Alumni Highlight: Fiona Maxwell (BA ‘18)
I am entering my final year in the History PhD program at the University of Chicago. My dissertation, "Democratic Ensembles: Spoken Art and Politics at Chicago Settlement Houses, 1890-1920,” grew out of the History senior thesis I completed at Northwestern. I published two scholarly articles this year: “‘Expression is Power’: Gender, Residual Culture, and Political Aspiration at the Cumnock School of Oratory, 1870-1900” in Gender & History, and “Site of Social Justice Advocacy, or Home of Godly Women? Interpreting Women’s Work at the Frances Willard House Museum” in Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals. I received the Debra Mesch Doctoral Fellowship for Research on Women’s Philanthropy in support of my dissertation project, as well as the Anna Award, Recognizing Extraordinary Service and Dedication to the Center for Women’s History and Leadership.
I am working as a research consultant for the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum’s Radical Craft exhibition and contributed an original essay, “The Old and the New: Immigrant Women and Intergenerational Connection at the Hull-House Labor Museum,” to the accompanying catalog. I also work as a career advising intern and oral and written communications specialist for UChicagoGRAD, and I designed and led two public programs for the University of Chicago’s Center on Democracy: a workshop on improv and democracy, and a women’s suffrage bus tour. This spring I will be giving an invited talk at Northwestern’s upcoming Winifred Ward Symposium.
1960s
Judith (Westlund) Rosbe (BA ‘63) - Judith Westlund Rosbe was selected as the recipient of the 2024 Massachusetts History Alliance Star Award. MHA Star Awards are granted to an individual who has made a lasting impact on their local history. Rosbe has written six books on Marion MA history and has conducted over 50 oral histories of Marion residents, the latest focusing on Marion's Cape Verdean community. She has been a director of her local historical society for over 45 years and has served as its president for 15 years and its treasurer for five years. She has also been a leader in its preservation efforts in the Town of Marion, including enrolling her home in the National Register of Historic Places.
Greg Paus (BA ‘68) - After my career at NU, I moved to Boston, discovered architecture, and attended the 5year program at the Boston Architectural Center. It is the only night school of architecture in the world, and a requirement is that every student work full time for an architectural firm. I loved the entire experience! Then I moved to Vermont and started my own firm, Silver Ridge Design, Inc., Architects. I'm still working full time and love the projects I work on. Redesigning Vermont is a large, exciting project that I enjoy with passion!
1970s
Donald McPherson (MA ‘71) - Don McPherson (BA ’69) recently published articles about Peanuts creator Charles Schulz in the Kenwood Press (CA) and Pétanque Pulse, the magazine of the Federation of Pétanque USA. Schulz lived and worked in Santa Rosa, CA, where Don, a pétanque aficionado, lives in retirement. This year is the 20th anniversary of a January 16, 1994, Schulz comic strip homage to Pétanque, the classic French boules game.
Snoopy, the World War I flying ace, sits atop his doghouse (his Sopwith Camel) in aviator gear and queries “Pétanque?” Marcie, as the “beautiful French lass” who has fallen for him, offers to teach him to play. She cautions the Flying Ace not to drop the heavy metal boule on his foot which, of course, Snoopy promptly does. Marcie then carries him to the field hospital, where he imagines his chagrin at having to explain that during the Great War he was wounded – playing pétanque.
Through interviews with living participants including Schulz’s widow, Jean Schulz, CEO of the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, Don was able to document Schulz’s personal experience as the genesis of the cartoon. At an August 1993 picnic, Schulz was taught to play pétanque by members of Don’s club, the Sonoma CA Valley of the Moon Pétanque Club. After the event, Schulz wrote to thank club members “for teaching Snoopy to play pétanque.” The documentation included previously unknown photographs of the event found in the archives of the Schulz Museum.
Mac Banks (MA ‘73) - I am retiring in July 2024, after 13 years as dean of the UNC Greensboro Bryan School of Business and Economics and Margaret and Harrell Hill Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategy. I am also completing my term as past chair of the Board of Directors of AACSB, the world’s premier accreditor of business schools.
