Morningside College students recently presented papers at the Phi Alpha Theta history honor society regional conference at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, and two of them received first-place awards.

Morningside College students recently presented papers at the Phi Alpha Theta history honor society regional conference at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, and two of them received first-place awards.

The following students presented papers at the conference: Kristen Brown of Denison, Iowa, “The Humanization of American Soldiers as Told through Visual Literature: An Examination of Doug Murray’s Comic ‘The ‘Nam'”; Brody Egger of Urbandale, Iowa, “McNamara’s Billion-Dollar Blunder”; Usame Suud of Fellbach, Germany, “The German Contribution to the Tragedy of Vietnam”; and Emily Widman of Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, “Students’ Freedom of Speech and the Atmosphere in America that Sought to Hold It Back.”

Suud’s paper won first place in the Vietnam War History Panel, and Widman’s paper won first place in Regional History. All of the papers were based on research projects completed in History 337: The Vietnam Wars, a course taught by Dr. Greg Guelcher, professor of history and Phi Alpha Theta chapter adviser.

In addition to the paper presentations, Cade Herrig of Sioux City and Jordan Yawn of New Virginia, Iowa, served as commentators for papers presented by students from other institutions.

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.