Editorial Board (2020-2021)
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Who we are:
The editorial board of the Vanderbilt Historical Review is composed of undergraduate students at Vanderbilt University who have a keen interest in history, writing, publishing, and digital humanities. In addition, our faculty advisors offer expertise and advice on the content of our journal. Interested Vanderbilt undergraduate students of any major are always welcome to join VHR and can email us at vanderbilt.historicalreview@gmail.com for more information.
Editor-in-Chief
Janet Stefanov is a junior from Lawrence, Kansas. She is pursuing a triple major in mathematics, economics, and Russian. Her primary historical interests include Eastern European history, and she is particularly interested in the role of public opinion barometers and game theory in politics. Outside of the historical review, Janet is heavily involved in the club swim team and water polo team. Janet enjoys exercising, brewing and drinking coffee, and watching TV news in her free time.
Managing Editors
Lauren Bamonte is a senior from Tiverton, Rhode Island. She is majoring in History with a concentration in American history. In her free time, she enjoys playing on the Vanderbilt Club Field Hockey team, tutoring local youth in reading, and exploring Nashville.
Mila Sicorsky is a senior from Buenos Aires, Argentina and Miami, Florida. She is majoring in Law, History, and Society, Medicine, Health, and Society, and English. Besides VHR, she is involved in VUcept, Alternative Spring Break, the Outdoor Recreation Center, and Greek life. In her free time, she enjoys being outdoors, playing the piano, and exploring.
Luis Armando Martínez is a first-generation Cuban-Venezuelan-American from Miami, Florida. His love of underrepresented histories, world languages, and liberal democracy,
coupled with his affinity for Miami, has produced in him the lifelong goal of contributing to the fights against state repression and anthropogenic climate change through international human
rights law. On campus, he is involved in Students Against Modern Slavery as the organization’s Vice President, Alternative Spring Break as a site leader, VUcept as a returner peer mentor, and the College Scholars Program as an Honors Scholar and a Council-Member. He is currently a
junior double majoring in History (Latin America) and Spanish & Portuguese, and minoring in Chinese Language and Culture.
Layout Editor
Skyler Froese is a senior from Columbia, MO. She is studying American history and German language. Besides being a staff member for the Vanderbilt Historical Review, she is the Creative Arts Coordinator of the McGill Project and recently participated in the Buchanan Fellowship program.
Website Editor
Teresa Xu is a sophomore from Vancouver, Canada. She is planning to major in Sociology, Medicine, Health, & Society, and/or English. Her primary historical interests are 20th Century Europe, the impacts of colonialism, and the ethical dimensions of history. Outside of the Vanderbilt Historical Review, she is the Vice President of Narrative 4, the secretary of Grassroots, a site leader for Alternative Thanksgiving & Winter Break, and a peer mentor for VUcept. In her free time, she enjoys singing, writing poetry, traveling, and laughing with friends.
Blog Editor
Geronimo Owen is a senior from Asheville, North Carolina majoring in history, with a focus on South Asian intellectual history and religions. His current research project is an honors thesis on BR Ambedkar, an Indian lawyer, activist, and intellectual who fought for an end to the caste system. In addition to history, Geronimo likes staring up at ceilings while listening to music.
Staff Editors
Riley McCormick is a senior from Nashville, TN. Riley is a History major with a concentration in European History. He is a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and produces content for VandyRadio.com in addition to the Vanderbilt Hustler sports section. In his free time, Riley enjoys playing Vanderbilt Club Baseball and listening to indie / jam bands.
Elise Reimschisel is a senior from Brentwood TN double majoring in History and Secondary Education with an endorsement in Economics. She enjoys studying how diverse historical perspectives contribute to different historical narratives. Her main historical interests are how Labor and Ethnic Histories are taught in schools. On campus, she is a Resident Advisor and is involved in Vanderbilt Prison Project and Club Ultimate Frisbee.
Nathan Guzman is a senior from Atlanta, GA. Nathan is an American Studies major with a minor in Economics. His historical interests primarily include contemporary American society, culture, and politics. Outside of VHR, Nathan volunteers with the AMIGOS club, works for the Vanderbilt Athletic Department as a Game Operations Assistant, and enjoys playing intramural soccer.
Taylor Hopkins is a senior from Warren, Ohio majoring in Law, History and Society. Her primary historical interests include American legal history, World War II, Native American history and the Civil War. Outside of VHR, she is involved in the Vanderbilt Undergraduate Honor Council, Vanderbilt Student Government, Sarratt Art Studio, Vanderbilt Protecting Animal Welfare Society (VPAWS), and Greek life. In her free time, she enjoys reading, art, detective shows, and exploring outdoors.
Ashley Zhu is a junior from Chongqing, China. She is pursuing a double major in economics and political science. Her primary historical interest is in the modern history of China, especially the economic development history of China after 1949. Besides VHR, she works with the Vanderbilt Political Review and Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society.
