(March 26, 2008)

Contact: Rick DelaHaya, Centenary News Services, 318.869.5073

Centenary History Honor Society Members Present Works at Annual Meeting

SHREVEPORT, La.—Centenary College was well represented at the Louisiana Regional Meeting of Phi Alpha Theta, the history honor society, March 14 and 15 when four students presented papers at the annual meeting in Lafayette, La.

Senior history majors Mary Wubbena, Margaret McDonald, Amanda Russell and Miranda Tucker were among thirty-one students from 10 colleges and universities who presented papers on various topics. The four students represented Centenary's Alpha-Alpha-Omega chapter, with each student double majoring in history and political science.

During the meeting, Mary Wubbena was awarded the Kimberly Hanger Prize for the best undergraduate paper presented. The students and their papers were:

  • Margaret McDonald, "The Centenary College Choir: Becoming America's Singing Ambassadors."
  • Amanda Russell, "Ballots, Barriers, Purges, and Surges: African-American Voting Rights in Shreveport and Caddo Parish, Louisiana, 1958-1969."
  • Miranda Tucker, "Police Brutality in 1960s Shreveport."
  • Mary Wubbena, "'Have You No Decency?': Shading the Civil Rights Movement in Red."

The National Honor Society in History, Phi Alpha Theta, was established at the University of Arkansas on March 17, 1921 by Nels Andrew N. Cleven. It is a professional society whose mission is to promote the study of history through the encouragement of research, good teaching, publication and the exchange of learning and ideas among historians. The society seeks to bring students, teachers and writers of history together for intellectual and social exchanges, which promote and assist historical research and publication by our members in a variety of ways.


About Centenary College of Louisiana

Centenary College is a private, four-year arts and sciences college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Founded in 1825, it is the oldest chartered liberal arts college west of the Mississippi River and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Centenary is one of 16 colleges and universities constituting the Associated Colleges of the South and is regularly rated as one of the top colleges in the South. In 2008 Centenary College celebrates 100 years in Shreveport and Bossier City.