John F. Reiger (PhD ‘70) - John Reiger contributed analysis and photographs to the producers of the Ken Burns historical documentary on the American buffalo that appeared last fall on television and is cited in the credits. The Selected Bibliography of the volume accompanying the television production includes Reiger's first book on environmental history, which was an outgrowth of his Northwestern dissertation directed by George M. Fredrickson.
William Willingham (PhD ‘72) - The past few years have been busy with research and writing. My book entitled, Civil Works for the Public Good: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New Deal,1929-1941 just came out in January 2024. Next year, another book I have written for the Army Corps of Engineers, From Revolution to West Point: Engineering for the U. S. Army, 1775-1802 is due for publication. Finally, I have just completed a manuscript for the Oregon State University Press, titled Golden Dreams: Precious Metals and the Development of Oregon, 1862-1910. My history graduate years at NU in the late 1960s have served me well. I hope others from those years send in their news.
Carol Zink (BA ‘77) - Happily retired after teaching history at a high school for 14 years (after a career in software and Naval service). Now teaching a variety of history classes online for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes in Hawaii and New Hampshire, teaching English to Spanish speakers, guiding first gen college aspirants through the byzantine college application process, and enjoying 5 grandkids and recreational pursuits.
Jim Schmotter (PhD ‘73) - Proving once again that historians can do nearly anything, I'm serving this year as an Executive in Residence at Florida Gulf Coast University's School of Entrepreneurship. In December 2023 I received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters degree from Muskingum University, my undergraduate alma mater in Ohio.
Barbara M. Posadas (PhD ‘76) - Barbara M. Posadas is CLAS Distinguished Professor of History Emerita at Northern Illinois University where she taught from 1974 to 2015. Of late, her response to questions about what she has been doing is usually “not much.” She is currently writing a semi-autobiographical invited piece for the FANHS [Filipino American National Historical Society] Journal that is due too soon. She continues serving on the Editorial Boards of The Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society and The Journal of American Ethnic History and as a consultant for Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO) on US Department of State Foreign Service examinations. Most of all, after commuting from 1973 to 2015, she enjoys living with Roland L. Guyotte (PhD 1980), her husband of forty-two years, at their homes in DeKalb, IL, and Morris MN. Both Barbara and Roland entered the PhD program in 1967 – Sigh!
David Gaynon (BA ‘73) - For the last several years I have served as Curriculum Chair of the Senior Studies Institute, a Portland OR area senior studies group affiliated with the Portland Community College. In the last year I presented two lectures – one on Lincoln's second inaugural address and a second on the Forum for Dialogue, a nonprofit in Poland involved in promoting open and honest communication with contemporary Poles and the worldwide Jewish community, especially the descendants of Jews who once lived in Poland.
1980s
Peter Coddington (BA ‘84) - Celebrating my 40th reunion year with a NU History degree gives perspective on the value of a History degree. In 1984 my 2.43 grade point average was hardly considered stellar by NU standards. My academic performance did not reflect a lack of interest, or intellectual curiosity, but more a lack of discipline and general disregard, if not outright rebellion, for what was expected. I preferred interaction with my fellow students in discussion.
Upon graduation and seeking a profession, law school was considered the logical pathway. I had interned at a law firm in the Loop. I noticed none of the attorneys ever looked happy while at work. They never interacted with anyone – just looked at their documents. I halfheartedly signed up for the LSATS, everyone quiet and working on their tests – just like in the law firm. I looked out the window onto a beautiful early summer day and wondered who would be on the lakefront and whom I might meet if outside. I got up and simply walked out.
Fortunately, 33 years later I sold two Tech companies that I started in my basement, never needing to work again. I never studied computers – as a matter of fact, I hate passwords! My NU history degree taught me all I needed to be successful – how to study people. I hired the best and brightest computer scientists. I interacted with prospective customers. Made the companies successful and sold them. There is no better education than understanding humanity and that is best done while studying history.
Scott Olson (BA ‘80) - I've been appointed Chancellor of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. In this role I oversee seven state universities, twenty-five community and technical colleges, and one tribal college.
