Current Lipman Fellows
Robert Anzenberger
B.A. ’13 History, B.A. ’13 Political Science
Robert is an ABD student researching U.S. diplomatic relations with Finland from Finnish independence to the Cold War under the supervision of Dr. Karen Petrone. In fall 2024, he successfully passed his qualifying exams. In spring 2025, he was awarded the U.S. Department of Defense Boren Fellowship for dissertation research in Estonia and the Fulbright IIE Award from the U.S. Department of State for dissertation research in Finland. Robert declined the Boren Fellowship and accepted the Fulbright IIE. He will conduct research in Finland during the 2026–27 academic year. He also received the department's Albisetti Award for Dissertation Research and will conduct research in England and Germany in summer 2026. These prestigious awards will allow him to write his dissertation during the 2026–27 academic year.
Paolo D'Amato
Ph.D. in progress
Paolo, an ABD doctoral candidate under Dr. Kathy Newfont, is researching the history of water policy in eastern Kentucky and the Ohio and Kentucky River estuaries. During the 2024–25 academic year, he focused on his dissertation research and held a teaching assistantship. Recognizing his academic achievement, the department offered him the opportunity to design and teach a course on Appalachian history in spring 2026. Paolo received the Dorothy Leathers and George Herring Graduate Award for his scholarly achievements, teaching promise, intellectual maturity, and contributions to the department. He will also work with the editor-in-chief of the Kentucky Register at the Kentucky Historical Society to support the journal.
Kayla Heard
Ph.D. in progress
Kayla joined the history graduate program in fall 2023 and is working under the direction of Dr. Vanessa Holden. Her research interests include gender, women, and the history of slavery in 18th-century Louisiana, as well as comparative Atlantic World history. Kayla is on track to take her qualifying exams in fall 2025 and to defend her dissertation proposal by spring 2026.
Ruth Hester
Ruth will join the history graduate program in fall 2025 after completing her B.A. in History at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. Under the supervision of Dr. Amy Taylor, she plans to focus her research on the U.S. Civil War era and its intersections with the history of medicine. Her M.A. thesis on military surgeons during the Civil War demonstrates strong potential for further development in her graduate studies.
Jacob Johnson
M.A. in progress
Jacob began his graduate studies in history in fall 2022, focusing on Appalachian history under the guidance of Dr. Newfont. In the 2024–2025 academic year, he held a teaching assistantship with the Appalachian Studies Center, which provided him the opportunity to design and teach a course on Appalachian history in the spring of 2025.
Christian O’Cull
Ph.D. in progress
Christian joined the history graduate program in fall 2023 to research U.S. history before 1877 under the supervision of Dr. Amy Taylor. He received the 2024–25 UNITE Predoctoral Research Award for his proposed research on post–Civil War Ohio. He was granted a deferral of his second Lipman Fellowship to 2025–26 in recognition of this work. In summer 2025, Christian is working under the direction of Dr. Holden on the Central Kentucky Slavery Initiative Digital Access Project, in collaboration with the Fayette County Clerk’s Office. He also received the department’s Leslee K. Gilbert and Daniel E. Crowe Fellowship, which supports outstanding graduate students in the program.
Sachen Pillay
Sachen will join the history graduate program in fall 2025, having earned an M.A. in History from the University of Georgia. Under the supervision of Dr. Devyn Benson, his research focuses on Cuban relations in southern Africa during the Cold War era. He was awarded the Lyman T. Johnson Fellowship, the UK Graduate School’s premier recruiting fellowship. This award supports his first year in the program in place of a teaching assistantship and includes eligibility for a second year of funding later in his doctoral studies.
Ally Powers
B.A. ’25 History
Ally will join the history graduate program in fall 2025 to pursue an M.A. in Public History along with a Certificate in Public History. As an undergraduate, she gained valuable experience working under the direction of Dr. Kathy Newfont on the Central Kentucky Slavery Initiative Digital Access Project. As an intern on the project, Ally researched and analyzed 19th-century property transactions from the Fayette County Clerk’s records, deepening her interest in public history and archival research.
Veronica Primm
M.A. in progress
Veronica will earn her M.A. in History in summer 2025, working under the supervision of Dr. Vanessa Holden. During her time at UK, she developed research interests in slavery, U.S. history, women and gender studies, and the history of medicine.
Norina Samuels
Ph.D. in progress
Norina is a first-generation college student specializing in African American and military history. She is currently an ABD doctoral candidate, having passed her qualifying exams in the spring of 2025. Norina is scheduled to defend her dissertation proposal in summer 2025 and will begin her dissertation research in the fall. She works under the mentorship of Dr. Anastasia Curwood. Norina was awarded the department’s Lance Banning Memorial Award in American History, which will support her attendance at the Comic Studies Conference at Michigan State University in summer 2025.
Former Lipman Fellows
Mark Maxwell Brown
M.A. ’22 History
Mark's M.A. thesis examined how Christian missionaries, influenced by liberation theology, became significant critics of the Reagan administration's support for the Contras in Nicaragua, challenging the prevailing Cold War political norms.
Dorian Cleveland
B.A. ’23 History, M.A. ’25 History
In spring 2025, Dorian successfully defended his M.A. in History, consisting of a portfolio of three papers that reflected his studies in graduate history seminars and his research in U.S. and Kentucky history. He completed his studies under the direction of Dr. Curwood.
Ryan Essinger
M.A. ’17 History
Ryan is an academic affairs officer in the UK Office of Graduate Academic Services.
Cody Foster
Ph.D. ’21 History
Cody teaches history and government at Sayre School in Lexington, Kentucky.
Juli Ann Gatling Book
Ph.D. ’16 History
Juli Ann is the online learning special initiative manager for the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.
Stefanie Greenhill
Ph.D. ’21 History
Stefanie's dissertation focused on the refugees who fled from the Confederacy for Union territory during the Civil War and their wartime and postwar experiences as displaced people.
Christopher Leadingham
Ph.D. ’23 History
Christopher is a visiting scholar at the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University.
Emily Moore Libecap
M.A. ’21 History
Emily is a middle and upper school librarian at Sayre School in Lexington, Kentucky.
Jillean McCommons
Ph.D. ’22 History
Jillean is an assistant professor of History and Africana Studies at the University of Richmond.
McKenna Natzke
M.A. ’24 History
McKenna is a junior archivist at UNICEF.
Veronica Primm
M.A. ’25 History
Veronica successfully defended her M.A. paper. Her research interests include slavery, U.S. history, women and gender studies, and the history of medicine.
Cameron Sauers
M.A. ’23 History
Cameron is pursuing a Ph.D. in History and African American Studies at Pennsylvania State University's George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center.
Logan Scisco
M.A. ’15 History
Logan teaches social studies at Beechwood High School in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky.
Kevin Slovinsky
M.A. ’23 History
Kevin is an education and outreach coordinator at LiKEN Knowledge, where he directs the Appalachian Heirs' Property Coalition. In this role, he oversees a free legal services program tailored for heirs' property owners in Eastern Kentucky.
Abigail Stephens
M.A. ’21 History, Ph.D. ’25 History
In spring 2025, Abigail successfully defended her dissertation entitled “Public Health and Racial Violence: Smallpox in Kentucky’s Urban Black Communities, 1865–1918.”
Ruth Poe White
Ph.D. ’23 History
Ruth holds an adjunct faculty position at Saint Augustine School in Ridgeland, Mississippi.