Apr 27, 2023 - The history department held its end-of-the-year awards banquet in Union’s Chapman Dining Room on April 27, 2023. Thirty-two people – including students, faculty, parents, and alumni – attended the dinner which featured Dr. Alice-Catherine Carls, the Tom Elam Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Tennessee at Martin, as the featured speaker.
Several students received awards at the banquet. The Phi Alpha Theta Scholarship Pin and Academic Excellence Certificate went to Jack Jenkins for his superior work in his history classes and his courses overall. Adren Pearce earned the history minor award for excellence in his history courses and his classes overall. The second and third-place winners in the Dr. James Alex Baggett History Research Paper Competition were announced as were those who received honorable mention – they were: Noah Kea, second place; Christian Young, third place; and Breanna Edmiston, Abigail Gilbert, and Jonathan Sanders, honorable mention. The department presented books and certificates of recognition to the following students for the excellent papers they delivered at the Kentucky Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference on April 15: Breanna Edmiston, Abigail Gilbert, Jack Jenkins, and Christian Young. Edmiston also received certificates of appreciation for her work as the vice president of the Delta-Psi chapter of Phi Alpha Theta and president of the Rutledge Honorary History Club.
Dr. Stephen Carls followed by presenting history gift bag awards to graduating history majors and Phi Alpha Theta members. The graduating students at the banquet were Breanna Edmiston, John Garland, Abbie Hobson, and Jack Jenkins.
In recognition of the Delta-Psi chapter’s 70th anniversary in 2023, Carls gave a copy of a Tennessee Senate Joint Resolution passed on March 30, 2023, to Phi Alpha Theta Vice President Edmiston and President-elect Makayla Baker as the chapter’s chief student representatives at the banquet. The resolution expressed congratulations to the Delta-Psi chapter on reaching this milestone.
Geoffrey Lindley, an attorney at the law firm of Rainey, Kizer, Reviere & Bell in Jackson, received the Fifteenth Annual History Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award. Carls presented it to him for his many accomplishments since graduating from Union University in 1998. He completed his law studies at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 2001 and has practiced law at Rainey, Kizer, Riviere, and Bell ever since. In 2009, the Mid-South Super Lawyers magazine named him a Rising Star in the area of employment litigation defense. Lindley has served on the Board of Trustees at the University School of Jackson since 2014 and is currently the Board of Trustees Chair, a term he will complete in 2024.
Recognitions were also extended to Carls who will retire from Union at the end of the current academic year after a teaching career of 40 years at Union and 12 years at Sterling College in Kansas. Carls’s wife Alice-Catherine began the tributes by quickly shifting her banquet talk to the presentation of a crystal award that mentioned some of his accomplishments at Union and beyond. Each of his history department colleagues at the banquet celebrated him at the program’s end, climaxing their tributes with the presentation to him of a poppies bowl hand-crafted by his daughter Elizabeth Weber.
Graduating history major and Delta-Psi President Tad Binkley, who received the 2023 History Major Award, was unable to attend the banquet, as was also the case with graduating Phi Alpha Theta member Nathan Hicks.
Union students enjoy the start of their meal at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023. They are (left to right) Abigail Gilbert, Anna Guelcher, and Sophia Keskeys.
Union students prepare to start their meals at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023. They are (left to right) Abbie Hobson, Adren Pearce, and Makayla Baker.
Dr. Alice-Catherine Carls, as the featured speaker at the History Department Awards Banquet, talks about the literary magazine WORLD LITERATURE TODAY during her talk on April 27, 2023. She turned the talk into an award presentation for her husband, retiring department chair Stephen Carls.
Dr. Stephen Carls stands with his wife Dr. Alice-Catherine Carls as she presents him with a crystal award for his retirement during her history awards banquet address on April 27, 2023.
Jack Jenkins (right) accepts the Phi Alpha Theta Scholarship Pin and Academic Excellence Certificate for outstanding work in his history courses at Union from Dr. Stephen Carls at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023.
Adren Pearce (right) receives the History Minor Award from Dr. David Thomas at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023 for excellent work in the history minor.
