Working with History
Alumni use degrees at regional historic organizations
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Samantha Hargrove graduated from Augusta University in 2013 with a BA in History. (Photo by Elna Green)
Matthew Marcano graduated from Augusta University in 2006 with a BA in History and in 2015 with
his MPA. (Photo by Gabi Moore)
hat can you do with a history degree?
Two of our history alumni are
putting their degrees to work right
here at home.
Samantha Hargrove (BA History, 2013) was
born in Clearwater, Florida, but her family moved
to Augusta when she was a child. At Augusta
University, she especially loved her Georgia history
classes, and has turned that love of Georgia history
into a career.
It started with an internship at Historic Augusta,
Inc., where she spent several months doing research
for the annual “Walk with the Spirits” cemetery tour.
After graduation, she was hired by Historic Augusta
as their programs and marketing director.
Today, Hargrove applies her history degree and
her liberal arts training every day. She manages
annual fundraisers and special events. She writes
grants for Historic Augusta and the Boyhood
Home of President Woodrow Wilson. And she is
supervising interns on projects such as digitizing
Historic Augusta’s archival records.
Hargrove tells us she knows that her degree
prepared her for far more than history alone: she
uses her writing and communication skills every day.
Matthew Marcano (BA History, 2006; MPA 2015)
is an Augusta native, and knew he wanted to attend
Augusta University. He tried out other majors first,
but quickly found that history was the best fit.
Marcano now works at the Watson-Brown
Foundation, located in the Thomas E. Watson
House, an historic home in Thomson. His official
title—Director of Scholarships and Alumni
Relations—might not sound like a history job, but
Marcano says he applies his history training in every
part of his work day.
Watson-Brown distributes nearly a thousand
college scholarships every year, and Marcano reads
every application. All the research and writing
required in his history courses aids him in evaluating
those applications. And as he goes out to high
schools across the area to talk to students about
the scholarships, he relies on the public speaking
training and class presentations he did as a history
major.
Hargrove and Marcano agree: the history major
taught them to write, to communicate, to problem-
solve. They also agree that they love coming to work
every day in historic homes.
www.augusta.edu/pamplin | 17