Alfred University History Professor Andrew Kless and students present papers at European History conference

SYRACUSE, NY – Three Alfred University history students and their professor presented papers at the recent New York State Association of European Historians at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY, Oct. 15-16. 

It was the first conference presentation for each of the students: R. J. Hillman, Ryan Schwanz and Michael Bradley.

Hillman, a History major and Environmental Science minor, presented "Competing Claims: Russia Today Versus the BBC’s coverage of Alexei Navalny.”

Bradley, a Ceramic Engineering and Chemistry minor presented, "Ukraine and Russia: Uncomfortably Bound by History”

Schwanz, a History and Political Science double major, and Middle Childhood/Adolescence Education minor, presented “Putin’s Russia: Rebuilding an Empire?”

Together, they also formed a panel on Russian and Ukrainian history, which each student was asked for questions and comments on their papers by scholars in the field. Dr. Courtney Doucette, Assistant Professor of History at SUNY Oswego and a specialist in the history of the Soviet Union, served as panel commentator.

In addition to the students, Kless presented his own paper:  "Foals, Farmsteads, and Forests: Ecological Encounters in First World War Russian Poland.”

Their trip to the conference was supported in part by Bernstein Family Funding.

After the conference Hillman, Schwanz, Bradley and Kless visited Eva’s Polish Restaurant for a late lunch – “a fitting end,” Kless says, “to four papers focused on Eastern European history.”  

In accompanying photo: Alfred University student Michael Bradley takes a selfie at the recent New York State Association of European Historians at Le Moyne College in Syracuse. In background of photo, taken in front of Eva's Polish Restaurant, are Ryan Schwanz, R.J. Hillman, and Alfred University Professor of History Andrew Kless.