Undergraduate members of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honors society, are provided funds for travel and research through the generous support of the Noll Family Fund. Through supporting off-campus research projects, students broaden their intellectual horizons, said Steven Noll, an instructional professor in the Department of History. Noll and his wife, Beverly, have established a fund that supports Phi Alpha Theta students, allowing them to conduct off-campus research on their own history projects. As the Phi Alpha Theta advisor since 2005, Noll said he feels it is important to provide financial support for students to work on their research. See what students, Steve Noll, and Joe Spillane have said about the Noll Family Fund on YouTube!
Hannah Alfieri is a history and geology major with a minor in anthropology. She is greatly interested in Western American and environmental history, especially the history of the geosciences. Hannah’s research is on John Wesley Powell, the first white man to successfully lead an expedition down the Colorado River. Though known as an influential explorer and geologist, Hannah delves into Powell’s little-known research into human evolution and eugenics. Due to the support of the Noll Family Fund, she traveled to Washington DC this summer to view the Powell collections at the Smithsonian Institute Archives, National Anthropological Archives and the Library of Congress.
Rebekkah Hudson will be visiting the archival collections on Kenya, housed at Northwestern and Syracuse University. Rebekah has noted: “Thanks to the Noll Family Fund, I am able to advance my goal of tracing the intellectual trajectories, as well as the cultural changes within the Gikuyu community throughout the early to mid-20th century.”
Undergraduate research and the experience of the archives and conferences can be life changing. If you would like to help the Noll family support student research and excellence in the department, please visit the university’s giving page.