Department of History - University at Buffalo SUNY

To end their semester in HIS/AS 367: Food in Asia, Dr. Yan Liu asked his students to cook a dish based on a historical or contemporary Asian recipe and present it to their classmates. Five students presented six different dishes, coming from various regions in Asia, resulting in a delicious end of year banquet! We’re glad UB photographer Meredith Kutwicki was there to grab some pictures.

UB History class of 2026, we are so proud of you! Go boldly to your next adventure ready to think critically, read deeply, and wrestle with the sources. And stay in touch! 🎉🎓🤓

Congratulations to two of our PhD students who recently defended their dissertations! Dr. Angela Gallagher’s dissertation, “Tireless Energy,” examines the role of women in the British eugenics movement and argues that gender was central to how racialized scientific and medical ideas were disseminated, legitimized and contested. Dr. Mitchell Jones also defended his dissertation, “Matter and Spirit in Harmony: Andrew Jackson Davis’s Enchanted Spiritualist and Socialist Realms, 1837-1852,” which looks at the Associationist movement based on the thought of French socialist Charles Fourier and early Spiritualism. Drs. Gallagher and Jones will be hooded on Friday, May 15 at the College of Arts and Sciences Graduate Commencement. We are so proud of them!

This semester, Prof Claire Schen’s HIS 390: Plagues and Pandemics class created a choropleth map and StoryMap about a measles epidemic that took place in Erie County in 1899-1900. Prof Schen’s class uses digital history methods to draw new insights into the history of medicine in our region and to find new & accessible ways to communicate that history to the local public. Even more, it’s a great example of how UB History student don’t just sit and listen to historians, they become historians by digging into the research, making sense of it, and finding ways to present it themselves! You can check out the project at the link in our bio.

Huge congratulations to our 2026 Outstanding Senior, Andrew Rankins! In fact, Andrew is the Outstanding Senior for BOTH Anthropology and History! Andrew, an Honors College student, will graduate summa cm laude this spring, and is a member of both Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society and Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society. In the fall, Andrew will return to UB to pursue a MA in History. We’re so proud of you, Andrew!

Last Friday, our History Honors students (and two History minors!) rocked the College of Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Showcase! We're thrilled to see their dedication to History and research on display. Congrats to Brennan Spruck, Paige Bedell, Max Chernetsky, Luke Carey, Juliana Yanik, Liam Riter, Jake Wojtowicz, David John Jones, Ash Ferguson, and Lauren Phung for their outstanding work! Good luck finishing those theses! 📝 🤘