History Undergraduate Research Conference

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The conference will be held in Cherry Hall 210 on the second floor, on Monday, April 28:

 

Panel A: 3:45-4:45 pm

• Elena Carder, From Drawing Rooms to Dressing Wounds: How Class Affected a Women’s Experience in the Nursing Core
• Tristan Fox, "We are Coming, Father Abraham, Three Hundred Dollars More": Draft Substitution in the Union.
• Abigail Markel, Benedict Arnold and the Myth of Monetary Concern
• Eddie Woolery, Heroes or Tyrants? Using the leadership of Chiang Kai-Shek to re-examine the legacy of Abraham Lincoln

Panel B: 5:00-6:00 pm

• Alera Barbee, Sacrifice and Survival: The Interpersonal Dynamics Between Enslaved Women and Their Masters
• Kaylene Bliss, Barbarian Queen: How Cassiodorus’ The Variae reflects royal women in Ostrogothic Italy
• Carrigan Brummett, Uncovering the Contents of the Pot of Gold: How the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls Prepared its Active Members for the Outside World
• Mikiya Fogle, Systemic Voter Suppression in Mississippi: Analyzing the Impact of Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP v. State Board of Election Commissioners

Panel C: 6:15-7:15 pm

• Konnor Groemling, Against the World: Why the Nazis Rejected Internationalism
• Wilson O'Daniel, Radicalism and Violence In Place of State Authority in the Salò Republic
• Eden Pendley, The Beginning and the End: How Two Men Started Their Careers By Ending the President's
• Price Wilborn, POTUS, not PMOTUS? A Study in the Origins of the Early American Presidency

 

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You should attend – come see what historical research looks like in action. If you have not yet written a senior seminar paper, this is your chance to see what that can look like and get inspired! This is also a chance to support older students, meet and greet faculty, and also provide a friendly audience for your friends and peers. Parents, friends, and other supporters welcome! Please come!

 

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Thanks to the generosity of Carol Crowe-Carraco and other donors, all WKU students participating in the 2025 HURC are eligible for the following prizes:

• $300 for the Richard Troutman memorial prize winner for best overall paper
• $200 for the runner-up paper
• $100 for the second runner-up
• $300 for the Dr. John Hardin prize for the best paper in Black history

 

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Writing the presentation paper

You do *not* have to submit a written paper to the conference. However, to gauge time and prepare, you need to write it out fully in advance.

Your presentation should last 10-12 minutes. Most people (according to the internet) speak about 140 words per minute. That means your paper should (if you write it out fully) be about 1500 to 1700 words.

Papers certainly do not need to be memorized. You can present from a fully written-out version, notecards, or whatever memory aid you think best.

 

Preparing your paper for the conference

You should make time to fully run the talk through more than once before you present to get a sense for how long you will talk. This will also make you less nervous. It will also make it easier for you to make eye contact and engage (instead of reading from a script).

When you present, it is best not to rush! Remember: you know your material much better than the audience will!

With 4 presenters per panel, papers will last 40 to 48 minutes of talks plus 12 to 20 minutes of questions. Do expect papers to be gently (but firmly) cut off after 12 minutes.

 

Presentation & slides

All presentations need at least some visual aid to engage the audience and / or illustrate key points. Whatever you think will best help the audience understand your talk. For example:

• a map (if relevant) to show where you are in space
• a timeline (if relevant) to give the audience a sense of where you are in time
• photographs or other images of key people or events you are discussing (maybe with their birth / death dates, if relevant).
• visual primary sources you will analyze or unpack for the audience
• a key quotation from a written primary source that you want to explain / engage with

Remember: your audience is not the expert, you are! So you’ll want to help them understand with images as well as your words.

Don’t use the slides as the notes you read / speak from. You want the audience to be paying attention to *you* as the expert in the room. The presentation illustrates *your* performance.

PowerPoint is typical, but there are many options for displaying slides. There will be an internet-enabled computer in the room from which you can present.

 

Dress

A visible step above every-day going-to-class wear, please. If you want your audience to take your ideas seriously, you should dress like you take them seriously. Formal attire is not required, but not forbidden either! You are going to be the expert, so dress accordingly.

 

Questions after presentations

To make sure everyone has time to present their paper, questions will be held until after each session’s presentations are over. If you are presenting, it is expected that you take a few notes so that you can also ask questions of the other panelists assigned to your session.

If you have any other questions, please contact Dr. Jeffrey Miner (conference coordinator) at jeffrey.miner@wku.edu