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Alumni Achievements

Featured Alum
Jennifer Binczewski, '08
Majors: History and Communication Studies

Current Position: Binczewski has just returned to the U.S. after completing a master's degree in ancient history from King's College, London. She is currently an adjunct professor of history at Whitworth, where she teaches a course on the Mediterranean world.

Why Whitworth? "I loved Whitworth's beautiful campus, its location in my hometown, and the stories my older sister (also an alumna) told me about the courses and professors. I was not disappointed. I loved every minute!"

Whitworth Activities: Worked as an office administrator for facilities services and as a student writer for the Whitworth communications office.

Quote: "Whitworth history courses prepared me for graduate work by challenging my writing and research skills. Corliss Slack and Dale Soden encouraged me to participate in local history conferences, to continue on to graduate school, and to acquire teaching experience at Whitworth."

Influential Whitworth Experiences: "My most influential experience at Whitworth was traveling to Europe through the Core 250 study program with Forrest Baird and Ron Pyle. This wonderful experience showed me that the world is my classroom. It confirmed my love of history and created a desire to travel. I have since gone back to the countries we visited on that trip, and I am sure I will return in the future. That experience created my desire to attend graduate school in England."

Career Goals: "I would like to earn my Ph.D. in early modern European history and integrate myself into a wonderful university where I can teach and work on my desired research projects."

Here's what some Whitworth graduates are doing with their history degrees:

• Samantha Keenan, '10, is a graduate student in public history at Temple University.
  
  
• Jeff Naslund, '06, is a history and math teacher at Mt. Spokane High School.
  
  
• Kyna Herzinger, '05, graduated from a joint master's program in public history and library and information science at the University of South Carolina; she works as a librarian/archivist at Tryon Palace, in New Bern, N.C.
  
  
• Kelsey Rice Bogdan, '03, (history and English double major), is earning a doctorate at Harvard Divinity School.
  
  
• Lyndsey Downs, '02, (history and political science double major), graduated from the Seattle University School of Law in 2006 and is a law clerk in the Thurston County Superior Court.
  
  
• Clayton Erickson, '07, is serving in Iraq with the 1041st Transportation Company of the Washington National Guard.
  
  
• Jasmine Wilson, '05, is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Tennessee–Knoxville.
  
  
• Nichlas Fox, '04, works for the White House Conference on Aging.
  
  
• Danelle Feddes, '05, earned a master's degree in history museum studies through the Cooperstown Graduate Program; she is now an assistant curator at the Puget Sound Navy Museum, in Bremerton, Wash.
  
  
• Ashley Johnson, '08, is teaching English at Sawala Secondary School, in Mafinga, Tanzania.
  
  
• Kelsy Brown, '07, completed a master's of divinity degree at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary; she is now senior pastor at Altavista Presbyterian Church, in Virginia.