James Sanders (PhD. ‘80) - In 2023, I published two poems – “Where…,” appeared in Gathering, an obscure poetry journal, and “Mr. Prickly,” debuted in NOVA Bards, a small northern Virginia publication. The first poem criticizes the annual World Economic Forum meeting at Davos; the second celebrates the much-maligned leatherleaf mahonia, unfairly regarded as “invasive” in some states. The Children’s Librarian at Hershey Public Library (PA), affirmed that, “All publishing counts.” Amen! Most recently, I’ve been supporting an instrumental music program for youth in La Victoire, Haiti. Started by a retired Iowa band director, after he experienced an epiphany one Sunday morning in church, the program is thriving—good news in a troubled country and yet more evidence that music can sustain and heal. To date, I have failed to spur Congressional hearings on failed U.S. Africa policy. The reappearance of coups, civil war, high levels of food stress, deep economic distress, and prominence of transnational actors in current events, indicates that U.S. policy clearly needs innovative ideas and better leadership. The 1990s were over a long time ago. Presently, transnational networks are surpassing governments in power, global reach, flexibility, and creative thinking. How to cope? Finally, I continue as a trumpeter in Derry Presbyterian Church’s brass ensemble here in Hershey PA. Hershey Presbyterians remain dubious about the long-term influence of the Great Awakening.
Dennis Hickey (PhD ‘85) - I presented the paper "Globalization and the Conceit of the Present: Thomas Kuhn's *The Structure of Scientific Revolutions* as Corrective” at the 12th Global Studies Conference, Krakow, Poland, in June 2019. I am now retired, and I look forward to further conference and travel opportunities after my knee replacement in several months’ time.
Daniel Sack (BA ‘84) - I have recently been named deputy director of the Division of Research Programs at the National Endowment for the Humanities. I help to administer several programs that support innovative scholarly research across the humanities. I have been at the NEH for almost 14 years.
David Pratt (BA ‘85) - I moved back to the Chicago area in 2020 after 14 years in Dallas-Fort Worth. Last year I retired after 25 years in financial services (Sears, Citi and SoFi). After nine months of retirement, my boss from Citi and SoFi asked me to join him at his new company, so I am un-retiring on 4/15 and working for Goldman Sachs in their credit card area.
Stephen Reichard (MA ‘85) - I had always hoped to parlay my degree in African History into working for an NGO doing nation building. After a circuitous journey through the private and nonprofit sectors, I have come full circle, consulting with tribes and tribal organizations to leverage tribal sovereignty to improve health and well-being.
Barbara Kancelbaunm (BA ‘87) - I am the VP of Communications & Marketing for Henry Street Settlement. The organization, one of the largest social services agencies in New York City, was founded by the social reformer Lillian Wald in 1893. One of the great joys of my job is to supervise a public historian and to oversee a permanent history exhibition in our headquarters, which welcomes 2,000 visitors each year and uses history to give our team a sense of belonging to this legacy and a deep commitment to the mission.
Mark Roth (BA ‘80) - After a more than 30-year career in the U.S. Intelligence Community, I became a Practitioner Professor in the Intelligence Studies program at The Catholic University of America in Washington DC. I am also an adjunct faculty member teaching classes remotely in the Security & Intelligence Studies program at Chicago State University.
Katherine Tower (BA ‘84) - Promoted to Deputy General Counsel for the Illinois State Lottery.
Roland L. Guyotte (PhD ‘80) - Roland L. Guyotte continues as Professor of History and All-University Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris, where he has taught since Fall 1969. He continues to write reviews, most recently for The Journal of American History and The Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. In recent years he has developed and taught classes, new to him, on “The American West” and “The American Experience in World War II,” an event in which he was a product of the victory celebration. He also regularly offers classes on “The Civil Rights Era” and “The U.S. Presidency since 1900.”
1990s
Rebecca Shumway (BA ‘95) - I'm working on my second book about the history of Ghana, as a faculty member at UW-Milwaukee, and enjoying watching my nephew pursue his bachelor's degree at Northwestern!
