Posted on May 13: History students sweep colloquium awards

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BY Chantall Van Raay

May 13, 2003

It was history repeating itself for McMaster students at the second annual History Undergraduate Colloquium at the University of Waterloo.

First, third-year honours history student Sarah Linfoot won first prize for her paper entitled “Representations of Women.” Then, fourth-year honours history student Bronwen Margrath won first prize for her paper on, “The French Resistance: Myth and Reality.” And in the third and final category, fourth-year honours history student Laurie Jacklin won first prize for her paper, “Crime, Violence, and Mental Disorder at the Rockwood Lunatic Asylum, 18801900.”

The three McMaster history undergraduate students, who competed against students from the University of Waterloo, Wilfred Laurier University, the University of Guelph and The University of Western Ontario, each won $100 in Chapters/Indigo gift certificates, donated by the University of Waterloo.

The theme of the colloquium was “What Does the Past Mean to You?” This was the second event in an ongoing series of annual colloquiums where undergraduates from McMaster, Western, Guelph, Waterloo and Laurier are invited to present the work produced in Level III or Level IV undergraduate classes.

“I am really pleased about our successes at the colloquium, and I think it reflects positively on the History Department at McMaster,” says Margrath, president of the McMaster Undergraduate History Society. “I think it is important to note that the academic excellence at McMaster goes beyond the more well-known areas of health science and engineering.”

McMaster assistant history professor Karen Balcom assisted the students in their submissions. “Karen Balcom really got behind and supported the students entering the competition, with her characteristic non-stop enthusiasm and dedication,” said Jacklin. “She freely gave of her own personal time and made, what first seemed to be, a very daunting process into something that we students could manage. Our results directly reflect the standards of excellence of the professors in the History Department, as exemplified by Dr. Balcom.”