Abby Trollinger ’04

Abby is now enrolled in an American history Ph.D. program at Northwestern University.  At the moment she is in the middle of her qualifying year and in the midst of taking exams and defending her dissertation proposal.  She is also a graduate assistant for the Residential College. She plans to study the Settlement House movement in cities like Chicago during the New Deal.

“I am excited to continue thinking about welfare and the how struggling communities accessed relief/assistance.”

“I am very much enjoying parts of graduate school.  I know that Northwestern is pushing me to be a better scholar and teacher, and I am loving the research opportunities in Chicago.  However, I have found that it can be difficult to distinguish my goals and priorities from the department’s.  So I am also working very hard to keep track of the kind of historian I want to be, which means reminding myself and my students to think outside the Northwestern worldview.  I cannot emphasize enough how important my interactions with you and other Goshen faculty have been in this endeavor.”