A warm congratulations to our department’s former graduate assistant, Jacob Brandler (MA 2020), who has been accepted into the University of Oxford’s doctoral program. Under the direction of Dr. Adam Smith and with the support of the Mary Blaschko Scholarship from Linacre College, Jacob plans to continue his research into the concepts of personhood in Antebellum America, building upon the master thesis that he completed at Missouri State under Dr. Neely entitled “Without Personhood: The Missing Point of Slaves in Missouri’s Emancipation-by-Residency Freedom Suit Jurisprudence.” Excited to begin this fall, Jacob looks forward to building upon the strong foundation laid at Missouri State to grow as a scholar and person at Oxford and the department wishes him all the best in his endeavors.