Robert Anzenberger
B.A. ’13 History, B.A. ’13 Political Science
Robert is pursuing a doctorate in US-Russian foreign relations under Dr. Karen Petrone.

Ian Bussan
Ph.D. in progress
Ian is studying how sectional differences developed in antebellum America, with a focus on agriculture.

Dorian Cleveland
B.A. ’23 History, M.A. in progress
Dorian started the fall 2023 semester in the graduate program with the goal of pursuing a career in museum curation or archives.

Paolo D'Amato
Ph.D. in progress
Paolo is researching the development of public water systems and public policy in twentieth-century Eastern Kentucky.

Kayla Heard
Ph.D. in progress
Kayla began the doctoral program in the fall 2023 semester. Her research focuses on the history of enslaved people in Louisiana during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly their identity formations and resistance methods.

Jacob Johnson
M.A. in progress
Jacob is researching Appalachian environmental history under Dr. Kathy Newfont. Raised in a coal camp in Eastern Kentucky, Jacob brings a personal perspective to his academic pursuits.

McKenna Natzke
M.A. ’24 History
McKenna completed her master's and a graduate certificate in historic preservation. The Lipman Fellowship significantly influenced her decision to attend the University of Kentucky.

Christian O’Cull
Ph.D. in progress
Christian earned a UK UNITE Research Priority Area Predoctoral Research Fellowship for 2024-2025 in recognition of his doctoral research.

Veronica Primm
M.A. in progress
Veronica is researching how Black Americans in Tennessee re-established familial ties and forged new identities within their communities after emancipation during the Reconstruction Era, with a particular focus on mixed-race individuals born to Black enslaved mothers and white enslavers.

Norina Samuels
Ph.D. in progress
Norina is a first-generation college student pursuing her doctorate with a focus on African American and military history under Dr. Anastasia Curwood.
 

Abigail Stephens
M.A. ’21 History, Ph.D. in progress
Abigail is researching the effects of smallpox on Louisville's Black communities at the turn of the twentieth century. Her focus includes how Black community members organized for mutual aid during this period and how the city government's public health strategies intersected with police surveillance of Black Louisvillians.