Megan Olver Receives Western New England College Outstanding Senior History Thesis Award

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(L-R) Associate Professor of History Jonathan Beagle, Megan Olver, and School of Arts and Sciences Dean Saeed Ghahramani

SPRINGFIELD, MA (06/20/2011)(readMedia)-- Megan G. Olver of Rockaway, NJ was named the Outstanding Senior History Thesis Award winner during Baccalaureate ceremonies at Western New England College. The honor is given by the History faculty to recognize outstanding work done on writing and researching a senior thesis.

Olver graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts and is a member of the Phi Alpha Theta and Mortar Board honor societies. Her senior thesis on Valentine Rathbun, an early Shaker convert who subsequently apostatized and became their greatest critic during Revolutionary America. She discussed how Rathbun, who is typically painted to be a vindictive and violent man, was actually a man of deep political as well as religious conviction who began to see in the Shakers a serious threat to the new republic.

Western New England College is a private, independent, coeducational institution founded in 1919. Located on an attractive 215-acre suburban campus in Springfield, Massachusetts, Western New England serves 3,700 students, including 2,500 full-time undergraduate students. Undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs are offered through Schools of Arts and Sciences, Business, Engineering, Law, and Pharmacy.