Current Graduate Students

Anne Bardaglio

Ph.D. Student
anne.bardaglio@maine.edu

Advisor:  Mary Freeman


Jacob Barker

MA Student
jacob.barker@maine.edu

Advisor:  Anne Knowles


Christian Bradford

MA Student
christian.bradford@maine.edu

Fields: Western Concepts of Gender and Sexuality

Advisors: Liam Riordan, Mary Freeman

Education: AA in Liberal Studies from Kennebec Community College in 2020, BA in History from the University of Maine in 2022

Research Interests: Gender transing in eighteenth century Britain and America, Queer History, History of Femininity, History of Masculinity


Joseph Campbell

MA Student
joseph.campbell@maine.edu

Advisor:  Anne Knowles


Brian Campion

PhD Student
brian.campion@maine.edu

Advisor: Mark McLaughlin


Savannah Clark

M.A. Student
savannah.clark@maine.edu

Fields: Nineteenth-Century American history, Women’s history, Religious history

Advisor: Mary Freeman

Education: BA in History and Religious Studies from Gettysburg College in 2018 and MA in History from University of Maine in 2022

Research Interests: My research focuses on the experiences of Northern New England women during the Civil War


Tobey Crawford

MA Student
tobey.connor@maine.edu

Advisor:


David Coombs

Ph.D. Student
david.coombs@maine.edu

Image of David Coombs

Fields: His most recent work investigates the intersecting roles of the Teamsters union, deregulation, and the trucking industry-in-transition during a 564-day strike involving Coles Express of Maine in 1982.

Advisor:  Anne Knowles

Education: B.A. in Philosophy (2016) and M.A. in English and Education (2019), University of Nevada

Research Interests:  His research examines the effects of government deregulation and corporate centralization in late twentieth century New England, as seen through the eyes of the trucking industry.


Laura Curioli

MA Student
laura.curioli@maine.edu

Fields: American Constitutional studies, early American colonialism, twentieth century American political history, religious history.

Advisor: Liam Riordan

Education: B.S. in History and Secondary Education

Research Interests: My studies observe the rise and establishment of Constitutional ideologies, such as the juxtaposition of originalism and textualism, and how those impact the evolution of American political history.


Derek DeMello

Ph.D. Student
derek.demello@maine.edu 

Image of Derek DeMello

Fields: Northeastern Native Americans, Ethnohistory, Environmental History

Advisor:  Micah Pawling

Education: BA in History with minor in secondary education from Bridgewater State University (2010); MA in history and CGS in public history from Rhode Island College (2023)

Research Interests: My research interests are the Native peoples of northeast North America and their cultures, intertribal relationships, land and resource utilization, actions when faced with European settler colonialism and invasive species, and persistence to the present day. My MA thesis work examined the historiography of King Philip’s War.

Publications: Review of The Slow Rush of Colonization: Spaces of Power in the Maritime Peninsula, 1680-1790 by Thomas Peace, Maine History (forthcoming summer 2024)


Susan Dickson-Smith

Ph.D. Student
susan.dicksonsmith@maine.edu

Fields: Nineteenth Century American History, African American History, Religious History, Northeast Borderlands Studies, African Canadian History, Canadian Studies.

Advisor: Mary Freeman

Education: B.A., Cultural Studies, Hampshire College; M.A., History, University of Maine.

Research Interests: My research focuses on nineteenth century independent African American churches in the Northeastern United States and Atlantic Canada.

Group Affiliations: American Historical Association (AHA), Middle Atlantic and New England Council for Canadian Studies (MANECCS), Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society.

Recent Publications:
Review of Native Trailblazer by Ed Rice, Maine History, winter 2024.

Recent Presentations:
“Independent Black Churches of Nineteenth Century New Brunswick and Maine:
Denominational Diversity and Points of Convergence,” Middle Atlantic and New England
Council for Canadian Studies Biennial Conference on Canadian Studies, Plymouth,
Massachusetts, November 8-9, 2024.

“Independent Black Churches on the Border: Nineteenth Century Congregations in
Maine and New Brunswick,” University of Maine-University of New Brunswick
International History Graduate Student Conference, University of Maine, November 1-3,
2024.

“The Independent Black Church in Nineteenth Century Atlantic Canada and Maine:
Cross-Border Connections,” Atlantic Canada Studies Conference, University of Maine,
May 9-11, 2024.


Gregory Gaines

Ph.D. Student
gregory.gaines@maine.edu

Fields: Scandinavian studies, Immigration history, Cultural studies, Medieval studies, Digital Humanities.

Advisor: Anne Knowles

Education: B.A. History, Clark University (2015), M.A. History, Clark University (2016), M.A. Medieval Icelandic Studies, University of Iceland (2018).

Research Interests: I am interested in the movement of Scandinavians to North America in the nineteenth century, and how this movement was affected by various cultural artifacts from the Medieval period.


