americanstudies Department welcomes Dr. Nancy Raquel Mirabal

Spring
2015
Volume 9:
Issue 1
americanstudies
the department and program of
american studies at
the university of maryland
Department welcomes Dr. Nancy Raquel Mirabal
In this
issue:
AMST gains
new faculty
A special
thank you to
the Graduate
School
What’s new
with USLT?
Undergrad
student
spotlights
The Department of American Studies is proud to introduce Professor
Nancy Mirabal, our latest addition to our nationally recognized
faculty. Professor Mirabal is a historian who earned a Ph.D. in History
at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Professor Mirabal has
published widely in the fields of Afro-diasporic communities in the
United States and is also interested in the politics of territoriality,
gentrification, and spatiality, having published two articles
examining displacement and gentrification in the Mission District of
San Francisco. She is first editor of Technofuturos: Critical Interventions in Latino Studies, a
co-editor of Keywords in Latino Studies (NYU Press), and is completing a book entitled
Hemispheric Notions: Diaspora, Masculinity, and the Racial Politics of Cubanidad in New
York, 1823-1945 (NYU press). She will also be contributing to the Migration Studies work
focused in the Center for the History of the New America.
Professor Mirabal has been a Chancellors’ Post-doctoral Fellow in Ethnic Studies at UC
Berkeley, a Social Science Research Council Fellow in International Migrations, and a
Scholar-in-Residence at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York
City.
Since joining the faculty, Professor Mirabal has been very active on campus with USLT,
presenting, and teaching. Aside from her academic interests and teaching, she is an
avid San Francisco Giants fan! Please stop by her office in 4105 Susquehanna Hall and
join us in welcoming her to the Department!
Meet Dr. La Marr Jurelle Bruce
AMST
students win
awards
Please join us in welcoming Professor La Marr Bruce, selected
through our successful search in African American/Diaspora
Cultural Production. Professor Bruce received his Ph.D. in African
American Studies and American Studies from Yale University.
Faculty
secure Seed
Grant
Professor Bruce has received grants from the Beinecke Library at
Yale, the Carter G. Woodson Institute, and the Mellon Foundation.
His work appears in African American Review (for which he earned
the 2014 Weixlmann Prize), Black Queer Studies 2.0 (forthcoming), and TDR. His book
project, How To Go Mad Without Losing Your Mind: Madness, Blackness, and Radical
Creativity, ponders black artists who have mobilized “madness” for art-making, selfmaking, and world-making. He received a Research and Scholarship Award for summer
research for his project.
Dr. Paoletti’s
new book
Brown bags
are back!
Introducing
the new
AMST Ph.D.
cohort
Professor Bruce has been very involved in campus life since joining the community this
past Fall. He has designed new undergraduate courses, participated in campus events,
roundtables, and talk-backs, and can even be seen in an upcoming film, “The Amazing
Bud Powell,” a short documentary exploring the work of the renowned jazz pianist. When
he’s not doing academic work, he can be found out and about in the greater D.C. area
exploring the multiple and diverse eateries, arts festivals, and music joints. We encourage
you to stop by his office in 4155 Susquehanna Hall to welcome him if you have not had
the chance!
Table of Contents
Letter from the Chair………………………………………………………………………………...……...….…..3
AMST Builds Partnership Across Campus………………………………………………………….……..…….4
A Special Thanks to The Graduate School…………………………………………………………..…..….…4
AMST Continues New Ventures……………………………………………………………………………..……4
Nuestra Communidad – USLT News……………………………………………………..………………...…….5
Undergraduate Student Spotlights…………………………………………………….……………..…............6
Undergraduate Student Award Recipients……………………………………….…………….……….....….7
Graduate Student Award Recipients…………………………………………………………….………...…...7
Fast Facts – Graduate Student News…………………………………………………...………….………..….8
Paging All Graduates – Alumni Updates……………………..…………………….………..……………...…9
Next Steps – 2014 Graduate Placements………………………………………………………………..…...10
2014 Defended Dissertations…………………………………………………………………………….…...…10
Occasion for Accolades – Faculty News………………………………………………………………….....11
Drs. Wong and Guerrero Receive Seed Grant…………………………………………………………...….11
Dr. Paoletti Publishes New Book……………………………………………………………………………..…12
Dr. Williams-Forson Appears on Melissa Harris-Perry Show……………………………………………....12
Staff Member Betsy Yuen Receives Promotion……………………………………………….………..……12
Affiliate Faculty News……………………………………………………………………………….………..…..13
Letter from the Director of Undergraduate Studies…………………………………………….………..….14
AMST Re-Launches Brown Bag Series…………………………………………………………….………..….15
Another Successful Graduate Student Recruitment…………………………………………….……..…...15
CESA Summer Institute………………………...……………………………………………………….……..….16
Department Co-Sponsors Queer Studies Symposium…………………………………………….…..…...16
2014 Graduate Cohort……………………………………………………………………………………...……17
Spring 2015 Events………………………...………………………………………………………….……..……18
2
From the American Studies Chair
By Dr. Nancy Struna
It’s been another whirlwind but really enjoyable year in good, old Susquehanna
Hall! Neither the really cold winter nor a really, really lousy budget can get me
down. I actually like doing our newsletter, because it’s an opportunity to see
the “big picture” of all that our folks have done and are doing, and I end up
feeling really good. Hopefully, this spring issue conveys the same good
message to all of you.
