Allison Balch
Allison Balch is an excellent example of the opportunities open to SIUC history students, both inside and outside of the classroom. Using skills obtained in the wide variety of classes offered by this department, Allison studied and did research in Deerfield, MA while still an undergraduate. The picture to the right was taken outside of the Old Indian House in Deerfield, which was the scene of the 1704 attack.
In the summer of 2005, Allison enrolled in the Preservation Summer project and conducted research on the Pierre Menard House (left). Along with other students, Allison also researched the Thebes Courthouse in Alexander County, IL (below). She has also won a fellowship to study the Gettysburg battefield museum and this past summer she was nominated for a Deerfield Fellowship. Closer to Carbondale, she worked with the John A. Logan Museum in Murphysboro, IL.
History undergraduates have the ability to work closely with professors in the history department. In Allison’s case, she worked as an undergraduate research assistant with Dr. Natasha Zaretsky on a project about the Panama Canal treaties. One of Allison's essays has even published in the department’s journal for undergraduate scholarship. Entitled "Anti-sexual Ideology, Women's Rights, and Female Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century America," it was included in the 2006 edition of Legacy. Allison’s experience highlights what any undergraduate history student can do, in the classroom and off campus, while at SIUC.
