Aaron Gibbs, Outstanding Graduate

Aaron Gibbs knew he wanted to teach early American history at the college level as soon as he decided to major in history, thanks in part to his interactions with WWU History faculty. “The strength of WWU’s early Americanist faculty was a significant draw,” Aaron says, “I could not have made a better choice!” 

Prof. Hardesty describes Aaron as “one of the strongest MA students we have had in our program in the past decade. In addition to maintaining a 4.0 GPA, Aaron’s thesis examining the Jay Treaty (the mid-1790s agreement between the US and Great Britain over trade relations and territory) breathes new life into old, tired scholarly debates.” To help complete his thesis, Aaron was awarded critical funding from the History Department and WWU’s Research and Sponsored Programs to conduct research at the Library of Congress and United States National Archives in Washington, DC. 

When considering research topics, Aaron recommends that potential graduate students be open. “My original plan was to study the development of states’ rights ideology during the Jackson administration, but a conversation with Dr. Hardesty drove me to explore the popular reaction to the Jay Treaty. Later, Dr. Price’s Atlantic revolutions seminar inspired me to take an Atlantic approach to my own research.” He also advises that graduate students “be intentional about how they manage their time, as it can be very difficult to balance thesis research, graduate seminars, language coursework, and TA responsibilities.” 

Aaron will be attending the University of New Hampshire this Fall—with full funding—to further his study of the early American republic. Excited for this next step in his academic journey, Aaron remains grateful to his fellow graduate students and the history faculty for their mentorship and guidance while at WWU. Prof. Hardesty calls Aaron “a promising young scholar and teacher whom we already consider a colleague.”