January 12, 2018 Students Chosen as Normandy Scholars
Four students have been selected to participate in the during the spring 2018 semester.
Students in the program will study World War II in a wider context by examining how social, cultural, political and technological shifts affect how societies react to and commemorate past conflicts in their national histories.
Only 15 students were accepted from the highly selective pool, including Sydney Bittinger, 3rd-year Architecture; Patrick Keogh, 3rd-year Interior Architecture; Autumn Ragland, 2nd-year Architecture; and Jonathan Winfiele, 3rd-year Architecture.
“This program fulfilled a lot [of college expectations] for me, and I’m very excited to learn more about the lingering implications of World War II,” Ragland said.
Normandy Scholars are enrolled in a 3-hour seminar (INPG 400) in the spring semester. According to Dr. Daniel Magilow, associate professor of German and faculty-lead of the program, this course “introduces students to key theoretical texts from the field of memory studies and applies them to the often-contested narratives that surround the United Kingdom, France and Germany and their respective roles in World War II and the Holocaust.”
As part of the program, each student receives a $3,000 scholarship to participate in a 1-credit study abroad experience during the mini-term 2018. Students will depart for London after final exams and travel for 13 days through England, France and Germany to explore memorials, monuments, museums and cemeteries related to their studies.
Bittinger became passionate about the program when she studied its purpose. “I found connections between subjects I love to study and the sights we will be able to visit,” she said. “It is an amazing opportunity to visit some of the most historic sites, both architecturally and culturally.”
The interdisciplinary program is open to UT undergraduate students from all majors.