Graduate Students

S.M. Tanveer Ahmed

S. M. Tanveer Ahmed was born in Narsingdi, Bangladesh. After completing his high school and college education, he moved to Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, to pursue his undergraduate and Master’s degrees in History from the University of Dhaka. He secured the first-class first position in the Master’s examination in 2006. Before beginning his doctoral studies in the Department of History at Washington State University, he served as an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Jagannath University, Dhaka since 2011. Prior to that, he worked as a research assistant at BRAC University, Bangladesh, from 2009 to 2010. He also gained experience as an apprentice staff reporter for the Daily Independent, a Dhaka-based English daily, and as a lecturer at Asia Pacific University, Dhaka.

Tanveer Ahmed has published several articles and is the author of Itihas Gabesona Paddhati (2014), a Bengali book on the methodology of writing history. Additionally, he has published a research book titled Christian Mission in East Bengal: The Life and Times of Archbishop Theotonius Amal Ganguly, CSC 1920-1977 (Resource Publications, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers, February 27, 2018).

Jordan Bergstrom

PhD candidate
jordan.bergstrom@wsu.edu

Jordan was born in Seattle but raised in the small logging town of Raymond, Washington. He graduated from Raymond High School in 2007. After completing his Associated degree at Grays Harbor College in Aberdeen, he attained his Bachelor’s degrees in history and political science at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. He attained his Master’s degree in history from CWU in 2015. Jordan then worked as a historian for the National Park Service in Sitka, Alaska. From 2016 through 2019 Jordan was a Community Corrections Officer for Washington State Department of Corrections based in Goldendale, Washington, before returning to academia. Jordan is now entering his fourth year at WSU and works under Dr. Matthew Sutton in the history department. His doctoral research focuses on the role of American Nazi groups, anti-interventionists, and the FDR administration in the isolation debate of the 1930s. Jordan’s other research interests broadly include critical theory, intellectual history, political history, and transnational history with special attention on the history of nationalism, political conservatism, “radicalism”, and the intersections of race and ethnicity in national identity.

Cassie Crisman

PhD Candidate
cassandra.crisman@wsu.edu

Cassie Crisman was raised in Covington, Washington. She earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s in History at Central Washington University, where she studied the Indian Boarding School system in the Pacific Northwest.

She is currently a doctoral candidate (ABD) at WSU, studying under Dr. Jenny Thigpen. Her dissertation focuses on gender and families in 19th century utopian experiments in the American West. Outside of work she enjoys reading fiction, performing in local plays, and participating in her community.

Samantha Edgerton

PhD candidate
samantha.edgerton@wsu.edu

Samantha Edgerton is a second-year doctoral student working with Dr. Laurie Mercier. Her primary research fields are women and gender, race and ethnicity, social movements, and popular culture in the 20th century United States. She received her bachelor’s degree in History and a minor in Women’s Studies, then an MA in History in 2019. Her PhD thesis is “Every City Has a Story to Tell: Chicana Activism, Intimate Partner Violence, and the City of Los Angeles.”

Non-historical interests include travel, attempting to improve as a photographer, and being a soccer mom.

Nadia Ertz

MA Student
hope.ertz@wsu.edu

Nadia is a first-generation graduate student- an MA candidate in the history department, advised by Dr. Brigit Farley. Her focus is on Modern European History, specifically the early Soviet Union, and her thesis is tentatively on the conflicting relationship between the Jews and Stalin’s Soviet Union, and how this affected the Zionist movement. Nadia received her BA in Slavic Studies with a concentration on Russian language, culture, and history from Stanford University, with minors in history and political science. There, she became fluent in Russian, moderately proficient in Yiddish, and somewhat proficient in Ukrainian. She has Russian and Native Alaskan roots, and she is a Jewish convert- all of these identities have helped form her academic interests. She was born in Spokane, Washington, but spent most of her life with her grandparents in San Diego, California, where she graduated from her high school as the Salutatorian, with the first ever seal of triliteracy for English, Spanish, and Russian. In her spare time, Nadia enjoys cooking, baking, reading, watching (and singing along to) musical movies and plays, playing video games, volunteering, and spending time in Jewish community spaces. She is happy to share her unique academic journey with the rest of the WSU community, especially those who she will be TA-ing for!

Ryan Hollister

PhD Student
ryan.hollister@wsu.edu

Ryan Hollister is a doctoral student under the direction Dr. Peter Boag. Born in Washington, he grew up near Nashville, Tennessee. He attained his Bachelor’s in History, with a minor in Social and Cultural Anthropology, at Brigham Young University in Utah. While an undergraduate he spent his summers near Little Rock Arkansas. He then attained a Master’s degree in Social and Cultural History at the University of Leeds in England. His research is focused on queerness, sexuality and gender, the US, and the UK. Outside of academia Ryan enjoys traveling, walking, and learning.

