Current Lipman Fellows
Robert Anzenberger
B.A. ’13 History, B.A. ’13 Political Science
Robert is an ABD student researching U.S. diplomatic history in post–World War II Finland and Estonia under the supervision of Dr. Karen Petrone. He passed his qualifying exams in fall 2025. In spring 2026, he was awarded both a Boren Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Defense and a Fulbright IIE Award from the U.S. Department of State for dissertation research. The Fulbright will enable him to conduct research in Finland in the 2026–27 academic year. Robert also received the Albisetti Award for Dissertation Research in Modern European History, which he will complete in summer 2026 in Germany. These awards will support his field research ahead of writing his dissertation in the academic year 2027.
Paolo D'Amato
Ph.D. in progress
Paolo, an ABD student 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. Due to his strong performance, 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 is a third-year Ph.D. student. Her research interests include gender, women, and the history of slavery in 18th-century Louisiana, as well as comparative Atlantic World history. She joined the history graduate program in fall 2023 and is working under the direction of Dr. Vanessa Holden. Kayla is on track to take her qualifying exams in fall 2025 and to defend her dissertation proposal by spring 2026.
Jacob Johnson
M.A. in progress
Jacob began his graduate studies in history at the University of Kentucky 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 is pursuing a Ph.D. in history. His research focuses on American political and legal history. He earned a UK UNITE Research Priority Area Predoctoral Research Fellowship for 2024-2025 in recognition of his doctoral research.
Ally Powers
B.A. ’25 History
Ally will join the history graduate program in fall 2025 to pursue the M.A. degree in public history and the public history certificate. As an outstanding history undergraduate student, Ally gained experience in public history by working under the direction of Dr. Kathy Newfont on the Central Kentucky Slavery Initiative Digital Access Project. As an intern on the project, Ally gained experience researching and analyzing 19th-century property transactions from the Fayette County Clerk’s records.
Norina Samuels
Ph.D. in progress
Norina is pursuing a Ph.D. in history under Dr. Anastasia Curwood. She is a first-generation college student with a focus on African American and military history.
Former Lipman Fellows
Mark Maxwell Brown
M.A. ’22 History
Mark's master's 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
Dorian successfully defended an M.A. portfolio consisting of three papers that reflect his work 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 was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship at Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition.
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 the 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
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.