Bill Griffiths:
Bill Griffiths is a non-traditional student from Liverpool England, reading American History (and the Beano). He is particularly interested in the Progressive movement, and architecture. He is intending to complete his Masters degree here at SIU before moving back to England and finishing his Doctorate.

Jeffrey Julson:
Jeffrey Julson is originally from Beloit, WI. He graduated from Luther College (Decorah, IA) in May 2002 with BAs in History and Political Science. After finishing his masters degree in History at the University of Illinois at Springfield in May 2004, he headed to Southern Illinois University at Carbondale to pursue a doctorate in History. His primary area of interest is 19th century United States history, especially the political, social, and military history of the Civil War. His secondary interests are 20th century United States and Modern European History. He is currently a teaching assistant in History 101B: World History, 1500 to the Present.

David Markwell:
After about a thirteen year "spring break" in which he was out doing other things, David returned to academics and received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Illinois at Springfield. His area of focus in history has been drawn to early twentieth century American labor and social history. David finds the time frame of roughly 1890 - 1940 to be the best explanation of how we as a society got from where we were to where we are now, and isn't that why we study history in the first place? His thesis concerned the history of coal mining in Illinois and the creation of the Progressive Miners of America (PMA) in 1932. Southern Illinois is rich in the history of coal mining and early twentieth century labor, as the name of our city, "Carbon-dale" indicates.

With the local history in mind, David enthusiastically accepted the offer to begin the PhD. program here. His area of focus is well served by SIUC. He is presently a teaching assistant for three sections of Hist 110, "Twentieth Century America", so he is able to teach in his area of interest while pursuing the doctorate. If all goes according to plan, David'll be teaching three classes a semester for the next twenty-five years or so...

Daniel Stockdale:
Daniel is currently in his first year of the M.A. program in History. He received his bachelors degree from SIUC in May of 2004. Daniel is from Pope County, Illinois, an area so scarcely populated he has no town to claim. He currently works in Morris Library's Special Collections as a graduate assistant. His area of focus is American socialism/communism. After finishing studies at SIU, Danny intends to work with the AFL-CIO, or volunteer with the Peacecorps.

Michael Tow:
Michael Tow comes to the Southern Illinois University Graduate School from Vergennes, Illinois, a farm-town of 300 located fifteen miles northwest of Carbondale. In 2000, Michael graduated from Elverado High School and began his college career on a scholarship from the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans. At that time he had no idea what a credit hour was or what it meant to major in something, much to the horror of his community college advisor. All Michael knew was that he had to go to college if he wanted to escape the high-labor and low-wage jobs his parents and grandparents struggled to perform. While discussing possible paths of study with my advisor, Michael revealed his love for history as a result of the stories my dad and great-grandmother shared with him as a child; stories that put the lives of local people he knew into a broader, national context. His advisor suggested history education as a major and Michael couldn't think of a reason to disagree. Over the next four years he would learn to study and appreciate history as something more than a storytelling hobby before graduating summa cum laude from Southern Illinois University in May 2004 with a bachelor's degree in History Education. As graduation neared, Michael discovered that history teaching jobs were endangered and near extinction. He then decided to pursue graduate studies in the field of History at Southern to further investigate such Civil War themes as the participation of runaway slaves in the Union Navy and the postwar membership of Union veterans in such organizations as the Grand Army of the Republic. This semester Michael is a teaching assistant for History 201: Art, Music, & Ideas of the Western World and History 362B: Black American History Since 1865.

Chris Walls:
Chris Walls is a second semester graduate student in Public Administration with a Museum Studies emphasis at SIUC. He received a double major bachelors at SIUC in Administration of Justice and History. Chris is originally from Round Lake Beach, Illinois and has been in Carbondale for five years.

Jim Whistle:
Jim Whistle returns to SIUC this semester as a graduate student. He received 2 BAs in May 2004 from the History and Political Science departments. After realizing that two degrees are useless for getting a decent job, he came back for a third, hoping that more degrees means a higher status on the unemployment line; that or he just likes history and wants to know more. Jim is also exploring the idea of teaching, preferably at the community college level.

Emily M. Williams:
Emily Williams graduated from The University of The South in May 1998 with a B.A. in American Studies. She came to Carbondale in November 2000 in order for her husband to pursue his B.A. in Anthropology from SIUC after he completed ten years of service in the military. She began her graduate studies in August 2003 in the Administration of Justice program and works full-time in the Administrative Offices of Morris Library. She plans to graduate with her M.A. in AJ in December 2005.

When Emily first enrolled in this class, she did not know about the publication project. Much to her pleasure, she learned the class would be researching and documenting the lives of students from the 1940's to present. Instilled with a love of history by both of her grandfathers and a fascination with personal biographies by her grandmothers, Emily is excited by the combination of institutional and personal history this project will encompass. Eudora Welty said “Feelings are bound up in place.” Throughout our lives, we travel in and out of places, some which attach themselves to our souls. This project brings together the loves Emily's grandparents bestowed on her and combines it with a "sense of place", defining how we came to be the people we are by the experiences we have shared and places we have inhabited.

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