Mestile, I focused on the papers of Ray Rudman, South Africa’s self-described Klan leader during the 1950s and 1960s. Rudman’s papers contained letters and recruitment materials about joining a Klan organization based in Waco, Texas.

I expected white South African Klan recruits to describe their opposition to the anti-apartheid movement, a liberation movement that in many ways paralleled the US civil rights movement, as their main motive for joining. Some did. But to my surprise, antisemitic beliefs that far-right South Africans shared with US-based Klan leaders seemed to them an equally important connection, if not a more important one. They described entering the Klan as joining US white supremacists in fighting the supposed international Jewish conspiracy that they falsely believed controlled world communism, the civil rights movement, and the anti-apartheid movement.”

Billups received his doctorate in May 2024. He completed his dissertation, “‘Reign of Terror’: Anti–Civil Rights Terrorism in the United States, 1954–1976,” under the advisement of Drs. Joseph Crespino and Allen Tullos. Billups was recognized for his stellar record of research with the Laney Graduate School’s Outstanding Scholarly Research Award.

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Alumni Update: Cameron Katz (BA, ’21)

The History Department was excited to receive an update from Cameron Katz, a 2021 Emory graduate who completed a double major in U.S. History and English Creative Writing. Since graduation Cameron has been working for Made By Us, a coalition of 200+ history museums – from the Smithsonian to local organizations (like the Atlanta History Center!) – working to connect with 18-30-year-olds. She creates tons of history content on social media (check us out @HistoryMadeByUs), oversees media partnerships, and is working to build a community of young people passionate about history. Through Made By Us, she’s also been able to write about all kinds of history as a contributor to Teen Vogue. She is grateful to the Emory History Department for inspiring a love of research and teaching her how to write in an accessible and engaging way. Cameron also recently returned from a trip to South Korea, where she was visiting another Emory alum.

Are you an Emory History alum? Please send us updates on your life and work!

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Celebrating 2024 Graduates

From Left to Right: Dr. Jason Morgan Ward, Dr. William (Robert) Billups, Dr. Georgia Brunner, Dr. Marissa L. Nichols, Dr. Yanna Yannakakis, Dr. Kyungtaek Kwon, Dr. Matthew J. Payne, Dr. Melissa Faris Gayan.

The Emory History Department celebrates the graduate and undergraduate students who are completing their studies and degrees this spring. Five Emory History doctoral students will be recognized at the Laney Graduate School Diploma Ceremony on Friday, May 10. They are:

  • William (Robert) Billups, “‘Reign of Terror’: Anti–Civil Rights Terrorism in the United States, 1954–1976,” advised by Drs. Joseph Crespino and Allen Tullos
  • Georgia Brunner, “Building a Nation: Gender, Labor and the Politics of Nationalism in Colonial Rwanda, 1916-1962,” advised by Drs. Clifton Crais and Mariana P. Candido
  • Melissa Faris Gayan,* “The First Crack in the Ice: How the 1956 Protests Altered Soviet Cold War Hegemony,” advised by Dr. Matthew Payne
  • Kyungtaek Kwon,* “Identifying the City: Komsomol’sk-na-Amure Transformation from Military Outpost to the City of Youth in the Soviet Far East, 1932-1982,” advised by Dr. Matthew Payne
  • Marissa L. Nichols,* “Nurses, Indigenous Authorities, and Rural Health in Oaxaca, Mexico, 1934-1970,” advised by Dr. Yanna Yannakakis

*completed in summer 2023

Find out more information about all Emory commencement events here.

Congratulations, graduates!

by emoryhistorydept

Alumni Update: Tom Czerwinski (BA, ’03)

Calakmul ruins, Campeche

We are delighted to share news from Tom Czerwinski (BA, 2003), who has been a diplomat with the U.S. Department of State and career member of the Foreign Service for the past 10 years.  With a portfolio focused on management of Embassy operations, his postings have taken him to Washington DC, Mongolia, Mexico, Cyprus, and his current assignment as Management Officer at the U.S. Consulate General Durban in Durban, South Africa.  He and his family move every two-to-three years, and his next posting will be in Bogota, Columbia. While at the Department of State, Tom has learned Mongolian and Spanish.

His history credentials have come in handy in the Foreign Service, as he is able to quickly learn the facts on the ground and how current U.S. foreign policy connects with history, whether it’s the deep linkages between Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula and the U.S. due to the 19th-century sisal trade (did you know that in 1900, Merida has more millionaires per capita than Paris and London?), or the centuries-old history that keeps Nicoasia, Cyprus the last remaining divided capital in Europe (and where the UN-protected “green zone” running through the center of the capital remains perpetually frozen in 1974, including a basement full of “new” 1970’s era Toyota Corollas, each with zero miles on the odometer).  It’s been an amazing, rewarding, and sometimes challenging adventure.

Tom is always happy to talk to any Emory students or alumni about the Foreign Service – just look him up on Emory Connects to get in touch.

Are you an Emory History alum? Please send us updates on your life and work!