Tom Berson: Tom defended his PhD dissertation, “Silver Springs: The Florida Interior in the American Imagination,” in spring 2010. Dr. Berson is interested in how the interior of Florida, centered around the nature of freshwater springs, defined the identity of Florida and how that identity changed as economic and tourism interest moved outward toward the coasts.
Bridget Bihm-Manuel: Bridget completed her MA at the University of Florida and is now working on a PhD. She is expanding her MA research on public policy and health related to human waste into a PhD dissertation. Bridget is especially interested in how peculiar ecological conditions in Florida shaped and frustrated public-health policy.
Leslie Kemp Poole: Leslie is currently director of adult education at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. She previously worked in newspaper and magazine journalism. Arriving at UF with an MA, she is now writing her dissertation on women and the dynamics of gender in the history of the environmental movement in Florida.
Dan Simone: Dan defended his dissertation, “American Motorsports: Racing, Region, and the Environment," in spring 2009. Dr. Simone came into the history program with an MA and an interest in the history of motorsports. His dissertation, an original work combining sport history and environmental history, looks at how nature shaped the history of motorsports in America of the course of teh twentieth century, and how the sport has responded to environmental challenges of the twenty-first century.
Maury Wiseman: Maury defended his dissertation,“David Levy Yulee: Biography and Historical Memory," in fall 2010. Dr. Wiseman's work looks at the multiple identities of Yulee as a Jew, U.S. senator, white southerner, Confederate, and businessman during his lifetime and how since his death the memory of disparate social groups have shaped his identity.