Advisor: Kent Germany

Pronouns: She/her

Education: B.A and M.A in American Studies from the Universite of Toulon (France)

Justine Truc is a Ph.D. candidate in History at the University of South Carolina, specializing in African American history with subfields in Atlantic World history and Public History. She earned her M.A. and B.A. in American Studies from the Universite of Toulon (France), with study abroad experiences at Auburn University (AL) and CSU-Pueblo (CO), where she also served as a French teaching assistant.

Her dissertation, “My Color is My Crime”: Racial Inequalities in South Carolina’s Criminal Justice System, 1966-1991, explores how federal and state legislation shaped incarceration practices and racial disparities in South Carolina during the tenure of South Carolina Department of Corrections Commissioner William D. Leeke, a somewhat progressive figure operating within a conservative political climate. Through this work, she examines how South Carolina’s criminal justice system both reflected and resisted broader trends in mass incarceration during the twentieth century.

Justine has received multiple awards to support her research and teaching, including the SPARC Graduate Research Grant, the History Department’s Award for Excellence in Teaching Assistantship, and a Special Collections Travel Award from Clemson University Libraries. She has also contributed to public history initiatives as an Oral History Intern at the Orange County Regional History Center, where she worked on oral history collections for two consecutive summers.

In addition to her research, Justine has served as Instructor of Record and Teaching Assistant for a variety of history courses and is deeply committed to student-centered teaching. She is also involved in service and leadership as a member of several university committees focused on equity, women’s leadership, and graduate student support.