Jessica Graham

Ph.D. Student
jessica.a.graham@maine.edu

Advisor: Mary Freeman


Maggie Kontra-Emmens

Ph.D. Studentmaggie.kontraemmens@maine.edu

Photo of Maggie Kontra-Emmens Photo

Fields: Identity, Scottish studies, Canadian studies, Popular Culture, Gender, Digital
Humanities
Advisor: Mark J. McLaughlin
Education: BA History, Old Dominion University; MA History, Old Dominion University
Research Interests: My dissertation will focus on the Scottish diaspora and Scottish identity and influence in Canada, 1870-1914.  This is a slight change from my Masters work regarding a formation of Canadian identity through the trench newspapers of the Great War, although the seed of identity remains strong.  Even though it has been mentioned that “identity” is the jello of historical topics, my focus is on solidarity or groupness while still touching on many aspects of its multivalence (such as, nationality, citizenship, ethnicity, race, name, family, heritage, class, employment, community, religion, language, and gender).
Group Affiliation(s): American Historical Association (AHA), Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society, Canadian Historical Association-La Société historique du Canada (CHA/SHC)


Poppy Lambert

4+1 MA Student
poppy.lambert@maine.edu

Advisor: Mark McLaughlin


Meghan Leacy

MA Student
meghan.leacy@maine.edu

Advisor:  Anne Knowles


Christine Liu

Ph.D. Student
christine.liu@maine.edu

Photo of Christine Liu

Fields: Holocaust Studies, Digital Humanities

Advisor: Anne Knowles

Education: B.A. in History, University of California, Berkeley; M.A. in Computational Media, Duke University


Nolan Merz

MA Student
nolan.merz@maine.edu

Advisor: Stephen Miller


Ryan Michaud

MA Student
ryan.michaud@maine.edu

Fields: 19th + 20th Century American History
Advisor: Mark J. McLaughlin
Education: BA in Classical Languages from the University of Southern Maine in 2009, MEd in Student Development in Higher Education from the University of Maine in 2013, and BA in History from the University of Southern Maine in 2024
Research Interests: American Prohibition, waves of nationalism, and immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries


Julian Ober

MA Student
julian.ober@maine.edu

Advisor: Mark McLaughlin


Tom Pinette

MA Student
tom.pinette@maine.edu

Advisor: Mark McLaughlin


Andrew Reddy

Ph.D. Student
areddy@biddefordschools.me

Photo of Andrew Reddy

Fields: Acadian History, Diaspora Studies, Colonial History, Northeast Borderlands, Canadian Studies

Advisor: Mark McLaughlin

Education: BA Liberal Learning University of New England, 1988; MS Special Education University of Southern Maine 2009; MA American and New England Studies University of Southern Maine 2018

Research Interests: My research interests include the use of expulsion narratives by Acadian descendants as cultural identity markers and the post expulsion insurgency movements by Acadians who resisted relocation and lived on the margins of the British Empire, forming and maintaining alliances with indigenous populations.

Group Affiliations: Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society

Recent Publications: Book Review of A History of Maine Railroads by Bill Kenny. Maine History


Ethan Robbins

4+1 MA Student
ethan.robbins@maine.edu

Advisor: Anne Knowles


Darcy Stevens

Ph.D. Student 
darcy.stevens@maine.edu

Image of Darcy Stevens

Fields: American Revolution, Early American, Canadian-American Northeast Borderlands

Advisor: Liam Riordan

Education: B.S. History Emporia State University; (2005) M.A. American History Emporia State University (2008)

Research Interests: My research focuses on the contentious socio-political terrain of the American Revolution, and how it influenced inhabitants’ decisions about allegiance and neutrality in the Northeast Borderlands of Maine, Nova Scotia, and Wabanakia.

Group Affiliations: UMaine Canadian-American Center Fellow, David Center for the American Revolution Fellow, New England Historical Association, Massachusetts Historical Society, Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society. Maine History journal Book Review Editor

Recent Publications:
“’The Unhappy and Unparalled Defeat at Penobscott’ and the Entanglement of Machias and Bagaduce.” The Beehive, Massachusetts Historical Society. June 4, 2021

“Performing Allegiance and Neutrality in the Shadow of Fort George” – The Castine Visitor, publication of the Castine Historical Society, Vol 30, No 3 – Fall 2020

“Fontaine Leval: A Revolutionary Story” – Chebacco, journal of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society, Volume XXI – 2020

Recent Presentations:

“Performing Allegiance and Neutrality in Occupied Machias and Bagaduce Maine During the American Revolution. Conrad E. Wright Research Conference, Massachusetts Historical Society, July 14-16 2022

“Positioning Neutrality at the 1777 Aukpaque Conference,” Atlantic Canada Studies, biennial conference. University of New Brunswick, May 25-28, 2022.

“Navigating the Revolutionary Northeast: Borderlands through Fluid Allegiance and Neutrality.” Colonial Society of Massachusetts Graduate Student Forum, June 11, 2021.


Rosemary Thorne

MA Student
rosemary.thorne@maine.edu

Advisor: Anne Knowles


Lincoln Tiner

4+1 MA Student
lincoln.tiner@maine.edu

Advisor: Mark McLaughlin


Timothy Whiton

Ph.D. Student
timothy.whiton@maine.edu

Advisor: Anne Knowles


Joseph Wrobleski

Ph.D. Student
joseph.wrobleski@maine.edu

Advisor: Micah Pawling and Liam Riordan