Destinee Haller - Fall 2016-Spring 2018
Destinee Haller is a sophomore from Miami, Florida majoring in History and African American Studies. She is currently involved with the Black Female Development Circle and Southern Scholarship Foundation. In the future, she would like to pursue higher education within the realm of history. At the Institute, she is working on entering some of the African American collections into various archival databases and hopes to increase the Institute’s African American collections.
Caroline Palmer - Spring semester 2018
Caroline Palmer is a junior at Florida State University. She is majoring in history with a minor in English. She is most interested in researching the correspondences between soldiers and family during World War II. Caroline hopes to continue her research at the Institute until graduation and is excited for the research to come.
Elaine-Mae Ignacio - Spring semester 2018
Elaine Ignacio is a junior at Florida State University, double majoring in International Affairs and History with a minor in Urban Planning and Development. She is focused on processing collections on American soldiers in the Pacific Theater, specifically the Philippines. Her interest in military history and Asia stems from her familial roots, as the daughter of Filipino immigrants, with her father having retired as a Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy. Through the Institute, she seeks to learn more about her country in relation to that of her parents’, as well as a more intimate understanding of how historical events shape diverse communities, culture, and the spaces they inhabit. She hopes to incorporate this mindset into a future career in urban planning.
Liesa Abel- Fall 2016- Summer 2017
Liesa graduated from St. Petersburg High School in 2011, and spent a gap year living in Israel and studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem before beginning her studies at Florida State University in 2012. At the Institute, she has conducted research and processed collections related to her honors thesis on American Military Physicians in immediate Post- World War II Germany, and served as an assistant coordinator at the Society for Military History Conference in March 2017. Her interests broadly include modern Europe, World War II, Holocaust Studies, and the history of Medicine. She earned dual degrees in International Affairs and History from Florida State in 2017, and began her Masters in History: Holocaust in Genocide Studies at the University of Amsterdam in Fall 2017.
Christina "Guatemala" Armes- Summer 2016-Summer 2017
Christina Armes began her academic career at Florida State University at the young age of sixteen years old. With her Associate's degree already under her belt along with her high school diploma, she jumped right into upper division courses for her History and Spanish majors. She joined the team at the World War II Institute as an Undergraduate Assistant over Summer 2016 when she met the Institute Archivist, Mike Kasper. Over the course of her employment, she processed many notable collections, including the Carl Johnson letters and the Alexander Schmidt collection, as well as published finding aids for collections on the online database. Christina processed and digitized incoming collections and joined the Institute team in hosting the Society for Military History Conference in Jacksonville during the spring of 2017. Christina served as an Assistant to the Director for Research and Public Relations. Her areas of research focuses on Guatemalan history and the impact of foreign propaganda in Latin America.
Jordan Bolan- Fall 2013- Spring 2017
Jordan Bolan was the Institute’s Supervisor of Students and Senior Assistant between 2013 and 2017, overseeing the 22 undergraduates working at the Institute. She graduated in the Spring of 2017 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Editing, Writing, and Media. In the past, Jordan interned in the Florida Commission on the Status of Women, FSU’s Department of Political Science, and in Senator Bill Nelson’s constituent’s office. She worked for the Institute since her freshman year and assisted with archival work, donor outreach, writing and editing media material, and organizing events for guests of the Institutes. She served as floor manager for the 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for Military History. Jordan is now the Program and Research Associate at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery.
Caroline Bowers - Fall 2016 - Fall 2017
Caroline Bowers graduated in May 2018 with a double major in History and General Music, as well as a minor in Museum Studies. Her research interests focus on feminist and Civil Rights music history. She began her work with the Institute through a DIS, during which she processed collections specifically related to military musicians and USO performers. Outside her work at the Institute, she is involved with the Honors program, she plays cello in the University Philharmonic Orchestra, and she is a member of the executive board for the Sigma Alpha Iota professional music fraternity.
