UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #1266
Submission information
Submission Number: 1266
Submission ID: 20926
Submission UUID: d039602a-405b-4fed-8dad-511278eab17c
Submission URI: /urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal
Submission Update: /urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal?token=17Mwj6YLfL4H6DpDRO7nfCv1GTcydGGNbF6DYzQrmbE
Created: Mon, 08/18/2025 - 04:43 PM
Completed: Mon, 08/18/2025 - 05:14 PM
Changed: Tue, 09/02/2025 - 04:53 PM
Remote IP address: 68.35.244.211
Submitted by: Anonymous
Language: English
Is draft: No
Webform: UROP Project Proposal Portal
Submitted to: UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal
| Primary Research Mentor Name | Benjamin Gunter |
|---|---|
| Research Mentor Preferred Pronouns | he, him, his |
| When potential research assistants are reaching out via email, what is your preferred honorific? | Dr. |
| Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) | bengunter@fsu.edu |
| Position Title | Faculty |
| FSU College (if applicable) | Communication and Information |
| FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation | Theater with a Mission |
| Headshot (optional) |
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| Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from above) | Idy Codington |
| Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Pronouns | she, her, hers |
| Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Honorific? | |
| Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) | idycodington@gmail.com |
| Name of Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) (if applicable) | |
| Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Pronouns | |
| Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Honorific? | |
| Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) | |
| Title of the Project | Family Feuds in Florida, 1776 |
| Project Keywords | America250, Florida history, Romeo & Juliet, festival, games, reenactment |
| Are you currently looking for research assistants? | Yes |
| Number of Research Assistants Needed | 6 |
| Relevant Research Assistant Major(s) | Open to all majors. |
| Project Location: | On FSU Main Campus |
| If the project location is off campus, does the research assistant(s) need to provide their own transportation? | |
| Please select the choice that most accurately describes your expectations for the research assistant(s): | In-person |
| Approximately how many hours a week would the research assistant(s) need to work? | 7.5 |
| Roughly what time frame do you expect research assistant(s) to work? | Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.) |
| Overall Research Project Description | Just in time for America250, revisit the Revolution from the perspective of Florida families who were feuding over Loyalist and Patriot perceptions of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Collaborate with a cross-disciplinary research team to build a research basis for reenacting Florida’s pivotal but little-known role in the American Revolution, complete with authentic foods, games, animals, characters, and speeches. Learn how to make history come to life, by digging into letters, diaries, pictures, play scripts, newspaper stories, recipes, fashion plates, architectural plats, archaeological finds, music, dances, toasts, government documents, speeches, and tall tales from 250 years ago. |
| Research Tasks | We’ll start with orientation. You’ll get a crash course in British Florida’s loyalist past through assigned readings – selected passages from “Florida in the American Revolution” and “Florida Historical Quarterly.” You’ll get to see what you’re reading about, first person, in targeted group excursions to historical sites and archives (like Mission San Luis, the Museum of Florida History, and FSU Special Collections). We’ll proceed to specialization. Each member of the team will select one Loyalist vs. Patriot feud that raged in Florida during 1776 and become our resident expert on that particular “family.” You’ll build an annotated bibliography of sources that make the members of your feuding “family” come to life. With the help of two mentors and five fellow UROP members, you’ll dig up primary documents from Florida’s revolutionary history (letters, diary entries, speeches, newspaper stories) and produce research-based suggestions for how to put family feuds from 1776 Florida onstage. |
| Skills that research assistant(s) may need: | You need 5 essential skills for success with “Family Feuds in Florida, 1776”: 1) Curiosity, since the past does not reveal itself unless you look for it. (Required.) 2) Collaboration, since understanding context from many points of view makes history come to life, for you and for your teammates. (Required.) 3) Commitment to learning, since every research project demands diligence, hits snags, and profits by calling others in to help. (Required.) 4) Time management, since “Family Feuds in Florida, 1776” calls for averaging 7.5 hours of work per week over 2 semesters of research, and a project this large calls for breaking big goals into manageable bites. (Required.) 5) Technological know-how, since your research will involve strategic use of digital libraries, our team meetings may include Zoom, and your research progress will be posted on a Google Drive. (Required.) |
| Mentoring Philosophy | We find that research (like rehearsing a play) achieves breakthroughs when people work together to examine turning points from different viewpoints, reading between the lines. That’s why our approach to mentoring is collaborative, guided, and flexible. We believe in giving you lots of team support as you put into practice a research process that we have repeatedly proven effective, progressing from guided orientation to mentored specialization. And we believe in giving you all the freedom you need to blaze a highly individual research trail, across barriers of time and space into face-to-face encounters with Florida’s multicultural past. |
| Please provide a link to your publications, a video clip, or a website for your research project (if applicable): | TheaterwithaMission.com -- https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16hFVi3q44/ |
| Please add any additional information here (if applicable): | Want to get hands-on with evidence – evidence you learn to locate for yourself? Want to have a say in research design? Want to map out your own area of expertise within a field that shapes our nation’s self-perception and public policy? Want to become the resident expert for one key part of a big project? Want to exercise skills that equip you to excel in your major, minor, or a field of study that whispers “try me”? Want to see your research create public impact, right away? Theater with a Mission (TWAM) wants to talk with you! bengunter@theaterwithamission.com. |
| Are you interested in participating in the UROP Research Mentor Roundtable? | Yes |
| Roundtable times and Zoom links | |
| Roundtable Info |
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| Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication | Yes |
| UROP Performance Evaluation | Yes |
| Materials Grant | Yes |
| UROP Poster Presentation | Yes |
| Year | 2025 |
| update url | https://cre.fsu.edu/urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal?element_parents=elements/research_mentor_information/headshot_optional_&ajax_form=1&_wrapper_format=drupal_ajax&token=17Mwj6YLfL4H6DpDRO7nfCv1GTcydGGNbF6DYzQrmbE |