Morningside College students recently attended the Phi Alpha Theta history honor society regional conference at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion and won half of the Best Paper in Category awards.

Morningside College students recently attended the Phi Alpha Theta history honor society regional conference at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion and won half of the Best Paper in Category awards.

Allison Agee of South Sioux City, Neb., won Best Paper in Regional History for her paper “Training at Fort Des Moines: Catalyst of Racial Change.” Brody Egger of Urbandale, Iowa, won Best Paper in Military History for his paper “McNamara’s Billion-Dollar Blunder.” And Madison Pierson of Lake Crystal, Minn., won Best Paper in Art History for her paper “Art as Social Commentary: Norman Rockwell Illustrates the Civil Rights Movement.”

Also at the conference, Morningside student Kristen Brown of Denison, Iowa, presented a paper on “The Babel Proclamation of 1918: The Perils of Forced Assimilation,” and student Robert Trewin of Emmetsburg, Iowa, presented the paper “Wiping Away the Blood of a Martyr: The Assassination of Rev. Haddock.”

In addition, Morningside students Katlyn Kneifl of Sheldon, Iowa; Aaron Montanez of Santa Ana, Calif.; and Morgan Polenske of Randolph, Neb., served as commentators on papers presented by students from other institutions.

Greg Guelcher, professor of history at Morningside College and Phi Alpha Theta chapter adviser, attended the conference with the eight students, served on the program committee, and moderated a panel on “Imperialism and “Nationalism.”

Phi Alpha Theta is a national honor society for undergraduate and graduate students and professors of history. It promotes the study of history through the encouragement of research, good teaching, publication and the exchange of learning and ideas among historians. The society has over 350,000 members and 860 local chapters.

The regional conference drew participants from the University of South Dakota, South Dakota State University, North Dakota State University, Northern State University, Wayne State College, Creighton University, Mount Marty College and Dordt College.