Samantha L. Lanevi

Samantha is a second year PhD candidate in American history at Selwyn College researching foreign war brides in World War II. Her project explores the role of race in shaping fraternization and war bride policy towards German and Japanese brides as well as the immigration polices which both disabled and enabled their subsequent immigration to the United States. Her research is supervised by Dr. Andrew Preston and advised by Dr. Gary Gerstle.

She completed her M.Phil at Cambridge on Confederate secession's centering of perceived white female vulnerability prior to the American Civil War. This dissertation was supervised by Dr. Nicholas Guyatt. Her M.Phil was supported by the Edna V. Moffett Fellowship for Graduate Study in History. She completed her undergraduate degree at Wellesley College where she double majored in History and Latin. She completed a range of independent research projects while at Wellesley on topics such as the Klondike Gold Rush, US federal policy towards Indigenous peoples, and historical memory. While at Wellesley she received the Barnette Miller Foundation Essay Prize for her essay on Holocaust representation at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Shirley Heidenberg Koteen '40 Endowed Internship for Jewish Studies Grant to support her internship at The Leo Baeck Institute at the Center for Jewish Studies in New York City.

Prior to returning to graduate school, Samantha worked at an international auction house in New York City as their Head of Auction Team and Finance Manager. She is on the University of Cambridge's Blues Golf team, representing Cambridge in the 2023 Varsity Match at Royal Dornoch Golf Club in Scotland and the 2024 Varsity Match at Rye Golf Club. She has served as CULGC Treasurer and will be the 2024-2025 season's captain.