Russell Spinney
Ph.D. Candidate in Modern European History
"I have found a very supportive environment at Pennsylvania State University ’s Department of History and Religious Studies. In terms of support, I think the department has clearly responded from the very beginning, and provided adequate resources for travel, outside research and the presentation of my work. The university has made sure that I have decent health care, which now includes basic dental and eye care plans. Library staff specialists in the humanities and social sciences have ensured that we have access to almost any resource, reference or primary source material available. My peers are friendly, sincere and supportive. They work hard and are competitive, but they have a strong sense of collegiality and the need for mutual support in our professional community. We have the opportunity to pursue original research and present our work in the annual graduate student conference, which our peers have created and now encourages interdisciplinary dialogue across the college on themes such as identity or space and place in history. Our peers also maintain several different reading groups, in which we share our work and offer constructive criticism. There is a supportive and competent group of faculty too, who take their roles as teachers and advisers very seriously. They prepared me for my comprehensive exams in ways that have enriched the set of tools which I bring to the study of history, and helped me to focus the leading questions for my dissertation research. They have connected me to experts in the professional community working on similar problems, facilitated the publication of my first article and put me in a position to win some of the substantial external grants so that I can get back to Germany for extended research toward my dissertation."