Same Gown, Different Student: Recent Loyola History Graduate Thrives at Oxford

On Oxford University’s Matriculation Day in 1980, future Loyola University Chicago professor Robert Bucholz donned an Oxford graduate student gown and posed in front of New College’s main gates to commemorate the event. Bucholz went on to graduate from New College, Oxford, with his DPhil in History in 1988 and began teaching at Loyola that same year. Throughout his time at Oxford, Bucholz wore the gown to numerous lectures, dinners, and other functions, including the defense of his doctoral thesis.

Dr. Robert Bucholz and his former Loyola History student, Lily Cate Gunther-Canada, wear the same gown and pose in front of the gates to the gardens at New College, Oxford, in 1980 and 2022 respectively.

Decades later, Dr. Bucholz’s former Loyola student, Lily Cate Gunther-Canada, wore the same gown and posed in front of the same gates on her Matriculation Day at Oxford in the Fall of 2022. Dr. Bucholz gifted the gown to Lily Cate following her graduation in May 2022 from Loyola’s History undergraduate program, where she was awarded the Paul S. Lietz Prize for outstanding historical scholarship. Lily Cate is now working towards her M.Phil. in Studies in Early Modern History (1500-1700) at Lincoln College, Oxford. She is currently writing her Master’s dissertation, titled “‘Entirely English, Entirely Woman’: The Impact of Public Performance on the Reception of Women in Power, circa 1689-1714.” The dissertation asks whether Later Stuart theater reinforced contemporary gender roles or supported feminine political engagement during the reigns of William and Mary and Queen Anne. Lily Cate will wear the same gown to defend her dissertation in June.

Dr. Bucholz and Lily Cate pose together after Bucholz gifted her his Oxford graduate student gown.

Since starting at Oxford, Lily Cate has found that her Loyola education was instrumental in preparing her for her graduate work. Interdisciplinary research opportunities and skills training offered through Loyola’s Provost Fellowships, the Loyola History Honors Tutorial, and the Newberry Library Undergraduate Seminar provided her with individualized guidance and encouragement to follow her passions, which helped her explore her identity and future as a theater historian. She also credits Loyola’s Jesuit foundations for her success at Oxford. “A Jesuit liberal arts education encourages the constant questioning, critical thinking, and enthusiasm for the unknown which exists at the center of Oxford's teaching,” she states.

Mentorship from Loyola History professors like Dr. Bucholz also helped shape Lily Cate’s future at Oxford. His coursework in early modern Europe provided the knowledge she needed to pursue History at the graduate level. He also served as a co-mentor for her Junior-year Provost Fellowship, in which Lily Cate studied the limitations of historical accuracy in theater. This project inspired her future research on Queen Anne and British theater, which Dr. Bucholz also guided. Lily Cate shares that “above all other resources or opportunities, Loyola's faculty mentorship prepared me best for my graduate work. Four years of Prof. Bucholz's continuous investment in my personal and intellectual development taught me that my scholarly journey is valuable and worthwhile at all stages.”

Dr. Bucholz himself is thrilled–not only with Lily Cate’s success, but with the traditions and connections that they share as Oxford students. “It means a great deal to me to send one of my students back to one of my alma maters,” Bucholz states. “It is priceless to help a student achieve their goals.”