APSU History Honor Society publishes second issue of scholarly journal

Austin Peay State University

Clarksville, TN – On Tuesday morning, members of Austin Peay State University’s Phi Alpha Theta (PAT) history honor society crowded into APSU President Tim Hall’s office to present him with a small, red booklet.

After flipping through a few pages, Hall looked around at the history students and faculty members surrounding him and said, “Congratulations to you all. This is fantastic. We’re so proud of what you’re doing.”

What exactly they did was to publish a second volume of Theta-Delta, a scholarly history journal featuring academic papers by APSU history students. It is one of the few undergraduate history journals in the state.

The idea of creating a scholarly publication began about two years ago when Dr. Minoa Uffelman, associate professor of history at APSU, saw a copy of Murray State University’s history journal. She then challenged her students to develop a similar publication, which they did by using scholarly magazines such as The Journal of Southern History as a model.

The first volume of Theta-Delta, edited by then-APSU student Jennifer Montgomery, appeared last spring and helped the University’s PAT organization win “Chapter of the Year” for an unprecedented third year in a row.

APSU graduate student and PAT president Deanna Carter served as editor-in-chief of the current issue, and after presenting President Hall with his copy on Tuesday, she was already looking ahead to volume three.

“Next year, we’re going to get our graduate students to write book reviews and Dr. Kevin Tanner (assistant professor of history) is going to work with them individually so they will be able to publish,” she said.

A limited number of printed versions of the journal were distributed during last week’s awards ceremony. The unveiling added to the excitement of that morning’s event, which saw the induction of new members into the local PAT chapter. Among those new members were Dr. Dixie Webb, APSU dean of the College of Arts and Letters, and Dr. Gregory Hammond, APSU assistant professor of history.

For more information on the magazine or PAT, contact Uffelman, the chapter’s adviser, at uffelmanm@apsu.edu.