Elaina was accepted into the University of Maryland's HiLS program, a dual-degree program that will earn her a Master of Arts in History and a Master of Library Science degree. She will concentrate in Museum Scholarship, Material Culture, and Archives and Digital Preservation.
UPDATE: Summer 2018
After spending a year with Catholic Migration Services in New York as an immigration counselor, Joe has been accepted into the Master of International Affairs Program at Texas A&M as a Robertson Fellow in the fall – with full funding!
A History major and Art History minor, Peter was awarded a yearlong residential fellowship at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site to conduct research on the site and the artist. https://thomascole.org
The Cole Fellowship is sponsored by the Thomas Cole National Historic Site (TCNHS) and offered as a yearlong post-baccalaureate opportunity to pursue art historical research that is relevant to the artist and the site. Thomas Cole was a nineteenth century American landscape painter—credited today as the founder of the Hudson River School art movement. The TCNHS is a house museum and grounds located on the property where the painter lived and worked from 1836 to 1848. The Fellowship Program is designed to provide experience to recent undergraduates who are looking to pursue a career in art history and the museum field. Fellows will work with curatorial, exhibitions, education, and other departmental staff throughout the course of the year to develop a breadth of knowledge about the workings of a museum site and the role of each department.
In addition helping with day-to-day functions of the site, the bulk of the Fellows' work consists of a primary research project. For the next year I will specifically be researching the broader experience of Thomas Cole in America, aiming to contextualize his social, political, religious, and economic views in the wider scope of Catskill, NY and the happenings in America. This project aims to develop the complex story of Cole's inner monologue as he paints his way into the annals of American art history and determine how this story can best be presented at the TCNHS. This body of research will serve as foundational research for future reinterpretations of how Thomas Cole's story is told through the house museum. Following this yearlong position, I hope to attend graduate school for an art history/curatorial degree.
“I'm very excited to pursue this new opportunity and I feel like the History Department as a whole has done an impeccable job of preparing me to take on bigger challenges in the fields of history and art history.”
(Image: Peter pictured with his fellow residents)
Isabel had this to say about her experience at Villanova:
"I attended Villanova from 2007-2011, majoring in History and Theology. People ask me all the time what in the world those majors have to do with business. A lot, actually. My liberal arts education taught me to think.
I have a philosophy about what kind of business I want to build. A business that helps people fulfill their potentials. That's what keeps me motivated every day. I never could have formed and acted on that philosophy without my liberal arts education. The math, the marketing, the business writing... those things are easy to learn if you've gotten your mindset in order. And my education at Villanova helped me get my mindset in order."
After graduation Joe will be doing a year of service with Catholic Migration Services in New York as an immigration counselor. As part of the role, he will be helping immigrants apply for citizenship and green cards.
After graduating from Villanova University I attained my law degree from Rutgers Law School. The skills I developed while studying history at Villanova have allowed me to succeed both academically and professionally. As a lawyer, having a background in history has proven helpful when reading cases. My knowledge of American history has enabled me to review a case or statute in its historical context. This has given me a fuller understanding of a court's reasoning, policy considerations behind a court's holding, and the reason a law was enacted. Studying history has also provided me with the opportunity to develop strong writing and analytical skills and the ability to analyze facts. Being an effective advocate similarly requires being able to objectively assess the facts and determine which are important to one's analysis and argument. Studying history ultimately influenced my decision to become a lawyer and made me a better advocate.
John was accepted to the position and will be one of the 12 FEMA Corps team leaders at the Iowa AmeriCorps campus next year. John had previously worked responding to natural disasters in Houston, Florida, and most recently, Puerto Rico.
Kelly has been accepted to Boston University School of Law and will begin in the fall semester of 2017.
Erin Mysogland has been accepted into the MA/MSc program in International and World History at Columbia University and the London School of Economics. She will spend her first year at Columbia and her second year at LSE where she will write her thesis.