Isabelle Krieger is a junior from Manassas, VA triple majoring in French, Political Science, and English Literature. She is interested in the relationship between the US and USSR during the twentieth century and the history of insurgency in Latin America. In her free time, Isabelle enjoys playing clarinet in the Spirit of Gold Marching Band and too much Settlers of Catan to avoid her responsibilities.
Jonathan Caldwell is a junior from Hendersonville, TN majoring in Economics and minoring in History and Business. His historical interests include American political history and foreign policy in the 20th century. He likes to play golf and watch sports, and he is a member of Vanderbilt's quiz bowl team and Spirit program. He likes to spend his time at as many concerts and Vanderbilt sporting events as possible.
Haoran Cao is a junior from Nanjing, China with residency in Auckland, New Zealand. He is pursuing a degree in Economics and History (interdisciplinary) and Mathematics. His main interest in history lies in the economic history of Europe and the history of wars. Besides VHR, he is also a member of the publicity commitee of Vanderbilt Undergraduate Research Journal, and he is involved in researches in Mathematics and Economics as well. In his free time, he loves singing, playing basketball, and doing motorsports.
Desiree Hagg is a sophomore from Orlando, Florida. She is double majoring in Clarinet Performance and European History as well as minoring in Psychology. Outside of the Historical Review, Desiree is also involved in the Blair Student Council and Blair’s Segue program. In her free time she enjoys sleeping, reading, and exercising.
Chetan Immaneni is a junior from Dallas, Texas. He is studying Neuroscience and Medicine, Health and Society. His primary historical interests are the late 20th century (specifically the 80s-90s), the impacts of colonialism and historic political shifts. Apart from the Vanderbilt Historical Review, he is involved with the Student Council for Exceptional Children (SCEC), the Vanderbilt Cancer Society, the Vanderbilt University Community Garden and is a first-year RA (Residential Advisor). In his free time, Chetan enjoys hanging out with friends, obsessively reading up on news developments, and walking around Vanderbilt University as well as Nashville at large.
Jordan Ginsburg is a sophomore from Bedminster, New Jersey. She is studying Economics & History and Public Policy Studies. Her primary historical interests are the Early Republic period through the Civil War in American History. Apart from the Vanderbilt Historical Review, she is involved with the Tennessee Democratic Party and Data Match. In her free time, Jordan enjoys hanging out with friends, exploring Nashville’s diverse restaurants and shops, and following national news and politics.
Faculty Advisers
Edward Wright-Rios is Chair of the Department of History at Vanderbilt University. A cultural historian specializing in modern Mexico, he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on colonial and modern Latin America, reform and revolution, popular culture, the social and cultural impact of the drug trade, and religious change. His first book Revolutions in Mexican Catholicism: Reform and Revelation in Oaxaca, 1887-1934 (Duke University Press, 2009), winner of the 2010 Murdo J. MacLeod Prize from the Southern Historical Association, examines religious reformism in the Catholic Church and popular religious movements in southern Mexico. Professor Wright-Rios’ second book, Searching for La Madre Matiana: Prophecy and Popular Culture in Modern Mexico (University of New Mexico Press, 2014), scrutinizes the historical legacy of a legendary popular prophetess and her visions concerning Mexico’s tumultuous history. He recently completed a Guggenheim Fellowship (2018-2019), during which he researched a book on pilgrimage in southern Mexico – currently titled Devotion in Motion: Pilgrimage in Modern Mexico.
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Thomas Schwartz is a Professor of History and serves as the Director of Undergraduate Studies for History at Vanderbilt University. He is a historian of the foreign relations of the United States, with related interests in Modern European history and the history of international relations. He is the author of America’s Germany: John J. McCloy and the Federal Republic of Germany (Harvard University Press, 1991), which was translated into German, Die Atlantik Brücke (Ullstein, 1992). This book received the Stuart Bernath Book Prize of the Society of American Foreign Relations, and the Harry S. Truman Book Award, given by the Truman Presidential Library. Dr. Schwartz has served as President of the Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations. He served on the United States Department of State’s Historical Advisory Committee as the representative of the Organization of American Historians from 2005-2008.
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Lauren Clay is an Associate Professor of History at Vanderbilt University. She is a historian of Old Regime and revolutionary France and its empire, with particular interests in urban cultural and civic life and the emergence of a commercially oriented society. Her book Stagestruck: The Business of Theater in Eighteenth-Century France and Its Colonies (Cornell University Press, 2013) examines the establishment of professional public theaters in cities throughout France and the French empire during the pre-revolutionary era. Stagestruck was awarded Honorable Mention for the 2014 Barnard Hewitt Award for Outstanding Research in Theatre History, given by the American Society for Theatre Research and was a named finalist for the 2013 George Freedley Memorial Award, for exceptional scholarship examining live theatre or performance, awarded by the Theatre Library Association.