2017-18 Graduates: (back) Pedro Cantisano, Scott De Orio, Matthew Woodbury, Nora Krinitsky, Jacques Vest, Sophie Hunt, Noah Blan (middle) Jaymin Kim, Kate Silber, Andrew Rutledge, Jaqueline Antonovich (front) Adam Fulton Johnson, Andrew Walker, Brady G'Sell, Sarah Mass, Ana Maria Silva. (Photo: Scott Soderberg, Michigan Photography)

On April 27 sixteen new PhDs assembled with family and friends in the Michigan Union for the Department of History's annual commencement event. Proceedings began with Graduate Director Rita Chin announcing this year's Fondiler Dissertation Prize, which went to Sophie Hunt for her "Grasping the Gulf: Conquest and Indigenous Power from Florida to Yucatan in the Age of Revolutions."

Faculty members stood to give testimony to the scholarship of their students and their relationships over the years of working together. The students responded with praise, thanks, and anecdotes of their own. There were lots of laughs, a few tears, and tremendous good cheer as this community of scholars and friends celebrated their time together and their accomplishments.

We send them our warmest wishes as they move out into the world!