In Memoriam

Professor Jonathon Ocko & Professor Walter Jackson

Russell GentryFourth-year MA candidate, History

“As department head, Dr. Ocko provided excellent leadership and tremendous support to students and faculty, and to myself in particular. Last academic year, I served as HGSA Co-

president along with Lindsey Smith, and we worked with Dr. Ocko to organize events. He and LaTonya always ensured we had sufficient and accessible funds to facilitate community

building activities such as the HGSA fall picnic—which provided a relaxed atmosphere for students, especially new students, to connect with each other and the faculty”

“Dr. Ocko’s concern for students was clear as well. Both he and Dr. Lee emphasized to Lindsey and myself that we should direct students to their offices if we sensed they were struggling

under the pressures of graduate school.”

“Dr. Ocko’s absence will always be felt. Nevertheless, the history department continues to grow, especially in its support for student research, and I know Dr. Ocko would be proud of

this, and especially of the thriving legacy he has left behind.”

Russell Gentry

“Personally, the generous support of Dr. Ocko and the history department has given me the ability to take my research well beyond what I had hoped when I

entered the program. The travel and research grants I received were especially generous, and provided

considerably more funds than many Ph.D. students receive. Thanks to this sponsorship, I was able to

present research and network at a scholarly conference in Boston in 2013, and travel to Jordan to attend an international conference and visit sites and museums related to my research in February of 2014.

Dr. Friend stressed the value of actually visiting the physical places one studies in his historical writing course, and thanks Dr. Ocko’s support of the Petra

North Ridge Project and my own research, I have been able to take my research into the field, and walk in the

footsteps of the ancient people whom I study.”

Sarah BillheimerSecond-year MA candidate, History

“I'm here to honor Dr. Ocko for his advocacy on behalf of graduate student research. In January, I

received funding for a research trip in support of my thesis on Ada ‘Bricktop’ Smith and Sylvia Beach, two American women in 1920s and '30s Paris. I had

already taken two research trips in the fall to Atlanta and New York City to look at Bricktop's papers, so I was

very grateful that the History Department was willing to help offset the cost when I needed to take a third trip this year to study the Sylvia Beach

Papers at Princeton University's Firestone Library. ”

Firestone Library, Princeton University

Sarah Billheimer

“To me, sponsoring graduate student research represents more than simply financial support. As grad students, we've all dealt with impostor

syndrome at one point or another, but when a professor like Dr. Ocko seeks to make funds available for the work we're doing, it goes a long way toward making us feel that we really do belong in our field and in our department.

I think that I needed and appreciated that acknowledgment at least as much as the actual travel funding, so I feel very privileged to be part of this

panel today in honor of Dr. Ocko's legacy."

Patrick CreghanFirst-year MA candidate, History

“Last fall, I took Dr. Jackson’s 20th Century US Intellectual History course. My work within Dr. Jackson’s class focused on McCarthyism, American universities, and academic freedom. I contended the anti-communist movement that swept through the United States during the1950s challenged the intellectual

freedom of many academics. From the beginning of this research project, Dr. Jackson provided me with direction and guidance for identifying useful sources. He even offered up some of the resources he had collected on the subject. Dr. Jackson always greeted me with a smile, and took sincere

interest in my work, not just in his class, but other classes as well. Dr. Jackson wanted to do whatever he could to help out his students, and impart any relevant wisdom. I am grateful for my

brief time with Dr. Jackson, and will miss him dearly.”

Kelsey Zavelofourth-year MA candidate, History

“I had the privilege to work with Dr. Ocko when I was the HGSA co-president 2012-2013. More recently, I was hired as the Graduate Assistant in the

History Department, and was fortunate to work with Dr. Ocko on a nearly-daily basis since last September. He set the tone for the department. I could

not have felt more welcomed and valued in my new position.”

“I will never forget his passion for teaching and devotion to his students, colleagues and staff. He appreciated us all. I felt that everyday.”