Lorenzo Bright- Fall 2016- Spring 2017
Lorenzo studied History at Florida State. His research interests broadly include African American history, World War II, and space history. After serving as a Conservation intern at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, he dreams of one day working for a museum and educating the next generation of historians. At the Institute, he worked to process and create finding aids for collections related to African American involvement in the Second World War and the social, political, and economic effects of the atomic bomb. He is now an archival intern at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Eleanor Clark- Fall 2016- Spring 2017
Nell Clark is an International Affairs and Creative Writing double major from Saint Petersburg, Florida. During her time at Florida State she has been a Resident Assistant in Wildwood and Salley Halls, a 2016 Orientation Leader, and she currently performs research and public relations duties for the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience at FSU; her research focuses on food crises in post-World War II Nazi Germany. In the future, she hopes to work as an analyst for National Public Radio and combine her passions for writing and international affairs.
Grant Cooper - Summer 2017 - Spring 2018
Grant Cooper graduated from Lawton Chiles High School in Tallahassee, Florida in May 2018. He has been accepted to and plans to attend Florida State University starting in the 2018-2019 year. He works to process collections and create finding aids to better allow scholars across the world to access the Institute’s holdings. His research interests focus on American History, specifically during the Civil War, World War II, and the Cold War, and he plans to major in history and minor in criminology.
Amelia Cross- Fall 2016- Spring 2017
Amelia Cross is majoring in International Affairs and Public Relations at Florida State. Her involvement with the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience after taking an honors course with Dr. Kurt Piehler. Amelia then began working as an Undergraduate Assistant focusing on general publicity for the Institute and for the upcoming Society for Military History Conference. She plans to relocate to Washington D.C. after graduation with the hopes of working in government or for a non-profit organization.
Connor Doke - Fall 2016 - Spring 2018
Connor Doke graduated from FSU in May 2018 with a degree in History and minors in Spanish and Psychology. In the Fall semester of 2014, Connor was introduced to the Institute when he completed a project as a part of Dr. Piehler’s class titled The American GI in War and Peace in World War II. Connor has worked on building an online timeline on World War II to help develop the online presence of the Institute. The timeline will help students and researchers learn more about the great amount of collections and artifacts that are present at the Institute.
John Eubanks- Fall 2016- Spring 2017
John grew up in Bonifay, Florida, where he lived until transferring to Florida State University from Chipola College in the fall of 2015. He graduated with a degree in history with a minor in philosophy in the Spring of 2017. John’s projects at the Institute focused on the GI and the Law in World War II. This project allowed him to explore the relationship between military and legal history. John was the Vice President of Risk Management for the Beta Psi chapter of Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity and was an active member of the Sailing Club at FSU.
Olivia Foley- Fall 2016- Spring 2017
Olivia is a pre-med student studying biology. Olivia participated in the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) studying the history of medicine at the Institute. Olivia contributed to the Institute by processing collections and entering data into the FSU Archon database. She is also an active member of the Delta Zeta sorority, Phi Eta Sigma Honors Society, National Society of Colligate Scholars, Student Alumni Association, Student Boosters, Fundamentals of Research and Career Education (FORCE), Health and Educational Relief Organization (HERO), and a First Responder in the Medical Response Unit. Olivia is very interested in world cultures. In fact, Olivia and her family have hosted over 30 foreign exchange and because of these relationships, Olivia was able to travel to France for 7 weeks in the summer of 2014, and Germany and Austria for 3 weeks in the summer of 2015.
Jacob Groh- Fall 2016- Spring 2017
Jacob Groh is a senior majoring in history with a minor in philosophy. His interests in World War II include topics related to armored warfare and the European Theater of Operations. Jacob processed raw collections and worked with fellow student, Connor Doke, on a comprehensive World War II timeline for the Institute’s website. He worked to process the Institute’s largest collections, the Anne and Wayne Coloney collections, specifically focusing on the World War II-era materials.
Jeffrey Henley- Fall 2016 - Spring 2018
Jeffrey Scott Henley is a re-admitted student to Florida State University. He graduated from FSU in 1989 with a BS in Marketing. After a successful 26 year career in sales and account management including the last 11 years with C.H. Robinson Inc., a Fortune 250 third party logistics provider, he decided to leave his career and return to the academic world to pursue his long time passion of studying history with hopes of a second career passing along this love of history to others. In May 2018, he graduated with a BA in History and a minor in German. In August 2018, Jeffrey will begin the course of study for a MA in History entering the program for Historical Administration and Public History.
