HIS 6159 (October 31-November 6)

 

              Dr. Murphree’s class transitioned towards discussing elevator speeches to prepare students for presenting themselves to future employers. The elevator speech introduces the student to the employer or the audience that is not a historian nor one from our field. It allows the student to present what they have learned within the major including their skills such as critical thinking, communication skills, and other soft skills. There is a time limit for the speech as it should stick to approximately five minutes. The elevator speech is critical in professionalizing a history major to advertise themselves towards those unfamiliar with our field. Dr. Murphree explained the process of one student giving a speech every class. During my undergraduate degree, I found these elevator speeches to be very useful in emphasizing the skills that the degree provides us.

The first, brave, student provided their elevator speech and received a positive reception from the class. Notably, they highlighted their skills mentioned earlier with an addendum on how they utilized it outside of their classes. However, their speech ran over the time limit of five minutes which was relayed to them. I advised that it is good to have more to discuss than too little. Dr. Murphree joined me on this regarding synthesizing their skills, but also pointed out the language of the speech. It is important for one to be cautious about words such as “bias” or “ignorant”. In our criticism, we reframed the argument for the student. I noticed some admiration for the student to educate the public as it is always something a historian wishes to do with their degree.

As the semester is beginning to close, I have been pushing for the COVID collection interviews to be submitted from the students. The students have begun finishing up their transcriptions and will be sending them to me to review. I have some concern with the proximity of the classes ending, but I am hoping that they will get them to me in a timely manner.

The elevator speeches are the most interesting and vital part of the class because of their nature with allowing the student to dedicate themselves to present their undergraduate degree. Some students wished for me to give my own elevator speech which I will be doing either next week or the week after. Dr. Murphree was interested because of the evolution in a post graduate setting so I’ll be sure to update it from the last time I gave it.

My elevator speech will hopefully provide a model for the students to understand what a succinct one can be. It will also be a learning experience for myself in how I have shifted from where I was in my undergraduate degree such as my interest in digital history. My elevator speech helped me prepare for graduate school and I wish to present students a good way of marketing yourself as a historian within the public sphere. Questions such as why does this matter or why should I care are frequent questions by those outside of our sphere. It is vital for us to articulate and answer these questions.

HIS 6942 (October 23-October 30)

 

Dr. Murphree informed students that this week was dedicated to conducting elevator speeches for a University of Central Florida professor and one of his chosen advisory board members. Time management is a crucial skill to obtain during college as students should be taking advantage of this opportunity. Some students have already conducted interviews with professors at the history department. When discussing potential professors, I attempted to push them towards professors who share similar research interests. If you wished to study medieval history, I would advise them to conduct an elevator pitch with Duncan Hardy who specializes in research within that period along with offering medieval courses. The elevator speeches are supposed to embody who the student is and why they want to aspire becoming a historian.

My father always imparted on me the advice of talking to your professors and getting to know them. I considered this only within the course, but within my undergraduate years, I realized this also meant forging some level of relationship with them. I would not be where I am today without having established myself in the department at UCF. Dr. Murphree would have selected another student or not even given the opportunity unless he trusted someone to aid his coursework. Students should use these opportunities that Dr. Murphree provided to draw closer towards the professors. They could shift how the student conducts their undergraduate degree and may influence their decision to embark on graduate studies.

Students seemed eager to try new subject areas as I have received emails expressing desire to conduct diverse means of study. One student inquired on an Honors in the Major thesis which I will have to research more into  before I get back to this student. Some students still have that limit of their graduation being too close which hinders some of the opportunity others will have. Having this class early on in an undergraduate’s career will shape how they conduct themselves and prepare them for the historical field.

Progress on the COVID-19 collection is still slow for my taste yet this week could also be used for students to knock them out. I expect an influx of emails with students’ interviews for me to check over. The collection still will be completed before the deadline as students concluded their interviews and are on the transcription phase. With technology, a student seemed to point it out to speed up the process which makes me hopeful.

