Five history majors from the University of St. Thomas will present conference papers at the Symposium for History Undergraduate Research May 18-19 at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss.

The theme of the symposium is “Learning From the Past, Preparing for a Future.” Students from across the country competed for the opportunity to present their research in a format similar to that of an academic history conference.

UST students will be presenting papers in two conference sessions:

The Constitution and the Presidency in the Civil War Era (and Beyond):

• David Yates – “Nullification Reconsidered”
• Margaret E. Whitacre – “Unavoidable and Acceptable Tyranny: The Presidencies of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt”

The Economic(al) Constitution:

• Matt Keliher – “Prohibition Era Constitutional History”
• Renate Hohman – “The Constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”
• Landon Rick – “Growing a Beard: Developing Charles Beard’s Narrowed Economic Constitutional Interpretation”

Dr. Tom Mega of the History Department is their faculty mentor.