Kristina Hopf - Spring 2018 - Summer 2018
Kristina Hopf graduated from Florida State May 2018 with a dual degree in International Affairs and History, with a minor in Psychology and a concentration in French. At the Institute, her research interests include Prisoners of War and the Merchant Marines. She was introduced to the Institute through her honors work with Dr. Piehler, under which she is writing an Honors Thesis on Wernher von Braun. After graduation, she will be attending law school out of state and be pursuing her interest in international law.
Zoe Hume - Spring 2018
Zoe Hume is a senior at Florida State currently pursuing a B.A. in English: Editing, Writing, and Media with a double major in Anthropology. In English, she has a special interest in visual rhetoric, particularly photography, and how images become recontextualized over time. In Anthropology, she loves to learn about the various cultures of the world and their histories. She feels her interest in museums and archives is the result of both these interests, and she is looking forward to seeing the ways in which History, English, and Anthropology can be joined together through her work at the Institute.
Michelle Ibarra- Fall 2016- Spring 2017
Michelle Ibarra studied Art History at Florida State with minors in History, Museum Studies, and Anthropology. She has a broad interest in material culture as well as visual and social histories. She intends to become a curator focusing on Native American art, history, and culture. She previously worked with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage helping to document material culture from their Folklife Festival, and has worked with the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience in a Museum Studies class that put together an exhibition using the Donald Kupfer collection. During her time as an undergraduate assistant at the Institute, she helped to document collections and assist with outreach.
Christopher Kapustin- Fall 2016 - Summer 2017
Chris Kapustin is a senior working on a History degree with a minor in Museum Studies. He’s originally from Indianapolis, Indiana, but moved to Jacksonville, Florida in 2001. He graduated from Bishop Kenny High School in 2011 and attended Florida State College of Jacksonville where he received an Associate’s Degree. Then he transferred to Florida State University and is currently an intern at the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience.
Brianna McLean - Summer 2016 - Summer 2018
Brianna will graduate with a Bachelor of the Arts in History with a minor in French in August 2018. Whenever she is not going to school, work, or participating in extracurricular activities, she enjoys being an amateur genealogist. She is starting her MA in History at FSU Fall 2018 to study Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. She looks forward to one day being a research librarian that also conducts research and writes. Her interests include World War II, Women's Military History, French Military History, French Revolution, American Military History, Home Front History, and War History in general. She is happy her jobs at the Institute have prepared her for her new job at Special Collections in Strozier Library.
Alberto Peréz-Rueda - Fall 2017 - Summer 2018
Born in Venezuela, Alberto moved with his family to Republic of Panama in 2007. He would later begin his undergraduate studies in the FSU Republic of Panama campus in 2013, transferring to Tallahassee two years later. He began volunteering at the Institute after graduating with a degree in History and Media/Communications Studies. His main focus at the Institute has been surrounding Latin America during the World War II period, compelling information about the use of Brazilian air and sea-ports by American Forces and life in Cuba before and during the war. His main interests in History cover Latin America and the Mediterranean, focusing specially on historical fighting styles and weapons from the Renaissance and the 19th century.
Megan Quinn - Fall 2016 - Spring 2018
Megan is a senior at FSU double majoring in History and Editing, Writing, and Media. She has taken many classes pertaining to World War II and served as an editorial assistant at the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience. She is interested in writing and wants to work in publishing as an editor once she graduates. Last summer, Megan spent two months in Ghana volunteering in a rural village as a teacher's aide. This coming summer she will be going to Peru to work at a wildlife rescue center.
Robin Rodriguez - Spring 2018
Robin Rodriguez is a sophomore at Florida State planning to major in International Affairs. She is interested in all areas of World War II history, but particularly the role of women during the war, and war in Northern France, where she lived for a year. She hopes to continue her work at the Institute throughout her time at Florida State and learn as much as she can about World War II history.
Lyndee Rose- Fall 2016-Spring 2017
Lyndee Rose grew up in Orlando, Florida and graduated from The First Academy. She attended Florida State University, majoring in Social Sciences with a minor in Professional Communications. She actively participated in the Direct Individual Study program at the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience, served as a member of Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity, and interned for the State of Florida Lottery. Passionate for politics, Lyndee worked as the Executive District Secretary for Senator Hutson of District 7. Lyndee aspires to pursue a career as a lobbyist for the Americans with Disabilities Association.
