Two Rutgers–Camden history students recently were awarded scholarship awards from the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of New Jersey.  David Niescior, a History graduate student, received the District Graduate History Award, and Samantha Gaetjens Muller is this year’s recipient of the Undergraduate History Award. This marks the third year that Rutgers–Camden History students have been awarded prizes from the Colonial Dames of America. 

Dr. Wendy Woloson, Assistant Professor of History, nominated David for the District Graduate History Award based on his paper examining “the way soldiers and civilians in Boston interpreted the meaning of uniforms and armaments in the period before and after the Boston Massacre.”  David, a Cherry Hill, New Jersey native who earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Rutgers–Camden in 2013, will be awarded a master’s degree this May. He currently works at the Old Barracks Museum in Trenton, and is interested in pursuing a career either in public history or academia.

Samantha’s research paper was nominated for the Undergraduate History Award by Dr. Nick Kapur, Assistant Professor of History. Her project examines the “Anti-Suffrage” movement that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when suffragists were fighting for women to have the right to vote.  A wife and mother to five children, Samantha is pursuing her bachelor’s degree in History and Anthropology, and plans to continue her education with a master’s degree in American history. Her career goal is to direct a historic preservation society or to be a lead historian for a cultural resource management firm.