Our January spotlight shines on our faculty this month: History Behind the Headlines is an ongoing talk and Q and A series presented by our faculty experts and designed to give a historical perspective on the news. The talks are scheduled on a non-regular basis in response to crises and significant events of the day.

Our November spotlight features Terrell DeShawn Roberts. Terrell is a fourth-year student majoring in History and Political Science with a minor in philosophy. Terrell is from Atlanta, Georgia, and has spent his time completely immersed in our UGA community! 

Our October spotlight features Libia Jiménez Chávez.  Libia is a twentieth-century interdisciplinary historian studying migrations between Georgia and Latin America. More broadly, she is interested in transnational histories, processes of placemaking, and the relationship between race, belonging, and residency status. Through archival and oral histories, she is examining the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA/La Amnístia) to understand the resulting transformations that occurred within Georgia's immigrant communities. 

Our September Spotlight on Inclusive Excellence features Ph.D. Candidate Bryant K. Barnes. Barnes has been awarded the Phelps-Stokes Graduate Fellowship for 2023. This fellowship was established in 1911 by the authorization of a monetary gift to the University of Georgia from the Phelps-Stokes Fund. The fund was a bequest from the estate of Miss Caroline Phelps Stokes (1854-1909), a New York City philanthropist. The recipient must make a scientific study of the role of Black or African American individuals in American society.

Dr. Kalyani Ramnath is a historian of modern South Asia, researching and teaching legal history, histories of migration and displacement, transnational and global history, and questions of archival method. 

This month we are featuring Maya Brooks, a third year doctoral student in the history department who is actively engaged in the university and local community. Brooks is a public historian who studies the U.S. South and the African American past. She is passionate about highlighting the voices of  Black Americans in the historical imagination as evidenced by her chosen research topics. Recently, she got the opportunity to present her research at two different  conferences.

This month, the History department recognizes Zain Tahir Ali for our DEI Spotlight feature.

A third year History major and honors student with a minor in Biology, Zain Ali is a recent recipient of the 2023 Hostilo Family Scholarship. Nominated by Dr. Kalyani Ramnath, the scholarship is presented to a student from a population that has been historically disadvantaged within the academic field of history. Zain's overall academic excellence, and his research on evacuee property law following the Partition of India, are especially noteworthy.