Heather Gernenz
April 21, 2026
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Senior thesis cohort group photo at Illini Union.

Congratulations to our 2026 seniors for completing their honors theses! The Department of History's Honors Program provides outstanding students with a high level of faculty and peer support and offers them numerous opportunities to present their work in public and to be recognized for their excellent scholarship. 

  • Rosette Pavkov, "War on Fertility: The Legacy of Family Planning, Eugenics, and Controlling Poverty in Chicago from 1970 to 2000"
  • Finley Albinak, "The Chicago Election of 1871 Through the Eyes of the Chicago Tribune"
  • Victoria Siek, "The Other Home Army: Polish Women's Agency and Survival during World War II"
  • Noah Yeager, "Complicating the Cold War University and Anti-War Activism at the University of Illinois"
  • Sophia Mitchell, "The Manufacture of Race in Virginia: Law, Racialized Science, and the Fortifying of Racial Boundaries from Slavery to the Racial Integrity Act"
  • Noam Zipris, "Lost in Translation: 19th Century Treaties and the Imperialism of Language"
  • Madison Luckey, "Appropriating Indigeneity: Colonial Narratives of Nostalgia and Erasure that Define U.S. Identity"
  • Mason Acquaviva, "Disease in Question: WHO Schistosomiasis Campaigns in Egypt from 1950 to 1980"
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