Kelsey Zavelo“I will forever appreciate Dr. Ocko’s efforts to

provide opportunities for graduate students to develop research and professional skills. In March 2013 the department supported my

research trip to Pretoria, South Africa. While there, not only was I able to spend several days in the archives conducting research, I was able to experience some of the best South Africa has to offer. I visited a monument that I wrote paper about in 2009. I walked the same streets as the student protesters in the 1976 Soweto uprising – an event with which I open the first chapter of my thesis. I visited the anti-apartheid museum

and Pilanesburg National Park. I never imagined I would get to experience the beauty and

richness of South Africa as a graduate student. My research trip not only helped me elevate my

thesis, it influenced the way I think about my research topic and made me want to pursue it

further at the PhD level.”Pilanesburg National Park

Voortrekker Monument

Amanda BenterSecond-year MA Candidate, Public History

“I had the pleasure of taking History of the Civil Rights Movement with Dr. Walter Jackson just last semester. As a preeminent intellectual historian, he encouraged my

class to critically analyze the movement in ways we had never considered. 

For example, I researched former CORE leader Floyd McKissick's, "Soul City, North Carolina," a HUD-sponsored multi-cultural Mecca to be built and designed in remote Warren County, North Carolina by the late 1970s. Where other scholars have painted

Soul City as a neoliberal negotiation between a former Civil Rights leader and the Nixon administration, I considered the project within the tradition of radical Black

Nationalist thought. Soul City and McKissick offered an alternative imagined geography for the black middle class of the 1970s and provided an example of how

black power could physically transform traditionally white space.”

“I remain extremely proud of my work, but I know I could not have reached my conclusions without Dr. Jackson's guidance. He was an extremely kind and cerebral

professor who always treated his students like colleagues.”

Stefanie KingSecond-year MA Candidate, History

“As an undergraduate at NC State, I was privileged to take a course with Dr. Walter Jackson. The course focused on the African-American Religious Experience, and was

co-taught with Rev. Dr. Cheryl Kirk-Duggan, a professor at Shaw University’s Divinity School. One night for class, we met at the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill. This church has a loft in the back, and before abolition, slaves sat in the loft during church services. That night for class, we sat in the loft as Dr. Kirk-Duggan read us a

sermon from the antebellum period. The experience was moving, and one of the most memorable of my undergraduate career.”

Stefanie KingSecond-year MA Candidate, History

“Although I did not know Dr. Ocko as well as would’ve liked, just last weekend I was able to present at a conference at LSU thanks to department funding. That was my first time presenting, and because of that experience, I’m much more

confident to present today.”

“Nevertheless, Dr. Ocko did not just support graduate students through funding, but also a genuine interest in our work and success. In the fall Dr. Ocko attended

one of the Applying to Grad Programs workshops hosted by the department. I was working on applying to PhD programs, and for this particular meeting, he

read and commented on both my statement of purpose and my writing sample. He did the same for the other students at the workshop, many of whom were

working on applying to NC State. I remember thinking it was pretty cool that Dr. Ocko was willing to take time out of his Saturday morning to help students,

including some who may never even attend NC State. I think that just goes to show how important it was to Dr. Ocko to support graduate students and the

graduate program at NC State.”

Pamela KoulianosThird-year MA Candidate, History

“Although I never had the opportunity to know Dr. Ocko as closely as I know other faculty members, I am truly grateful for all the work he did

to support undergraduate and graduate students.”

Pamela KoulianosI have attended NC State throughout my undergraduate and graduate career. not only had Dr. Ocko secure funds for me while working at NC State’s archaeological lab but when I graduated in 2011 I was able to travel to Jordan and participate in archaeological excavations—this was all due to the dedication and continual support of Dr. Ocko.

Pamela KoulianosIf not for Dr. Ocko, as a graduate student at NC State I would not have been able to afford to go to national ASOR conferences every year I would not have been able to present a paper at an international pottery conference in Jordan, nor would have my job at NC State’s archaeology lab continued.

“One lives in the hope of becoming a memory” Antonio Porchia

Much of my success as undergraduate and graduate career here at NC State in large part is due to the continual support that was facilitated by Dr. Ocko. Many of my dreams and opportunities could not have been met

without him. I know looking back at all the milestones in my academic career I will remember Dr. Ocko and I hope everyone else here will do the

same.

Thank you Dr. Jonathan Ocko

Pamela Koulianos

Jennifer HallmanAlumna, MA Public History 2002

“In 1999, I was an adult education student taking graduate courses in the MALS program. At the same time, I was compiling information on local cemeteries for the Wake County Cemetery Council; African American Cemeteries in particular. I had a strong interest in researching cemeteries as it was a past time my father

and I had shared as I was growing up in the central part of Pennsylvania.“

“I participated in one of Dr. Jackson’s intellectual history courses. We spent a great deal of time, after our classes, discussing our mutual interests. He

encouraged me to switch programs and peruse a Masters in Public History. I would not have had the confidence to switch programs or peruse my goals

without his constant encouragement.”

