Six students successfully complete PhD comprehensive exams!

Thursday, December 14, 2023

Six students became PhD Candidates during Fall 2023. Successful completion of their comprehensive exams includes a written and oral component. It moves them to the proposal writing stage for their research. This is an exciting milestone achievement. Congratulations, all!

Kristen Becker

Kristen Becker, supervised by Dr. Cathryn Spence is based at the University of Guelph. Her major field was Scottish History also taught by Dr. Cathryn Spence. Her minor fields were Early Modern history and Medieval history. Kristen will trace the act of Treason throughout early modern Scotland from the reign of James VI to the reign of George II, to determine what changed and why, and how these changes influenced contemporaries understandings of the law, the relationship between state and society, a national identity, and contemporaries rights as subjects of the crown.

Matthew Edwards

Matthew Edwards completed the Canadian major field with Dr. Catherine Carstairs. Their minor fields were Gender and History of Science. He is supervised by Dr. Tara Abraham and is based at University of Guelph. Matthew's work focuses on the history of conversion therapy within Canadian medical institutions. By investigating both pedagogy and healthcare, his project seeks to historicize how violent and exclusionary praxes legitimated conversion therapy in professional and public settings during the 20th century.

Katherine Foran

Katherine Foran joined Kristen in the Scottish major field and also works with Dr. Cathryn Spence as her supervisor at the University of Guelph. Her minor fields were Gender History and Medieval History. Katherine's research focuses on the Scottish Wars of Independence and the elements of gender present throughout contemporary telling of that history. 

From her base at Wilfrid Laurier University, Emily Oakes joined Matthew to study Canadian History as her major field with Dr. Catherine Carstairs. Her minor fields were War and Society and History of Science. Emily researches the relationship between people and horses as Canadian society transitioned from relying heavily on horsepower to newer technologies.

Small stack of old leather-bound books

Supervised by Dr. Gary Bruce, Sebastian Walsh-Murray of the University of Waterloo studied Modern European History as his major field under both Dr. Alan McDougall and Dr. Gary Bruce. His minor fields were Cold War History and Race, Class, and Imperialism. Sebastian's research focuses on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. He is looking specifically at how Nazi language towards Jewish people and other target groups provided the framework for Nazi genocide in the pre-war years (1933-1939) of the Nazi regime.

Emily Wood

Studying at the University of Waterloo, Emily Wood works with Dr. Jane Nicholas and Dr. Katherine Bruce-Lockhart (currently on leave) as her supervisors. She studied World History with Dr. Douglas Peers as her major field. Her minor fields were Gender History and Digital/Public History. Emily's research explores the shared knowledge of menstruation within political, cultural, and scientific contexts during times of war in the 20th Century.

The Tri-U is grateful for the guidance of many professors who offered the various minor fields. These included Dr. Tara Abraham, History of Science; Dr. Darryl Dee, War and Society; Dr. Andrew Hunt, Cold War; Dr. Peter Goddard and Dr. Greta Kroeker, Early Modern History; Dr. Linda Mahood, Gender History; Dr. Ian Milligan and Dr. Kimberley Martin, Digital/Public History; Dr. David Porreca, Medieval History; Dr. Barrington Walker (now of McMaster University) Race, Class, and Imperialism.