Breanna Edmiston accepts an honorable mention certificate in the Dr. James Alex Baggett History Research Paper Competition from Dr. Keith Bates at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023.
Abigail Gilbert accepts an honorable mention certificate in the Dr. James Alex Baggett History Research Paper Competition from Dr. Keith Bates at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023.
Jonathan Sanders (left) receives an honorable mention certificate in the Dr. James Alex Baggett History Research Paper Competition from Dr. Keith Bates at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023.
Christian Young (left) receives the third place prize (a certificate and a check) in the Dr. James Alex Baggett History Research Paper Competition from Dr. Keith Bates at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023.
Noah Kea (left) accepts the second place award (a certificate and a check) in the Dr. James Alex Baggett History Research Paper Competition from Dr. Keith Bates at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023.
Breanna Edmiston accepts a book and certificate of recognition from Dr. Henry Allen at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023, for the excellent paper she presented at the Kentucky Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference on April 15, 2023.
Abigail Gilbert receives a book and certificate of recognition from Dr. Henry Allen at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023, for the excellent paper she presented at the Kentucky Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference on April 15, 2023.
Jack Jenkins (left) accepts a book and a certificate of recognition from Dr. Henry Allen at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023, for the excellent paper he presented at the Kentucky Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference on April 15, 2023.
Christian Young (left) accepts a book and certificate of recognition from Dr. Henry Allen at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023, for the excellent paper he presented at the Kentucky Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference on April 15, 2023.
Dr. Stephen Carls presents a certificate of appreciation to Breanna Edmiston at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023, for her work as vice president of Union's Delta-Psi chapter of Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society in 2022-2023.
Dr. Henry Allen presents a certificate of appreciation to Breanna Edmiston at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023, for her work as president of the Rutledge Honorary History Club in 2022-2023.
Graduating history major and Phi Alpha Theta member Breanna Edmiston receives a history gift award bag from Dr. Stephen Carls at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023.
Graduating Phi Alpha Theta member John Garland receives a graduation gift award bag from Dr. Stephen Carls at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023.
Graduating history major and Phi Alpha Theta member Abbie Hobson accepts a graduation gift award bag from Dr. Stephen Carls at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023.
History major and Phi Alpha Theta member Jack Jenkins receives a gift award bag from Dr. Stephen Carls at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023.
Dr. Stephen Carls stands with Phi Alpha Theta Vice President Breanna Edmiston (left) and President-elect Makayla Baker in announcing at the History Department Awards Banquet the reception of a Tennessee State Senate Resolution passed on March 30, 2023, congratulating the chapter on its 70th anniversary in 2023.
Geoffrey Lindley accepts the Fifteenth Annual History Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award from Dr. Stephen Carls at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023.
Geoffrey Lindley thanks the Department of History for honoring him with the Fifteenth Annual History Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023.
Dr. David Thomas expresses gratitude to retiring colleague Dr. Stephen Carls at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023, for his many years of service as chair of the history department.
Dr. Terry Lindley, recently retired from Union's history department, reads a tribute to Dr. Stephen Carls that his son Geoffrey wrote for presentation at the awards banquet on April 27, 2023. Geoffrey Lindley was a history major at Union University in the latter 1990s.
Dr. Keith Bates pays tribute to retiring colleague Dr. Stephen Carls at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023.
Dr. Alice-Catherine Carls and Dr. Henry Allen listen to Dr. Keith Bates pay tribute to retiring colleague Dr. Stephen Carls at the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023.
Dr. Keith Bates presents a wood-carved poppies bowl to Dr. Stephen Carls as a retirement gift from the Department of History for Carls' 40 years of service to the department. Carls' daughter Elizabeth Weber, a profession wood turner, made the bowl for the occasion.
Members of the Union University history department stand with Dr. Stephen Carls (holding the poppies bowl) at the end of the History Department Awards Banquet on April 27, 2023. They are (left to right) Dr. David Thomas, Dr. Henry Allen, Dr. Terry Lindley, and Dr. Keith Bates.