Public History PhD Student, Matthew Champagne, Takes Top Prize at 2022 Graduate Student Research Symposium

On Wednesday, April 6, the 15th Annual Graduate Student Research Symposium took place. It included poster presentations from more than 200 graduate students from NC State University. Posters were judged by faculty, and students received recognition for top posters. The goals are to showcase the outstanding quality and diversity of graduate-level research at NC State, in addition to providing students with the opportunity to practice and enhance their communication skills with those outside of their discipline. Poster presentations were divided into nine broad academic categories. Judges selected a first, second and third place winner in each category. We are proud to announce that Public History PhD student, Matthew Champagne, was the College of Humanities and Social Sciences first place winner.

 

Champagne studies the intersection of gender and sexuality, and the representation of LGBT+ people at museums and historic sites. As a public historian, Champagne “hopes his research will determine the best practices for museum practitioners who commonly respond to queries about the sexuality of their historic subject as well as show them the most appropriate and inappropriate ways to navigate the tenuous connection between the past and the present.” Champagne’s poster and abstract, More Than Friends: Interpreting Same-Sex Relationships at Historic Sites, lays out the problematic ways historic sites currently interpret the queer past. 

 

Champagne holds degrees in Classics, history, and theatre from Pace University. His academic accolades include the Benjamin T. Ford Award in history and the Charles H. Dyson Award. Over the course of Champagne’s eight years of experience in leadership roles at museums and non-profits throughout the United States, he has undertaken cultural and historical programming for such clients as the United Nations, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in New York City, and the Native American Council of Columbia University. Learn more about Matthew HERE.