Bradley Bouten (BA ‘91) - Bradley Bouten is a practicing Lutheran living in Escondido CA. My email address is on file with NU Alumni Services. Don't have a car so don't travel much. Maybe I'll make it back for Homecoming one of these years. I was a DU. Go Cats!
Robert C. Wolcott (BA ‘91) - I'm pleased to share the launch in May 2024 of my new book from Columbia University Press entitled, PROXIMITY(www.proximitybook.net) I'm currently an Adjunct Professor of Innovation at both Kellogg and Chicago Booth and a venture investor. We live in Ridgewood NJ, near New York City, in case anyone would like to reconnect. I'm always available on LinkedIn at Robert C. Wolcott.
David Gellman (PhD ‘97) - My book Liberty's Chain: Slavery, Abolition, and the Jay Family of New York was awarded the Herbert H. Lehman Prize for Distinguished Scholarship by the New York Academy of History. I am about to complete my 25th year teaching at DePauw University.
Rachel Barkow (BA ‘93) - I have a book coming out in spring of 2024. Justice Abandoned: How the Supreme Court Ignored the Constitution and Enabled Mass Incarceration will be published by Harvard/Belknap. Most of the cases are from the 1960s-1980s, so it was fun going through the history of that period to set the stage for the decisions.
2000s
Geoffrey Deibel (BA ‘02) - Geoffrey Deibel was awarded tenure and promotion to Associate Professor of Saxophone at Florida State University. He has recently been awarded several internal grants at FSU and looks forward to future recording projects.
Thanh Nguyen (BA ‘05) - Since graduating from NU two decades ago as a history major, I became a lawyer (litigator at AmLaw 100 firms Clifford Chance and Latham & Watkins), went in-house as one of PepsiCo’s lawyers building out the company’s anticorruption compliance program globally, got married, and after our first child was three years old, we sold our house and quit our jobs for a yearlong fantastic adventure abroad traveling and living in 12 countries together. We came back to the US in 2021, relocated to California, had our second and third kid and I became a legal recruiter helping companies of all sizes build their legal team. So many adventures ahead!
Joshua Furman (BA ‘04) - In January 2024, I was appointed the Jeanne Abrams Endowed Director of the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society and Affiliate Faculty of the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Denver. In the press release, I thanked one of my undergraduate teachers at NU, Professor Edward Muir, for sparking my interest in history: https://www.du.edu/news/du-welcomes-joshua-furman-first-jeanne-abrams-endowed-director-rocky-mountain-jewish-historical-society.
William Thomas (BA ‘01) - In August 2023, the American Institute of Physics appointed me to the role of Spencer R. Weart Director of Research in History, Policy, and Culture. I am the fourth director of AIP's Center for History of Physics in its six decades of documenting the history of the physical sciences, and the first tasked with connecting the history of the profession to the concerns of the present.
Lane Demas (BA ‘02) - I am still a history professor at Central Michigan University. In 2023, I was appointed by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to serve on the state's Historic Preservation Review Board. I recently published my first book, The Dharma of the West last year. It is available on Amazon.
Lauren Greenwood (MA ‘07) - Graduated with a Doctorate in Leadership and Education from Trevecca Nazarene University (Nashville) and continues as faculty in a Physician Assistant program in Nashville TN.
Patricia Yu (BA ‘07) - After practicing law for nine years, I finally made the career change I wanted to become a therapist. I started my Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy in May 2022 and am thrilled to share that I was just accepted to a position as a Child and Family Therapy trainee at Maple Counseling Center in Los Angeles. I recently celebrated my three–year anniversary of living in LA and love it so much! I live a few minutes from the ocean in Venice and spend a few times a week by/in the water. I’ve also been active in the NU LA Club as the Secretary since August 2023.
Edward Gadient (BA ‘08) - This spring, I will complete my 9th year teaching in Chicago Public Schools. I currently work at Lincoln Park High School and lead Junior and Senior classes in the school’s IB Career-Related Program. Most exciting for me recently was a teaching fellowship from the Pilot Light Foundation, which provided materials and support to integrate food education into my classes.
