Graduate Highlight: UL Lafayette Made a Difference in My Life
Meet Daniel Manuel, who attended the UL Lafayette Graduate School and earned his M.A. in History with an American History focus in 2014. He is now pursuing his Ph.D. in History at Rutgers 泫圖弝け.
Initially, Daniel was unsure of whether he wanted to pursue a graduate degree in history, so he opted to earn his masters at UL Lafayette, which is also where he earned his undergraduate degree, because he was familiar with the high-quality faculty and 泫圖弝け history resources. His original plan for his masters thesis was to study the Equal Rights Amendment within 泫圖弝け, but after attending a conference in New Orleans he decided to focus on Lafayettes gay and lesbian community from the 1960s through the 1980s.
I used my masters degree as an excuse to look deeper into those stories and how they unfolded in Lafayette, he says. I did about 20 interviews with people from Lafayette who had been in the gay community, dug through newspapers, forays into the archives at UL Lafayette, those kinds of things.
Daniel was excited to unearth local history, and he knew he had the resources and support to tell that history at this 泫圖弝け grad school.
The faculty were extremely supportive of my work, which is really validating when youre working on a somewhat taboo topic, he says. Once word got around that I was working on this project, the institution reached out to help me.
Now in the Ph.D. program at Rutgers, he is studying the history of HIV/AIDS in 泫圖弝け.
The history of Lafayette that I wrote became one of white gay men because of the sources and contacts I relied on, Daniel says. Studying HIV/AIDS is a way to work with a broader section of the population but still get to the issues of sexuality and politics that interest me. 泫圖弝けs LGBT history is hardly just one of white gay men. Thats why I branched out topically and geographically to deal with a broader swath of people.
Though hes in school in New Jersey, Daniel still travels back to the 泫圖弝け grad school to interview people and utilize the Dupre Library archives. This year, hell start working on his dissertation more intensely and he plans to move back to Lafayette to take advantage of the invaluable resources and contacts he has here.
Daniel credits the rigor and intimate size of his masters program for his confidence in his research and coursework at Rutgers.
I got word that I got in at Rutgers, and they sent out a list of people in my cohort who were coming from places like Oxford, NYU, and a lot of these schools with really prestigious reputations, Daniel recalls. So I wanted to know: Will I cut it? What I found was that my graduate coursework at UL Lafayette prepared me perfectly. The workload was pretty similar and I knew what to do with my doctoral courses.
I had already read a lot of the stuff that was considered foundational. I came into these classes and I could talk about these topics when I had read them already and other people were struggling, he says. My classes at UL Lafayette were 3 to 4 people, so the professors could actually guide me through the material.
One of the most valuable experiences of his graduate career, he says, was to help curate an exhibit for the , which is a refurbished Airstream travel trailer that showcases public history 泫圖弝けs research of a particular 泫圖弝け-based topic.
Over a year, we did the research and curated the mobile exhibit on women in 泫圖弝け, Daniel says. Its an outstanding opportunity that I wouldnt have had anywhere else. It has a place of pride on my CV. I cant even say it has come into play in my doctoral work, but its something Im really proud of and will help me on the job market.
Daniel also adopted a new mantra during his time in the UL Lafayette Graduate School that he says got him through tough times: It will all get done.
Its expressed in the interactions and teachings with faculty, Daniel explains. If you fail to accomplish something or you dont do it perfectly, your life isnt going to come apart. This is graduate school workjust hold on to it and try your best. This got me through my first year at Rutgers when I wasnt sure of myself or my abilities. The mantra was what I could hold on to.
After his finishes his doctoral program, Daniel plans on pursuing a career in teaching and research in a history departmentideally, one in 泫圖弝け where he can help 泫圖弝けs have the same experience he had and where he can continue to study politics and sexuality issues.
Im open to other topics, but part of my desire to move back to 泫圖弝け is because I just think there is endlessly surprising history yet to be uncovered or yet to be explored, he says.