“I had been studying the “material culture” of African American cemeteries that I had been researching. I was finding that you could recreate a neighborhood

using the information that you find in the physical proximity of the heads stones, their style and shape, names and dates and the tax records and death

certificates of the inhabitants.”

Jennifer HallmanAlumna, MA Public History 2002

“In one cemetery in particular, the Oberlin Community Cemetery near the NCSU campus, there was a great deal of information. The cemetery was also in the news that year because of its impending loss due to a cooperation purchasing the land around it

for commercial development. I knew my time to save any of the history of the area was limited. I had noticed some developing trends in the history of the cemetery and went to Dr. Jackson for clarification. He spent a great deal of time explaining the history of black resistance and the ensuing civil rights movement that developed, not just in the 1950’s and 1960’s but rather that it was a continuous progression that started before emancipation and grew into a columniation of the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

In 2001, with Dr. Jackson’s guidance, I wrote The Oberlin Cemetery: Material Culture of the Storm. Dr. Jackson encouraged me to submit the paper and it was the winner of the 2001 Gene J. Williams award for archival papers and the only winner ever from NC State (almost all are from UNC so I really encourage NC State students to submit). It was also the basis for the local and state historic designation the cemetery received in 2012. It

was instrumental in saving, not only the history of the community but physical parts of the community as well. None of that would have been possible without Dr. Jackson’s encouragement and support. It is just another way he touched not only students but

the community around him.”

Sarah Wenner

“Dr. Ocko always worked to find support for my research and was responsible for arranging a field experience in Jordan and my first trip to an international conference.  But more than anything, I was continuously

impressed by how much he cared about us as individual graduate students.  In such a large department with so many students pursuing

diverse interests, I was unsure if he knew who I was.  But a few days after I was appointment HGSA co-president with Sam Vandermeade, he passed me in the hall.  Although I am sure he had other, larger issues to worry

about, he walked backward to me and reminded me that we should talk before I left for Jordan.  Not only did he know who I was, but he knew my

summer plans. When I went to apply for PhD programs, he read my materials and encouraged me to write more definitely of my experiences,

which he believed made me unique as a candidate.”  

Stacy RobertsAlumna, MA History, 2014

“Last academic year (2013-2014) the call for conference funding went out in the fall and I applied for it. I went to Emory University to attend the Atlanta Graduate Student Conference, trying to build up my CV for applying to PhD programs. At the beginning of spring semester,

however, I found out about my field's national conference--the American Society for Environmental History--taking place in March in San Francisco. I wasn't sure if I should go, if

I should submit my paper to the graduate student writing workshop, but my roommate Sarah Wenner nudged me to do it and I did. However, I did not have the funding to pay for a

trip to San Francisco and I had already used my conference funding to go to Atlanta. I approached Dr. Lee about it and when she got back to me the department had awarded me another $500 to help pay for the trip. The paper got accepted and shortly thereafter I was also admitted to three PhD programs. The ASEH conference in San Francisco coordinated

perfectly with my three campus visits, so I visited the schools and then got to see all three of my potential advisers in their "natural environment." Attending helped me decide where I

should go, allowed me to meet many different people, and opened the door for me to be involved with the ASEH graduate student caucus--planning sessions, advocating for grad students to the national committee, etc. It also gave me the confidence and experience I

needed to organize my own panel, which I chaired and presented on last week in D.C. at this year's conference. The funding provided for my trip to San Francisco helped launch my

academic career in very real and tangible ways; that experience was a professional milestone for me and I thank the department and Jonathan specifically for that opportunity.”

Melanie BurkettThird-year MA Candidate, History

“I received a travel grant to go to Sydney, Australia to collect diaries and letters home from early nineteenth-century immigrants, which form the basis of my thesis. It was an all-around great trip: I gathered great sources, met people in

their history community, and enjoyed the height of Australian summer. One thing that I didn't know at the time, though -- and never got the chance to tell Dr. Ocko -- was that this trip could end up changing my life. I met with faculty at several of the universities in Sydney who work on my time period and, as a result of those

meetings, I'm now applying to do my PhD in Sydney. So, I could be moving to Australia in the next year! That possibility wouldn't even exist if I hadn't received

the travel grant from NCSU. Thank you, Dr. Ocko.”

Mitchell Library, Sydney Australia Special Collections, Mitchell Library