Graduate Highlight: UL Lafayette Made a Difference in My Life
Meet Daniel Manuel, who attended the UL Lafayette Graduate School and earned his M.A. in History with an American History focus in 2014. He is now pursuing his Ph.D. in History at Rutgers 小蝌蚪APP.
Initially, Daniel was unsure of whether he wanted to pursue a graduate degree in history, so he opted to earn his master小蝌蚪APP檚 at UL Lafayette, which is also where he earned his undergraduate degree, because he was familiar with the high-quality faculty and Louisiana history resources. His original plan for his master小蝌蚪APP檚 thesis was to study the Equal Rights Amendment within Louisiana, but after attending a conference in New Orleans he decided to focus on Lafayette小蝌蚪APP檚 gay and lesbian community from the 1960s through the 1980s.
小蝌蚪APP淚 used my master小蝌蚪APP檚 degree as an excuse to look deeper into those stories and how they unfolded in Lafayette,小蝌蚪APP he says. 小蝌蚪APP淚 did about 20 interviews with people from Lafayette who had been in the gay community, dug through newspapers, forays into the archives at UL Lafayette, those kinds of things.小蝌蚪APP
Daniel was excited to 小蝌蚪APP渦nearth local history,小蝌蚪APP and he knew he had the resources and support to tell that history at this Louisiana grad school.
小蝌蚪APP淭he faculty were extremely supportive of my work, which is really validating when you小蝌蚪APP檙e working on a somewhat taboo topic,小蝌蚪APP he says. 小蝌蚪APP淥nce word got around that I was working on this project, the institution reached out to help me.小蝌蚪APP
Now in the Ph.D. program at Rutgers, he is studying the history of HIV/AIDS in Louisiana.
小蝌蚪APP淭he history of Lafayette that I wrote became one of white gay men because of the sources and contacts I relied on,小蝌蚪APP Daniel says. 小蝌蚪APP淪tudying HIV/AIDS is a way to work with a broader section of the population but still get to the issues of sexuality and politics that interest me. Louisiana小蝌蚪APP檚 LGBT history is hardly just one of white gay men. That小蝌蚪APP檚 why I branched out topically and geographically to deal with a broader swath of people.小蝌蚪APP
Though he小蝌蚪APP檚 in school in New Jersey, Daniel still travels back to the Louisiana grad school to interview people and utilize the Dupre Library archives. This year, he小蝌蚪APP檒l start working on his dissertation more intensely and he plans to move back to Lafayette to take advantage of the 小蝌蚪APP渋nvaluable小蝌蚪APP resources and contacts he has here.
Daniel credits the rigor and intimate size of his master小蝌蚪APP檚 program for his confidence in his research and coursework at Rutgers.
小蝌蚪APP淚 got word that I got in at Rutgers, and they sent out a list of people in my cohort who were coming from places like Oxford, NYU, and a lot of these schools with really prestigious reputations,小蝌蚪APP Daniel recalls. 小蝌蚪APP淪o I wanted to know: Will I cut it? What I found was that my graduate coursework at UL Lafayette prepared me perfectly. The workload was pretty similar and I knew what to do with my doctoral courses.小蝌蚪APP
小蝌蚪APP淚 had already read a lot of the stuff that was considered foundational. I came into these classes and I could talk about these topics when I had read them already and other people were struggling,小蝌蚪APP he says. 小蝌蚪APP淢y classes at UL Lafayette were 3 to 4 people, so the professors could actually guide me through the material.小蝌蚪APP
One of the most valuable experiences of his graduate career, he says, was to help curate an exhibit for the , which is a refurbished Airstream travel trailer that showcases public history students小蝌蚪APP research of a particular Louisiana-based topic.
小蝌蚪APP淥ver a year, we did the research and curated the mobile exhibit on women in Louisiana,小蝌蚪APP Daniel says. 小蝌蚪APP淚t小蝌蚪APP檚 an outstanding opportunity that I wouldn小蝌蚪APP檛 have had anywhere else. It has a place of pride on my CV. I can小蝌蚪APP檛 even say it has come into play in my doctoral work, but it小蝌蚪APP檚 something I小蝌蚪APP檓 really proud of and will help me on the job market.小蝌蚪APP
Daniel also adopted a new mantra during his time in the UL Lafayette Graduate School that he says got him through tough times: 小蝌蚪APP淚t will all get done.小蝌蚪APP
小蝌蚪APP淚t小蝌蚪APP檚 expressed in the interactions and teachings with faculty,小蝌蚪APP Daniel explains. 小蝌蚪APP淚f you fail to accomplish something or you don小蝌蚪APP檛 do it perfectly, your life isn小蝌蚪APP檛 going to come apart. This is graduate school work小蝌蚪APP攋ust hold on to it and try your best. This got me through my first year at Rutgers when I wasn小蝌蚪APP檛 sure of myself or my abilities. The mantra was what I could hold on to.小蝌蚪APP
After his finishes his doctoral program, Daniel plans on pursuing a career in teaching and research in a history department小蝌蚪APP攊deally, one in Louisiana where he can help students have the same experience he had and where he can continue to study politics and sexuality issues.
小蝌蚪APP淚小蝌蚪APP檓 open to other topics, but part of my desire to move back to Louisiana is because I just think there is endlessly surprising history yet to be uncovered or yet to be explored,小蝌蚪APP he says.