Hannah Shapiro- Fall 2016-Spring 2017
Hannah Shapiro is an Editing, Writing, and Media Major at Florida State University. Though she graduated from Satellite High School in 2015, she is in the midst of her senior year and plans to graduate this summer. In addition to her rigorous course work, Hannah is an active member of the Florida State Honors Program. She is currently a Colloquium Leader for the Honor’s Freshman Class and will be teaching her first classes this semester. Hannah is an executive member of her sorority Alpha Omicron Pi and the President of one of the five Florida State University A Cappella groups, Coda A Cappella. Last year, Hannah completed a Directed Individual Study at the Institute on World War II studying the impact the Merchant Marines had on the war effort. At the institute Hannah focused on processing and researching collections having to do with the Merchant Marines, as well as other sanctions of the military and their affects on World War II.
Michela Sieman - Fall 2017 - Spring 2018
Michela is a second year History major, with minors in Italian and Hospitality Management. She plans to graduate in the Spring of 2019 and travel the world before she enters her career as a researcher in the entertainment industry. More specifically, she desires to work for the Walt Disney Company as an Imagineer. On campus, she is Vice President of Phocus Photography and an Undergraduate Research Ambassador. In summer 2018, For my internship this summer, she will be an Intern at the Medici Archive Project through the Junior Research Internship Program, working under Dr. Sheila Barker on Renaissance women artists at the State Archives of Florence. She is incredibly excited to now being an intern at the Institute after volunteering throughout her freshman year.
Patricia Singletary- Fall 2016-Fall 2017
Patricia is a Senior at Florida State University double majoring in History and Women’s Studies. She began working at the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience as a member of the Undergraduate Advisory Board in Fall 2016. Patricia increased her involvement during Summer 2017 by starting an internship under Dr. Piehler and began processing the Charlotte Mansfield collection, which has turned into a major joint project with the School of Communications at FSU. In summer 2018, she will be spending my summer at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum as a part of the Frank and Peggy Steele Internship Program for Youth Leadership Development in the Public Programs department. A Tallahassee native, Patricia’s interests include local history as well as women’s history in general, and her lifelong ambition is to be a Feminist Historian. She also serves as President of Planned Parenthood Generation Action at FSU.
Jared Smith- Fall 2017
Jared is a junior at Florida State from Jupiter, FL. He is currently pursuing a double major in Economics and International Affairs, with a focus in History and a minor in Spanish. Jared joined the Institute as an intern for the 2017 Fall semester following enrollment in Institute Director Dr. Piehler’s course on the Second World War in the Fall of 2016. Jared aspires to work in the federal government while using his knowledge of history and international relations to further those goals. Outside of the Institute Jared is an avid scuba diver currently working on his instructor certification. He also enjoys the war genre of cinema and is a Philadelphia sports fanatic.
Jill Szaroleta- Fall 2015-Fall 2017
Jill Szaroleta served as Senior Assistant to the Director at the Institute during the summer and fall of 2017. She graduated from Fleming Island High School in 2014, and graduated from FSU with her history degree in December 2017. She joined the team at the Institute in the Fall of 2015 through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) at FSU, and began a project on a set of letters written by a Union soldier in the American Civil War. The project continued into a Directed Individual Study, and Jill is now in the beginning stages of publishing the letters and memoir. She processed collections and oversaw training and day-to-day tasks at the Institute, and plans to pursue a Master's Degree in Library Sciences and a career in archival and museum work. She is particularly interested in American Civil War and Cold War history.
Emily Woessner- Fall 2016 - Spring 2018
Emily Woessner just graduated with a degree in International Affairs with a concentration in History in conjunction with minors in Art History, German, and Museum Studies. She has worked at the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience since fall of 2016 and has enjoyed a variety of opportunities and events during her time here. She began at the Institute processing collections with a German/Austrian focus and eventually transitioned into helping plan conferences hosted by the Institute such as the 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for Military History and Letters in Troubled Times: Evaluating Epistolary Sources. In the summer of 2017 she held an internship position at the National Museum of American History Archives Center where she helped process the Civilian Conservation Crops collection. Emily plans to travel abroad in Australia/New Zealand before pursing a masters degree and a career in archives.
