Senior Capstone
The Western Oregon University History Department initiated the Senior Seminar in 1997 as a requirement for all history majors. The university provost had requested that each academic department develop a means to ascertain whether its majors had achieved the goals of its program. The history faculty quickly recognized that the research, interpretation, and writing were the goals and competencies we wished that our majors achieve. To this end, the faculty created the Senior Seminar. In this course students undertook research projects of their choice, worked closely with professors in developing the project, and then wrote journal-length articles.To help students develop their research, interpretive, and writing skills, the faculty also created a junior-level course titled, “History Research and Writing.” Furthermore, in all upper division courses faculty emphasize the above-mentioned competencies.
John L. Rector
Professor of History
All history majors at WOU engage in a capstone experience. Each student will apply the historical craft to a topic appropriate to their preparation in previous coursework in this discipline and produce, by the end of the senior year, a polished senior thesis/analytical paper that demonstrates their highest level of professional skill as graduates in this field. Each student is expected to initiate and nurture professional relationships with peers, advisors and critics as part of an academic process that will yield the student’s best work at this university in the field of history. Students will complete this process either working on a traditional senior thesis or through an internship experience coordinated through the Oregon State Archives in Salem.
Senior Capstone Papers:
Seminar papers since 2012 are posted online through the Digital Commons at Hamersly Library: digitalcommons.wou.edu/his/
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[section=2010]
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[section=2008]
| AUTHOR | THESIS TITLE (and link to file) |
|---|---|
| Ashley Barnes | Paintings in Roman Pompeii: Differences in Public and Private Areas of the Home |
| Jessica Bertling | Woman Suffrage Movement in Oregon |
| Matt Bond | Ivan the Terrible: Centralization in Sixteenth Century Muscovy |
| Rebecca Carlson | Don Juan de Oñate’s Prosecution for “Crimes and Excesses” in the Provinces of New Mexico, 1614 |
| Sarah Coelho | Theoderic the Great vs . Boethius : Tensions in Italy in the Late 5 th and Early 6 th Centuries |
| Joshua Duder | Fort de Caroline, 1562-64 & Fort Raleigh, 1585-1590: Periphery Victims of Spanish Religious Intolerance |
| Mark Lowry | Boniface VIII and Philip IV: Conflict Between Church and State |
| Luke Martin | TITLE |
| Mindy Nichols | Did Ancient Romans Love Their Children?Infanticide in Ancient Rome |
| Jeffery Sawyer | Torture and its Consequences in American History |
| Anthony Sutton | Cuban Medicine through the 1990s |
| Jordan Wilde | Ancient Greek Hoplites and their Origins |
| Josh Woods | Homeland Insecurity: Truman, Hoover, and Intelligence |
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[section=2007]
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[section=2005]
AUTHOR, THESIS TITLE (and link to file)
Ashley Bell Neolin and Tenskwatawa: A Comparison of Two Nativist Prophets
Jeff Benson The Olmecs: Where the Sidewalk Begins
Monica Fleener The Significance of the Coronation of Charlemagne
Justin Gavette The Mexican American War and Its Effects
Jenny George Influenza Pandemic of 1918: Effects on the United States Military
Kathryn Horrocks Where was the First Amendment? Trials Under the Espionage and Sedition Acts During World War I
Lucie Johnson Influence of Returning Gods: Aztecs and Hawaiians
Katie Lane Vikings in the East: Scandanavian Influence in Kievan Rus
Ronald Leslie Hadrian’s Second Jewish Revolt: Political or Religious?
Shoshana Loos Women and Unions During World War II
Lindsay McNeill Romanization in Ancient Iberia: Religion and Ideology
David Meek Return of the Judaeans
Sarah Rossos Petticoats to Trousers: “True Womanhood” and California Gold Rush Women
Liz Saufley Women in the German Democratic Republic: The Discrepancy Between Socialist Rhetoric and Daily Practice
Jonathan Tipton Osama “The Terrorist”: A Shifting Silhouette
Ambera Tolbert Merovingian and Carolingian Empires: An Analysis of Their Strengths and Weaknesses
Hiromi Uera The 1947 Constitution of Japan: The Process of Democracy in Japanese Society
Daniel Van Winkle An Examination of the Use of History in the Rise of Ethic Nationalism in the Former Socialist Federation of Yugoslavia
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[section=2004]
AUTHOR, THESIS TITLE (and link to file)
Paul Angove
“Pope Pius XII and the European Conflict”
James Callahan
“The Workingmen’s Party’s Role During the Great Strike of 1877 in St. Luis”
Bret Cochrun
“NAFTA: Assessing Ten Years of Failure”
Jennifer Cournoyer
Jessica Ferguson
Toni Kelly
David Shewey
“Athenian Ambitions for the Delian League”
Katie Tipton
“Roman Iberia: Architecture in the Presence of Cultural Change”
Nicholas Tipton
“CIA Involvement in Nicaraguan Drug Running”
Clinton Trimmer
“The Salvation Army: A Case Study on how Industrialism Affected Charities”
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