Working on digital history, I noticed similarities within my studies that is shown in the class. Students are far more digitally savvy than I was during college even when I graduated last year. They find ways that I did not think of and look for different things. My thesis for this post is that COVID has shaped what future historians will have to understand as the longer implications of the pandemic are still yet to be seen. I share the belief that we may not be ready for what comes next within the field of history with the technological advances continuing to shape our society. Classes such as professionalizing the history major will better prepare students for what occurs in the future.

HIS 6942 (October 17-23)

 

Continuing the theme of professionalizing history majors, this week presented the university’s different programs that can benefit history majors. Over the last few classes, Dr. Murphree has focused on presenting different campus resources that could aid history majors. Experiential and Service-Learning offered Handshake to present internships and improve resumes for the students. Students seem hesitant to use these resources as they can be very broad in their intended audience. As stated last week, internships for history majors are repetitive and lack any new internships especially with the COVID situation plaguing the job market. Knowing these resources can aid in the professionalizing of a history major, yet it is up to the student to determine its usefulness. The only way of finding out is to participate in these programs to judge them.

On Tuesday, a guest speaker discussed the Knights of Distinction program which is offered under the Division of Student Learning and Academic Success. This program offered students a path to reach their goals, engaging in experiences, and articulate how these experiences aid in their future careers at UCF. The program focuses on improving the student by offering them internships, participation in campus events, and other community-based events. The program, upon completion, would see the student improve themselves and have a formal designation on their transcripts that they were a part of it.

These opportunities are useful, and I appreciate Dr. Murphree offering them, yet I still voice some concern regarding their specification for history majors. The presentation lacked any direct discussion for history majors, and I am likely to believe that it is, again, intended for a broader audience with different majors. It would be useful to include examples of history students’ participation. For internships, I encourage using Dr. French’s multiple students who have participated in internships and see what they were doing to provide examples. With that said, knowing these opportunities can be efficient and know what is available at the student’s disposal is invaluable.

I am voicing my concerns about students’ COVID-19 submissions to the collection as I have not received any emails regarding it. I plan on inquiring more about the process as I understood that transcribing was becoming an issue. It is the end of October and I cannot help but feel that November will be a busy month for the students. I will be making sure that the students are having an easy time with it.

Conducting a class in the COVID pandemic notably saw a student email Dr. Murphree about their potential of having the virus. This student was very prudent to email ahead of time to inform the professor about their condition. I am grateful that the student was taking the upmost care to not infect any other students and would be getting tested. While they have not shown symptoms, it exemplifies the cautiousness that students have when they experience minor cold or flu symptoms. Overall, this week exemplifies the professionalism that students are continuously learning about, whether that be understanding campus’ resources to enhance their major or professionally emailing a professor about their sickness.

HIS 6942 (October 10-October 16)

 The career of a history major often subscribes towards the teaching occupation. The common history job for most undergraduates is teaching or education. I admit that during my tenure as an undergraduate student, a teaching job seemed to be the only occupation that was for a history major. It reminds me of the significance in attending Murphree’s Professionalization the History Major course as that teaching mythos breaks. Students were provided information on how to properly convey their resume and CV’s for job application. This was especially important with most of them being seniors who could be entering the job market in a pandemic.  This week illuminated students to marketing themselves as history majors and that the job market does not have to be limited to education.

Careers in archiving, museum curation, and others exist for future historians which I can support. My own experience in volunteering on the archiving saw the use of skills I learned in my undergraduate studies. Critical thinking, reasoning, leadership, and research are underappreciated by history students that separates them from their STEM major peers. These skills highlight history students’ capabilities and attract future employers towards their resume and CV’s.

My own personal experience was provided for Thursday when the guest speaker discussed the use of Handshake for marketing yourself. During the Spring semester, I was not admitted to the program and was unsure if I was going to be accepted into the History Master Program. After two more courses as a non-degree seeking student, being accepted was my option for continuing my education. Planning, I scoured for history jobs that could provide economic stability during a pandemic. Relaying these experiences allowed students to expand their criteria in what employers want and how to advertise their skills.

