Several faculty and staff members in the Department of History have received funding from the College of LAS PURSUE initiative to support public and digital history programs for undergraduate research. The programs that received funding will create new opportunities for history majors to gain hands-on experience in digital methods and creating public-facing scholarship.
PURSUE LAS aims to expand access to transformative undergraduate research experiences and sustains high-impact programs which build intellectual curiosity, academic confidence, and a strong foundation for students' future paths.
Descriptions of the Department of History projects to receive funding follow.
SourceLab/MinDoc: documenting data
Professors John Randolph and Kalani Craig submitted the enhancement of a nationally recognized digital humanities research program through developing an innovative, sustainable publishing platform — MinDoc — for student-authored work. Undergraduates gain hands-on experience in digital scholarship, data interpretation, and public-facing research, blending humanistic inquiry with data science tools.
Histories of the university: A scalable public history research program
Submitted by associate director of undergraduate studies Stefan Djordjevic this program will engage undergraduates in collaborative, public-facing historical research using campus archives to produce original scholarly outputs. The program combines mentorship, cohort-based learning, and publication opportunities to build research, writing, and public communication skills.
Medieval Studies Research Lab
Professors Carol Symes, Carson Koepke (English), Gian Piero Persiani (East Asian languages and cultures), and Walker Horsfall (Germanic languages and literatures), submitted a new interdisciplinary research framework in which undergraduates participate in faculty-led projects spanning digital humanities, archival research, and public-facing scholarship. Students develop core research skills—such as data curation, transcription, and analysis—while contributing to collaborative projects and, in some cases, producing publicly accessible outputs or publications.