Ford Scholars Impact Report

Support for the Ford Scholars program provides students with a view into academia as a future career and fosters valuable mentored relationships between faculty and undergraduates. Thank you to all of the donors who have committed to this transformative program. Each fall, the Ford Symposium marks the program’s culmination and celebrates summer research in the humanities.

This year’s Ford Scholars collaborated with faculty mentors on more than 20 intriguing projects in the areas of:

“The importance of research projects lies precisely in the change they can inspire once they make information accessible to a wider audience. Without support like yours, these projects would not advance, and the results wouldn’t see the light of day. Thank you.”

The Class of 1951 Reading Room was buzzing with excitement this September at the event as small groups gathered around monitors throughout the Thompson Library to view multimedia presentations and hear more than 30 students present their work.

The fascinating projects included: conducting fieldwork in caves in Iceland to discover its settlement history, studying the connection between immigration status and wealth, critically reviewing military recruitment materials, and exploring the question of whether poetry is research.

The students’ research resulted in a paper on black women judges, social media posts on resilience, a website on climate-related careers, a database of legal files on the trafficking of women in China, and capturing contemplative spaces on campus via 360 photography and video.

“Working with a professor [Kimberly Williams Brown] one-on-one was special in the way it provided the space for genuine connection and conversation ”

The Ford Scholars enjoyed being part of Vassar’s summer community during the more leisurely months. “Spending the summer on Vassar’s campus has given me a new appreciation for the facilities and the beautiful climate in the Hudson Valley,” said Molly Ardren ’25 who researched the economic implications of changing Mexican migration. “When I was not coding, playing volleyball, or making art, the Ford program ensured I had a community on campus by offering lunches and barbeques, as well as dinners at President Bradley’s house.”

The Symposium also featured presentations on work funded through the Pindyck Fellowship and Creative Arts Across Disciplines (CAAD) programs that were conducted as part of the Ford program. For more on the Pindyck project, read an article on the student research at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center.

Spotlight on Student Research

Crafting Research on African-American Women's History of Quilting

Common interests in the traditions of quilting and sewing drew Vanessa Mark ’26 and Soliana Kasa ’24 to a Ford project that researched the histories of African-American women participating in crafting communities. Working with English Professor Eve Dunbar on the Scholarship of Women of Color’s Crafting Communities project gave the scholars the exciting opportunity to better understand the importance of a pastime that has played significant roles in their own families’ lives. The students created an annotated bibliography that focuses on quilt circles and bees, sewing, and weaving to build a greater understanding of the community-building aspects of craft arts for women of color.

Mark and Kasa pursued their research through their own lens. Mark researched the use of arts and crafts in the Japanese-American internment camps during World War II based on her grandmother’s experiences. The sophomore is interested in working in diplomacy and international relations. “Many Japanese Americans used arts and crafts as an outlet to express their emotions of frustration and joy, and hopelessness and hope,” she said.

“This research allowed me to learn new material, and provided a new perspective on a specific event in history which is close to my heart. It was an amazing experience to research a subject just out of pure passion, without the stress of a grade or assessment. This experience was really important to me. Thank you so much for making it possible.”

– Vanessa Mark ’26
Scholarship of Women of Color’s Crafting Communities

Kasa, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Ethiopia, said many members of her family in Africa had been part of quilting and sewing circles for several generations. Her loved ones make clothing, blankets, scarves, hats, and gloves to show appreciation for each other and strengthen their bonds through crafting. A senior majoring in Biology, Kasa plans to attend medical school and found the Ford experience particularly valuable toward her professional goals. “Because of you, students like me get to pursue interesting projects in the field of humanities and social sciences. This experience has helped me broaden and discover academic interests outside of the STEM field, which I think will make me more well-rounded and serve me well as a future physician,” she said.

Conducting Archival Research Around Vietnam War Photography

For Julianna Aguja ’25 and Professor Robert Brigham, a Ford project was life-changing in more ways than either could have imagined. The research provided Aguja real-world experience that intensified her passion for history, and helped her mentor answer his own questions about the past. In a keynote talk at this year’s Ford Symposium, Brigham shared the extraordinary story of how Aguja’s research uncovered Vietnam War photos taken by his recently identified biological father, providing valuable connections to his personal history.

The newly found photographs will be included in Brigham’s upcoming book, This is a True War Story: An Adoptee’s Memoir, which traces his journey of discovering through a DNA test that the late Army Sgt. Bruce Allen Atwell was his father, and the ties to Vietnam that bond them. Brigham, Professor of History on the Shirley Ecker Boskey Chair who has authored books on the Vietnam War, shared how he had studied the iconic photos Atwell took throughout his career in academia – without knowing of the biological connection until recent years.

As part of her Ford project this summer, Aguja scoured archives from various states and organizations, including the Marine Corps, Salvation Army, Massachusetts Historical Society, and New York State Social Welfare Department, to find more than 20 of Atwell’s never-before-seen photographs. “She was relentless in her pursuit, unearthing photos the best archivist couldn’t find,” Brigham said of his Ford Scholar.

Aguja, a history major, began working on Brigham’s book project during the 2022-23 academic year and was selected as his Ford Scholar. She said the task of identifying soldiers in Atwell’s photos seemed insurmountable at first. Using Brigham’s memoir and other texts about the war, she formed a rough idea of the platoons and events Atwell photographed. Brigham guided her on her research, and gave her a book on the Tet Offensive in Hue where his father was stationed and an overview of the battle where he was wounded.

Aguja searched online message boards, Facebook groups, and websites created by Vietnam veterans that Atwell had potentially photographed. Through perseverance, with the help of the veteran-historians, she was able to identify almost all the soldiers in the photos. This enabled her to write meaningful, informative captions to accompany the images in the book.

“Atwell’s photographs are candid and emotional. They capture the youth, the fear, and the resolve of the boys sent off to fight in Vietnam. As I learned during my research, not all the men in Atwell’s photographs made it out of Vietnam — but their memory remains alive because of Atwell and because of historians like Professor Brigham who write about them,” Aguja said.

Of the many photos his father took that Brigham had never seen, Aguja found a rare image of Atwell as a 26-year-old in Vietnam, which bears a striking resemblance to his son. “As challenging as this project could be at times, it was images like that one that made all the obstacles worth it,” she said. The project fueled Aguja’s passion for research and using fragments of information to piece together the past. “My experience as a Ford Scholar has changed the way I think about history and how it is told – and it has pushed me to seriously consider a future in this field,” she said.

Thank you to the supporters of the Ford Scholars program who make these important research opportunities possible.

POSTED: November 3, 2023