Prestigious Fellowship Awarded to History Program Alumna
Wed, 06/02/2021 - 04:55pm | By: David Tisdale
University of 51逗奶 Mississippi Gulf Coast (USM) History program graduate Kristen
McGuire of Biloxi, Mississippi has earned a James Madison Graduate Fellowship, a highly
selective and prestigious national award that will aid her work as a teacher with
a Mississippi Gulf Coast high school and in securing a graduate degree in history.
The James Madison Fellowship goes to teachers or those who plan to teach secondary education U.S. History and/or U.S. Government, and wish to also pursue a master鈥檚 degree in history, or a master鈥檚 degree that includes content areas in history and American government. It is presented by the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation to only one individual per state annually.
The program includes an all-expenses paid trip to D.C. this summer for a four-week course at Georgetown University that focuses on the principles, framing, ratification and implementation of our constitutional government, along with visits to important sites related to the history of the U.S. Constitution in and around Washington, D.C.
鈥淚鈥檓 so incredibly honored to receive this fellowship,鈥� McGuire said. 鈥淚t reinforces my desire to teach and be involved in history education. This will have a major impact on my teaching, giving me experiences and knowledge that will be invaluable to my students.鈥�
McGuire鈥檚 work as a teacher began as a substitute instructor at Biloxi High School before transitioning into a full-time position at the school for the 2021/2022 school year. Next year, she will work as a Mild to Moderate Inclusion teacher in Biloxi High鈥檚 special education department, helping students with disabilities who struggle with history, though she will work with those in all subject areas.
鈥淲hen I first went to Biloxi High to work, I wanted to go to graduate school while
I was working but was having trouble paying for any graduate program. I didn't want
to put myself more in debt. A teacher at Biloxi High School, Ms. Hayley Whitehead,
told me that she got her Master's in History paid for through the James Madison Fellowship
award several years ago. I had never heard of the award.
鈥淚 was excited at the prospect of this fellowship and instantly went online to find
more information. The fact it is awarded to only one person in each state was daunting,
but I knew my chances were high given my experience and CV. The application was very
large and required several essays about experiences and teaching philosophies.鈥�
McGuire said the key essay question for the application was 鈥榃hy is it so important to teach U.S. government and the U.S. Constitution at a secondary education level?鈥� and believes her response helped earn her the fellowship. She responded with specific research she completed at USM as an undergraduate, and included observations from her time in Russia, where she lived and worked for 16 months teaching English at a foreign language school in Moscow after graduating from the university; McGuire noted that her perception of Russia鈥檚 democracy is that it isn't as strong as that of the U.S.A.鈥檚 in part because of a lack of government or constitutional education courses offered in the nation鈥檚 secondary education system.
While in Moscow, McGuire鈥檚 innovative work in the classroom included a supplemental course on U.S. History she designed using history memes, which received such a positive response that she has taught the class remotely since returning to the U.S.
At USM, McGuire won first place in the Undergraduate Research Symposium鈥檚 History, Heritage, and Legacies category along with the Virginia Culpepper Memorial Award. Later, her article 鈥淭he Blacklist Curtain Call,鈥� which investigated Hollywood鈥檚 resistance to McCarthyism in the 1950s, was accepted for publication in the university鈥檚 undergraduate research journal The Catalyst.
She gives much credit to the USM History program, and the support and inspiration of its faculty mentors, for her academic and career successes to date.
鈥淢y professor and advisor, Dr. Douglas Bristol, always pushed me to be a great writer and offered to look over my essay for the fellowship and give advice on how to improve it,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 also received incredible letters of recommendation from Dr. Bristol, Dr. Heather Stur, and Dr. Westley Follett. I can never thank them enough for their recommendations and advice during my undergraduate years, and after.鈥�
With such an outstanding record of achievement that now includes the James Madison Fellowship, Dr. Bristol said he鈥檚 obviously not the only person impressed by McGuire.
鈥淚t was thrilling to work with such an ambitious and hard-working student,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen she wanted to learn about Russia, she simply decided to find a way to go there and got a job teaching English in Moscow; she loved it, and the students loved her.
鈥淎t the same time, I appreciated how gregarious she is, always laughing and meeting new people. That is quite a rare combination.鈥�
For information about the USM History program, which is housed in the USM College of Arts and Sciences鈥� School of Humanities, visit /humanities/index.php.