History alumni flock to graduate schools to study Early Modern Europe
Mark Hensch
Issue date: 11/19/09 Section: News
An unprecedented number of recent Hillsdale College alumni with degrees in history have started graduate school studies focusing on early modern Europe. Inspired by Associate Professor of History David Stewart, students are now studying a diverse range of subjects from the period between the late 15th and 18th centuries.
"The early modern period is having explicit conversations we take for granted nowadays," Stewart said. "A lot of these are conversations I want to point out. We could be more rigorous and serious about making our first principles inform everything else we believe."
Eleanor Pettus '06 said Stewart was a vital starting point towards the doctorate she is now pursuing at the University of Notre Dame. A Hillsdale double major in history and classical studies, Pettus said she has also earned a master's degree in history at the University of Kansas. Now studying early childhood education during the Renaissance, Pettus said Hillsdale's liberal education sparked the fire she has for academics today.
"The field I am pursuing is very much an outgrowth of my work at Hillsdale," she said. "There is so much happening during that period with the Renaissance and the Reformation. It is really the seed behind thoughts we are still wrestling with today."
Pettus said she knows five other alumni who are studying aspects of early modern Europe in graduate schools. She said students were enrolled in the University of Kansas, Ohio State University, Tufts University, the University of Pennsylvania and Notre Dame.
Stewart said he became interested in early modern history because of its relationship with contemporary issues. He said his focus on the subject in his various history classes has attracted many students, some of whom have taken his lessons beyond Hillsdale.
"I love them all equally," Stewart said of former students currently pursuing graduate studies in early modern European studies. "I think they're academically strong and well-suited to their chosen calling."
"The early modern period is having explicit conversations we take for granted nowadays," Stewart said. "A lot of these are conversations I want to point out. We could be more rigorous and serious about making our first principles inform everything else we believe."
Eleanor Pettus '06 said Stewart was a vital starting point towards the doctorate she is now pursuing at the University of Notre Dame. A Hillsdale double major in history and classical studies, Pettus said she has also earned a master's degree in history at the University of Kansas. Now studying early childhood education during the Renaissance, Pettus said Hillsdale's liberal education sparked the fire she has for academics today.
"The field I am pursuing is very much an outgrowth of my work at Hillsdale," she said. "There is so much happening during that period with the Renaissance and the Reformation. It is really the seed behind thoughts we are still wrestling with today."
Pettus said she knows five other alumni who are studying aspects of early modern Europe in graduate schools. She said students were enrolled in the University of Kansas, Ohio State University, Tufts University, the University of Pennsylvania and Notre Dame.
Stewart said he became interested in early modern history because of its relationship with contemporary issues. He said his focus on the subject in his various history classes has attracted many students, some of whom have taken his lessons beyond Hillsdale.
"I love them all equally," Stewart said of former students currently pursuing graduate studies in early modern European studies. "I think they're academically strong and well-suited to their chosen calling."
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