Kelsey Kuball

MA Student
kelsey.kuball@wsu.edu

Kelsey Kuball is a master’s student studying under Dr. Matthew Sutton. Her research interests include American evangelicalism, feminism, and the history of sexuality within American culture. She enjoys exploring how religion has interacted with social movements to shape American society politically, socially, and culturally. Kelsey is originally from Waterville, Minnesota, where she still enjoys helping on her family’s dairy farm when she is home. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and exploring new coffee shops and wineries.

Sreya Mukherjee

PhD Candidate
sreya.mukherjee@wsu.edu

Sreya Mukherjee is a first-year doctoral student working under Dr. Ashley Wright. Sreya was born and raised in Kolkata, India. She has completed her B.A. and M.A. degrees in History from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Before moving to the United States, Sreya interned with the National Museum, New Delhi, and DakshinaChitra, Tamil Nadu. She was a Sahapedia-UNESCO Fellow in 2017. Her research interest caters to the subcontinent’s social history with a focus on the consumption of inebriants and gender dynamics in late 19th century and early 20th century India. When not working, Sreya likes to travel, sing, and play the ukulele.

Mina Park

PhD Candidate
mina.park1@wsu.edu

Mina Park is a first-year doctoral student working under Dr. Noriko Kawamura. Mina was born and raised in Changwon, South Korea. Before she came to Pullman, she studied U.S. food aid to South Korea and the change of South Koreans’ dietary culture after WWII to complete the second MA in history from Miami University of Ohio. She earned the first MA in history from the Chung-Ang University in Seoul, South Korea; the research focus was on Charles H. Haskins’s historical view which is based on the theory of the twelfth-century renaissance, who was an American historian of the early 20th century. Her current interests are mainly in the U.S.’s 20th century foreign relations with Asia regarding agricultural policy, capitalism, and popular culture. When not working on her studies, she enjoys listening to music, doing exercise, and travelling.

Md Shamsuddoha

PhD Student
md.shamsuddoha@wsu.edu

Md Shamsuddoha is a PhD student at Washington State University under the supervision of Dr. Ashley Wright. He attained his bachelor’s degree in History and his master’s degree in South Asian Studies from Jahangirnagar University in Bangladesh.

Md Shamsuddoha is a historian with a wide array of interests. His areas of concentration are post-colonial nationalism and the refugee crisis in South Asia, with a special focus on the Rohingya issue, ethnicity, migration, social inclusion, and learning outcomes. Shamsuddoha has around 14 years of teaching experience, during which he has educated more than 5,000 students in class. He has been serving as a faculty member of History (currently on study leave) in the School of General Education at BRAC University since 2012. He has also been a part of numerous projects and initiatives at BRAC University. He has trained thousands of students as a trainer of a certificate course titled “Recitation and Articulation” at BRAC University. Shamsuddoha is the founder and president of the Differently-abled Empowerment & Advancement Foundation (DEAF), a Bangladeshi NGO that was established to serve communities with disabilities. He is an active researcher in the field of South Asian history and politics. As part of his professional affiliations, Shamsuddoha is associated with several international journals as a reviewer and member of the editorial board. He is a member of the American Historical Association (AHA) and the British Association for South Asian Studies (BASAS). “Paradox of the Rohingya Issue: A Legacy of History” and “Santal Community in Bangladesh: A Socio-historical Analysis” are two of his recent works. Currently, he has been leading a research project titled “Gender-based Migration in the Context of Climate Change in Coastal Bangladesh: A Socio-historical Analysis” as a Principal Investigator.

Drew Theriot

MA Student
drew.theriot@wsu.edu

Drew Theriot is a Master of Arts student working under Dr. Noriko Kawamura. He was born and raised in rural Louisiana. In 2021, he earned his bachelor’s degree in History with minors in Sociology and Government from Nicholls State University. His current research focuses on the foreign relationship between the US and Japan during the Cold War era.

His outside interests include fitness, yoga, music, comedy, and martial arts.

Madison Tupper

MA Student
madison.tupper1@wsu.edu

Hi, my name is Madison, but if you like, you can call me Mattie! I was born in Colorado. I moved to Washington in 2020 to get my undergrad at Pacific Lutheran University. I earned two undergrad degrees, one in religion and the other in German, Holocaust, and Genocide studies. I am getting my M.A. in History. I am working with Dr. Ray Sun. My current historical interest is in how queer people have been memorialized following the Holocaust.
My outside interests include board games, amateur movie critiquing, and video games. I especially like Dune, book, board game & movies!

Graduate Students

S.M. Tanveer Ahmed

Sarah Amador

Jordan Bergstrom

Kyley Canion-Brewer

Cassie Crisman

Berit Davis

Samantha Edgerton

Nadia Ertz

William Fiedler

Drew Gamboa