Students Participate in Phi Alpha Theta History Honors Society State Conference

On Saturday, March 9, seven HPU history students traveled to the Big Island to present papers at the annual Phi Alpha Theta (PAT) History Honors Society State Conference at University of Hawai‘i-Hilo. In a fierce competition that pit undergraduate and graduate students against students from University of Hawai‘i-Manoa, University of Hawai‘i-Hilo, and Brigham Young University, three of our students took away three of the top prizes. Antoine Hollman was awarded the Herbert F. Margulies prize for the best American history paper, which focused on the victims of the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. Billy Mayer won the Robert E. McGlone prize for the best biographical paper for his excellent paper on famed British prime minister, Winston Churchill. Perhaps the biggest win of the day was awarded to a Kulamauukomohana Companion, who won the prestigious best graduate paper prize. He wrote an incredible paper on the factors that led to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. This is the first time that an HPU student has won the best graduate paper prize at a PAT conference! 

These students could not have attended the conference had it not been for gracious financial contributions from professors Marc Gilbert, Ph.D., and James Corcoran, Ph.D. A big thanks to Bryan Gibson, Ph.D., and Jon Davidann, Ph.D., for helping to organize the conference. 

From left to right: international business major Tyler Mitchell, Assistant Professor Bryan Gibson, Ph.D., diplomacy and military studies major Dustin Schrock, history major Antoine Hollman, master’s in diplomacy and military studies major Billy Mayer, master’s in diplomacy and military studies major Kulamauukomohana Companion, and Professor Jon Davidann, Ph.D.; not pictured history major Noah Hull and diplomacy and military studies major Daniel Lambert

For questions, contact PAT advisor Dr. Gibson at brgibson@hpu.edu.