With support from Internal Education Fund (IEF) grants, seven students conducted research abroad in December, enjoying the opportunity to delve into topics associated with their senior thesis.
Jessica Simmon '06 traveled to England and Scotland for two weeks, conducting research on King Henry VIII for her three-term, double major senior thesis in history and political science.
Simmon's work reexamines the king's political philosophy through an attempt to understand a crucial influence on his life – the humanist education he received as a youth.
Dec 2005
With the aid of thesis advisor John Cramsie, assistant professor of history, Simmon was afforded access to the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, where she found manuscripts, rare books and correspondence dating to the king's reign. Soon, she found herself piecing together different sources and drawing conclusions about the influence scholars had on Henry VIII when he was a young prince.
“The whole researching experience was sort of like a treasure hunt,” says Simmon, who plans to present her work at the Steinmetz Symposium in May.
The senior scholar is quick to credit the IEF program as a key to her research success.
“I was given an opportunity to do research usually reserved only to graduate students, namely an introduction to archival work,” she said. “The IEF grant made my trip to Britain possible, and I hope future students take advantage of this rich resource so they can have an experience as impacting as mine.”
Seniors William Goldstein, Sarah Heitner, Raquefette Kilchevsky, Kelvin Martinez, Sona Shah and Michael Zaplin also received IEF funding for a range of projects that took them across the globe. Here, a brief look at their travels:
William Goldstein '06, history major
Research project: “Reconstruction in London after World War II”
Research advisor: David Baum, visiting assistant professor of history
Goldstein traveled to England to interview Nicholas Bullock, a professor at Cambridge University and meet with real estate professionals from Cushman & Wakefield/Healey & Baker. He also examined blueprints, town planning documents and newspaper articles in London archives.
Sarah Heitner '06, economics major, Japanese minor
Research project: “The Growing Participation of Women in the Workforce in India and Japan: A Comparative Study”
Research advisor: Eshragh Motahar, chair of economics
Heitner traveled to India (with Sona Shah; see below) to observe daily interactions of women in society, interview women working in medicine, academia and business, and interact with faculty involved in the Union-Mumbai exchange program.
Raquefette Kilchevsky '06, art history major
Research project: “Jewish Identity in Art, a Multi Cultural and Multi Generational Approach”
Research advisor: David Ogawa, assistant professor of visual arts.
Kilchevsky traveled to museums in Israel and New York City to study various ways in which Jewish identity is presented in works of art. She compared trends in modernism and post-modernism to see how styles and approaches have changed over the years and their impact on the expression of Jewish identity.
Kelvin Martinez '06, Latin American studies major and participant in Union's Future Professors Program
Research topic: “The Psychology of Garifuna Mobilization with Respect to Government and Transnational Influence”
Research advisor: Teresa Meade, professor of history
Martinez, an international student, conducted several interviews in Honduras with Garifuna people regarding the cultural effects of mass migration out of Garifuna villages. A Garifuna from Honduras himself, Martinez speaks both the Garifuna language and Spanish.
Sona Shah '06, anthropology major
Research topic: “A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Abortion in India and the United States”
Research advisor: Karen Brison, associate professor of anthropology
Shah traveled to India (with Sarah Heitner, see above) to establish contacts with academics, physicians, clinicians, NGOs and “common people” through family connections and help from Manju Nachani, a former visiting professor at Union.
Michael Zaplin '06
Research topic: “A Historical Analysis of Bendin, Poland, during the Inter-war and Second World War”
Research advisor: Stephen M. Berk, the Henry and Sally Schaffer Professor of Holocaust and Jewish Studies
On a trip to Poland, Zaplin visited the Jewish Holocaust Museum and the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial, both in Warsaw; Auschwitz, the concentration camp where citizens of the Benden ghetto were sent in 1941; and his grandfather's native town, Bendin.