Handshake does have some limitations as I have seen due to the repetition of job opportunities. The Orange County Regional History center had a job for curation that lasted several weeks within the history category. The guest speaker advised branching out into different sites such as LinkedIn to aid in their search for jobs and internships. Dr. Murphree was interested in how to market students’ resumes and I support his designation of the subject for this week.

In terms of the COVID collection, students voiced the difficulty in transcribing oral histories last week. Students noticed that it took too long to write them out fully and accurately. I inquired on the progress for students if they continued to experience problems. On Thursday, they voiced less stress over it and one student used a feature of Zoom to provide a loose transcription. The difficulty in transcribing relates to my own experience in researching oral histories and appreciate the work in providing a readable copy of the interview. An occupation for historians could even be a transcriber who focuses on it which I jokingly stated to a peer. This week showed the strength of the course to embolden students to analyze and improve on their research. A wide range of occupations exist for history majors to take if they choose.

HIS 6942 Week 7 (October 3 - October 9)

 The theme for this week in Dr. Murphree was experiential learning and internships for undergraduate students to seek. The students seemed to enjoy the speaker, a University of Central Florida faculty who was a part of UCF’s experiential learning. The guest speaker, on Tuesday, discussed the use of handshake and the ability to market yourself on this website. Internships were the highlight of the website with students able to try and ascertain one from Handshake. I was very nervous about outright stating the utility of the website in regard to history majors. Upon searching through the site, I found listings for more museum curation such as Orange County Regional History Center which had been there for roughly a year. My internship spawned from my interest with teaching the course and it’s importance for new undergraduate history students. I believed my insight, given on Thursday, was more applicable for the students in Dr. Murphree’s, though Handshake and Experiential Learning should not be dismissed.

Discussions held on Thursday had students discuss the events of previous classes as little time were allocated to students previously. Students voiced their opinions on internships as they debated the utility of the lecture. Some students voiced that because they were seniors, it would be difficult to find an internship so late into the semester. Others seemed to admit interest in starting an internship which I voiced my suggestion to discuss with Dr. French who is the director for internships in the History Department. Another suggestion for websites that would benefit history majors was H-Net which had multiple job offerings at universities. Overall, students agreed that the lecture was useful, yet broad in its audience in comparison to history majors.

One point of discussion occurred on Thursday regarding a professionalization opportunity a student attended. Dr. Murphree tasks students with attending two professionalization opportunities which are lectures that can be applied to our field of history. One of these opportunities was a graduate workshop hosted by the American Historical Association. The student heard one of the speakers discussing the role of politics on the historical discourse. This graduate speaker spoke that politics always applies to our work and continues to influence future endeavors within the field. The student politely voiced their disapproval of this and further indulged the speaker to elaborate more on what they had meant.

After a long discussion, Dr. Murphree and this student brought this discussion to the class regarding politics and the field of history. Some students maintained the thesis that politics continued to shape how history is formed. For myself, I was conflicted as I immediately believed that politics, while regulating our work, does not influence it as we believe it does. The conversation shifted towards historians’ role as proactive or reactive. Should historians be writing for social changes or should historians be observers? An African American historian would seem to be more likely to advocate for social changes while a Roman historian may seem less inclined to advocate for political change. These questions are vital to how historians conduct themselves and their perception of their work. The message historians send could be interpreted as political advocacy or scholarly literature.

HIS 6942 Week 6 (September 26 - October 2)

 The theme for this week was history majors within civic life that tied into last week’s discussion on public history. Students were provided with examples of history majors utilizing their degree that did not resemble traditional academic occupations such as teaching. Instead, they were provided with different occupations along with engaging in the public in new ways. This was shown with the talks with Kevin Mercer, a professor at UCF, who discussed the importance of social media and how historians can use it to both network and provide historical knowledge. Mercer and his lecture were very beneficial to both the students in class and myself due to the nature of the subject. Dr. Murphree seemed to enjoy that Mercer represented a new form of methodology that historians actively engage with and rooted within a forum that is familiar to the students. Historians actively using social media allow for a wide range of audiences to address while balancing some dangers that come from it as well.