2010s
Melissa Vise (PhD ‘15) - Beginning Fall 2024, I will join the University of Virginia History Department as the John Nau III Associate Professor in the History and Principles of Democracy.
Lindsay Jagla (BA ‘15) - I just completed three years as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. Department of State. I previously served in Managua, Nicaragua, for two years, and I just completed eight months of Albanian language training before being posted to Pristina, Kosovo in the summer of 2024. I think about my history courses and academic experience at Northwestern often in my work!
Austin McCredie (BA ‘16) - After completing my MTS at Boston University’s School of Theology, I will be moving to Philadelphia to begin my PhD at the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, focusing on Syriac Christianity.
Isabel Robertson (BA ‘17) - I'm living in Chicago and working remote as a podcast producer for Marvel Entertainment – the limited series I created last year for them was nominated for Best Entertainment Podcast at the 2024 Podcast Academy Awards! I also work as a freelance producer, writer, and fact-checker, using my History Department research skills. And I'm working on my first novel!
Fiona Maxwell (BA ‘18) - I am entering my final year in the History PhD program at the University of Chicago. My dissertation, "Democratic Ensembles: Spoken Art and Politics at Chicago Settlement Houses, 1890-1920,” grew out of the History senior thesis I completed at Northwestern. I published two scholarly articles this year: “‘Expression is Power’: Gender, Residual Culture, and Political Aspiration at the Cumnock School of Oratory, 1870-1900” in Gender & History, and “Site of Social Justice Advocacy, or Home of Godly Women? Interpreting Women’s Work at the Frances Willard House Museum” in Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals. I received the Debra Mesch Doctoral Fellowship for Research on Women’s Philanthropy in support of my dissertation project, as well as the Anna Award, Recognizing Extraordinary Service and Dedication to the Center for Women’s History and Leadership. I am working as a research consultant for the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum’s Radical Craft exhibition and contributed an original essay, “The Old and the New: Immigrant Women and Intergenerational Connection at the Hull-House Labor Museum,” to the accompanying catalog. I also work as a career advising intern and oral and written communications specialist for UChicagoGRAD, and I designed and led two public programs for the University of Chicago’s Center on Democracy: a workshop on improv and democracy, and a women’s suffrage bus tour. This spring I will be giving an invited talk at Northwestern’s upcoming Winifred Ward Symposium.
Lewis Raven Wallace (BA ‘10) - I have turned in a manuscript for my second nonfiction book, this one on the subject of Radical Unlearning. I asked, what creates the conditions to help us let go of deeply held beliefs and ideologies? The book will be published by Beacon Press in 2025. My first book, The View from Somewhere, which is about the history of objectivity, continues to be taught in journalism and history courses.
AJ Tedeschi (BA ‘12) - AJ is happy to announce that he is joining Local Deal Flow Hub (LDFH) in the role of Chief Legal Officer. LDFH is a FinTech startup that is dedicated to improving access to capital for high-quality Main Street businesses across the country.
Emily Gerst (BA ‘13) - This spring, I graduated with a master's in dispute resolution from the Straus Institute at Pepperdine University and moved to Virginia to work as the Director of Conflict Resolution & Peer Mediation at the College of William & Mary.
2020s
Ruby Ray Daily (PhD ‘21) - I am finishing up my first (delightful) year as Assistant Professor of History, Modern Britain, and the British Empire at the University of Arkansas.
Sarah Han (BS ‘21) - Since graduating, I have been working at a private wealth management firm in San Francisco. This fall, I'm excited to be attending law school at Duke University and to start the next chapter of my life. I'm grateful for the skills I learned and guidance I received during my time at Northwestern!
Sophia Scanlon (BA ‘22) - I’m excited to share that, after finishing my master’s in education from Penn this spring, I will be starting my PhD in History at Columbia this fall! I’m looking forward to building on the skills and knowledge I gained while in the Northwestern History Department. Go ‘Cats always!
Next Article