My first job out of college was at the National Archives Foundation, a job I would absolutely never have gotten without the deep background I gained as a History major at Villanova. Working in and giving tours of the National Archives building in Washington, DC was an honor, and it was made possible by the dedicated work of the Villanova history department.
The history courses I took at Villanova played a key role in shaping my political thinking, which informs my day-to-day work in my current job at Patriotic Millionaires, a progressive political group representing high net-worth individuals who want the government to create a more equitable tax system. As Senior Associate, my work in fundraising and recruitment is immeasurably deepened by my understanding of the historical antecedents and long-term political trends that I gained during my time at Villanova.
During history courses, it is important to grasp that we are learning a perspective. We make our best conclusion by gathering “facts” from various sources to create an interpretation of what “happened” or “the truth.” Well, I find that “the truth” can be very limiting. Currently, I work for Gap International, a global management consulting company right outside Philadelphia, PA. At Gap International, we break through those limitations by partnering with executives and consistently challenging the “truth” to innovate and create a new truth, a new reality that leads to exceptional growth.
As Curator, I oversee the Collections Department, including a team of 4, and a diverse collection of over 100,000 art objects and artifacts. The skills I obtained as a history major are used each and every day. Studying history at Villanova University prepared me to not only be a historian, but also a highly efficient problem solver. In addition, I had the ability to put my education in a real-world context by exploring the rich public history and material culture of Philadelphia through the fantastic internship and research opportunities I pursued. My education at Villanova not only allowed me to be a competitive candidate in my field, but also helped me develop critical professional and life skills.
Profession: International Development/Foreign Affairs - The critical analysis, research, and writing skills I developed as a history major at Villanova have proven invaluable for my career in International Economic Development. Studying history trained me to synthesize complex information, analyze trends, and articulate practical policy solutions to alleviate poverty in the developing world.
Being a history major at Villanova really helped me to become a strong researcher and writer, which are two skills that many students lack. Research and writing are so important in any field and harnessing those skills has really helped me to be a great teacher to my students and also a great student myself as I work on my masters of education degree.
I will be graduating medical school in May, so I've been interviewing for anesthesia residency positions. I have visited about 15 programs with each visit consisting of 3-6 interviews. During each interview art history was the topic of conversation for at least a part of if not the whole interview! It was surprising and refreshing to learn how many physicians have an interest or wish they had more of an interest in art history. Needless to say it made my interview session more relaxing to talk about something I love. I wanted to pass along to students how beneficial my background in art history has been even though I chose a different career path. Those that interviewed me often shared that an interest in art history was a sign of being well-rounded, open-minded, and able to relate well to others with a variety of backgrounds, all of which are valuable characteristics and especially important in medicine.
My undergraduate studies in history at Villanova were truly indispensable to my work at the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C. and to my Master of Public Administration program at the University of Washington. A degree in history helped me develop a cohesive, direct writing style to communicate with federal bureaucrats and political appointees. It also gave me vital skills in analytical and critical thinking that allowed me to tackle issues of social and environmental justice in present-day Appalachia. Recently I accepted a postion as the Program Manager for Internships and Service Initiatives at Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. It is a non-profit that is very well known in the parks world. As Program Manager I'll work closely with the national park in San Francisco to evaluate and streamline 80 internships. I will also be heavily involved in partnerships with two local colleges to increase nonwhite representation in the internships. I would recommend this highly versatile degree to everyone.
Studying history at Villanova taught me to view historical “facts” through a lens of skepticism, and to seek the truth through my own research. This viewpoint has enhanced my ability to tackle legal cases, where my job is to narrate a story in a way which benefits my client, and challenge the facts presented by the opposing party. During job interviews, I have often compared the practice of law to historiography, where you sort through various opinions about what happened in the past, and then compose your own version.
Majoring in history provided me with an invaluable foundation in research, writing and analysis. It taught me the importance of contextualization and looking at both the minute factors and the "big picture" in order to understand and communicate about a subject in a thorough manner. Thanks to my history education at Villanova, I am able to utilize these important skills on a daily basis.