Mercer’s talk was beneficial as it aligned with my thesis on how social media influences historical work and how historians can engage with it. I vaguely recall Mercer’s own lecture when I was still an undergraduate and was inspired by it. At the time, Twitter was not my first thought when it came to historical discourse due to the nature of its posts. Posts are limited to 250 characters which only allow for short blurbs of information. Yet Mercer presented evidence that, even with that limitation, you can network with other historians and tweet research pertaining to your topic. The lecture showed students a different sphere of academia and public history as both professors and teachers engage with each other on Twitter.

Regarding my own thesis, I propose that other sites such as YouTube and Reddit hold a larger presence than Twitter. While Mercer does discuss the importance of the site, I emphasize that these other sites provide for more durable and knowledgeable historical discourse. YouTube allows for videos to be posted that can allow users to share historical presentations on certain aspects of history. Reddit, broadly, can allow historians to engage with the public and promote themselves and their research. Social media is one form of how history majors engage in civic life.

The class continues to be going well within the COVID-19 environment. I was happy to see that one student was going to be finishing an interview and contributing to the COVID collection as they had informed me of this during Tuesday’s class. They did express some concern about privacy with the interviewee, but I believe that was due to their cautious nature. Office hours have been sparse as graduate work pulls my attention away. However, I have been freed of a busy week and can continue to perform my duties. Dr. Murphree has been a wonderful professor that is there for me. When dealing with a stressful situation, he graciously allowed me to vent about the situation which I am thankful for.

HIS 6942 Week 5 (September 19 - September 25)

 This week’s internship covered aspects of public history as discussed in the class. Dr. Murphree assigned readings covering public history which can be an ambiguous genre to approach within the field. A large portion of undergraduate classes at the University of Central Florida lack the distinction between a public and academic historian. As a current graduate student, it seems easier to identify what can be considered a public history project and an academic work. The students in the class seemed to reflect my own experiences within the undergraduate history program regarding identification of these two classifications. Some students were shaky on what the definition of public history meant. A student even reached out to me in my own office hours to inquire about it.

Dr. Murphree inquired students to discover core principles of public history in an attempt to engage students with the topic. Students identified components to public history such as audience, methodology, and other aspects of the division. I noticed that the students began to understand what the subdivision is and the manner at which professional public historians differ from academics. Both divisions are trained in the same way, yet their audiences and methodologies, for example, differ. Public history can reach a greater audience than academic works due to the nature of them.

When I provided my own thoughts on public history, I discuss my own thesis which researches public history projects such as Reddit and YouTube. These sites allow for historians and non-academics to provide a new methodology for providing historical knowledge. Computers, Visualization, and History by David Staley reflected the message that writing prose does not have to be historians’ primary methods for broadcasting their findings. While Staley was mostly concentrating on visualization such as pictures, statistics and graphs, sites such as YouTube or Reddit embody these new methodologies that Staley discusses.

One lesson I’ve learned is that this internship and the graduate program has instilled a refined technique of time management. Time management is crucial when conducting an internship or attending graduate class. The technique is allocating time frames for you to work on several things at a time which is helpful for graduate work. Sometimes, you cannot dedicate enough time to a particular book or article. The internship, in particular, has helped me ascertain that it is crucial to know how to spend your time efficiently and not waste it.

Overall, the internship has been going well. One particular student continues to show up to office hours and has begun inquiring my thoughts on subjects such as public history. I will share my lamentations with Dr. Murphree that the class has to adapt with such a small number of students. These lessons which I’ve discussed in previous blog posts remain valuable, but the methodology of how we teach these classes could be tweaked. Much like Staley advocacy for new techniques, historians and educators can find innovative means of providing historical knowledge. Public history was, at one point, a new technique that historians utilize for their findings.