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About the Research Team

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Dr. Jason A. Higgins, Project Director, is an award-winning author, editor, and oral historian at Virginia Tech. He is the Digital Scholarship Coordinator (Humanities) at Virginia Tech Publishing & Press. He is jointly affiliated with University Libraries and the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences and teaches the Vietnam War, African American History, and Oral History. He earned a Ph.D. in History and a graduate certificate in Public History from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is also the co-editor of Service Denied: Marginalized Veterans in Modern American History (UMass Press 2022) and the author of Prisoners After War: Veterans in the Age of Mass Incarceration (Umass Press 2024), winner of the Oral History Association Best Book Award in 2025. 


Andre Taylor, Research Collaborator, is the oral historian at William & Mary. Andre earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from NC A&T, a Master of Arts in public history from NC State University, and he’s currently working on his PhD in American Studies at William & Mary. His research project, "Black Folk and our Food," focuses on conducting oral histories with Black people while they’re preparing a dish from an unwritten, family recipe. All the while, Andre is not only focused on the recipe, but the history simultaneously being shared. Andre is heavily involved with his fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., serving as both his chapter and district historian. He is married to Andrea Taylor with whom he has twin daughters, Adelyn and Ashlyn.
 

Leena Alsayab, Research Assistant, is a recent graduate of Virginia Tech where she earned her B.A in political science and minors in War and Society and Middle East Studies. Leena is currently pursuing law school where she hopes to become an international human rights lawyer. Along with her work with Crossing the Military-Civilian Divide Oral History project, Leena is also a research assistant for the Descendant Communities Reconciliation project, which records oral histories with descendants of enslaved and enslaving families to promote truth and the possibilities of reconciliation. 

Madison Cholewa, Research Assistant, is a recent graduate of Virginia Tech where she earned her B.A. in Political Science with a minor in Sociology. Along with her work on Crossing the Military-Civilian Divide Oral History project, she is also a research assistant for the Descendant Communities Reconciliation project, which records oral histories with descendants of enslaved and enslaving families to promote truth and the possibilities of reconciliation. Madison is currently pursuing a career that will further explore her passions of law and justice, particularly how they intersect.  
Gabrielle Wells, Research Assistant, is a recent graduate of Virginia Tech where she earned her B.S. in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience with a minor in War and Society. Gabrielle is currently pursuing a civilian career with the Department of Defense.


Gabriel Philipsen, Research Assistant is a recent graduate of Virginia Tech who received a B.A. in Multimedia Journalism with a minor in Psychology. Along with his work on Crossing the Military-Civilian Divide Oral History project, he worked on the Migrant Workers of the Virginia Tidewater Project, he has done professional broadcast and reporting work for ‘The News Feed NRV’ and was a part of radio station ‘WUVT-FM’ for 4 years. Gabriel is currently pursuing a career in Broadcast and Entertainment Journalism in Washington D.C.

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