Nancy Mitchell lived abroad during the presidency of Jimmy Carter.

Working as an English teacher at an Irish high school in the late 1970s, Mitchell says it was interesting to view the Carter administration from afar. It was also puzzling, she said, why his presidency — and persona — were often defined by their shortcomings.

Now a professor of history at NC State, Mitchell has spent the past 10 years seeking answers about the true nature of the Carter presidency. She’s visited archives around the world: from Britain to Zambia, Canada to Australia, France to South Africa. And she’s interviewed dozens of former politicians, national advisers and world leaders, including Carter himself.

Public History professor Alicia McGill has been very busy this summer. After receiving a Faculty Research and Professional Development grant to pilot the first NC State University international public history student research practicum, McGill and two Public History students, Hannah Scruggs and Lisa Withers, set off to Belize to collect ethnographic and archival data in the village of Crooked Tree – a community rich in history and vibrant cultural heritage.