Our core faculty has continued its amazing teaching and publication work. Dr.
Jo Paoletti’s second book, Sex and Unisex: Fashion, Feminism and the Sexual
Revolution (Indiana University Press) came out in February, and she’s onto her
third. She even developed a new course, Myth and Memory: 1975, in which to
work out several themes with upper-level majors and other students. Dr. Christina Hanhardt, who’s
been on sabbatical and had a Research and Scholarship Award, is working on her second book
and received the honorable mention award for two best book prizes from the American Studies
Association for her acclaimed Safe Space: Gay Neighborhood History and the Politics of Violence
(Duke University). Dr. Perla Guerrero is using her Ford Foundation fellowship year to make good
progress on completing her book, Latinas/os and Asians Remaking Arkansas, and two university
presses are reviewing portions of Dr. Jan Padios’s manuscript about transnational cultural
exchanges, Philippine call centers, and immaterial labor. Dr. Jason Farman also published a second
book and multiple articles, and Dr. Mary Sies is finishing up her co-edited book on global suburbs
(University of Pennsylvania Press). We’re also, of course, celebrating two new faculty, Drs. Nancy
Raquel Mirabal and La Marr Bruce, who have developed new courses and brought wonderful
research agendas, and in Dr. Mirabal’s case, a book to be published with New York University Press,
Hemispheric Notions: Diaspora, Masculinity, and the Racial Politics of Cubanidad in New York City,
1823-1945.
I’m also very proud of our graduate and undergraduate students, some of whose accomplishments
are detailed inside this issue. We’re collaborating on several fronts to expand opportunities for
undergraduates in particular. This spring we’ve partnered with the Smith School of Business to offer a
new service-oriented international internship, the USLT program is collaborating with the Latin
American Studies Center on several programs, and both students and faculty benefit from the close
relationship we have with the Asian American Studies Program. We have a marvelous new cohort of
graduate students, our experienced grad students are generating an ever-larger body of
conference papers and publications, and Ph.D. students who are finishing are getting jobs! More
and more recent alums are also reporting back on their accomplishments. Dr. Neela Vaswani (2006)
won a Grammy, Dr. Teresa Moyer (2010) published Ancestors of Worthy Life: Plantation Slavery and
Black Heritage at Mount Clare, Dr. Beck Krefting (2010) published All Joking Aside: American Humor
and It’s Discontents, and Dr. Vincent Stephens (2005) has a new blog, “Riffs, Beats, & Codas,” that is
gaining national acclaim.
American Studies is celebrating its 70th anniversary at the University of Maryland this spring, and
we’ve organized “Scholarship for the Future: Engaging Local Communities in Knowledge
Production” to highlight the transformation of scholarship in American Studies over that time. Please
join us on April 29, 4:00-6:00 p.m. in the Maryland Room in Marie Mount Hall to learn about engaged
scholarship.
I’ll close, happily, with this note. This is my last newsletter as chair. I’m stepping down and have a
research leave to which I am really, really looking forward. I want to thank everyone who’s given so
much to our program and to me—core faculty, our many affiliate faculty, staff, and all our students,
as well as many campus offices—over the years. I know we’ll have a great next chair, and with our
faculty, staff, and students, the Department is good to go! By this time next year, we should be
ready to move to our new—brand new—space in Tawes Hall.
3
AMST builds partnership across campus
This spring the Department of American Studies became a supporting partner of the Maryland
Social Engineer Corps (MSEC) for undergraduates. Organized by the Smith School of Business
and Study Abroad, MSEC is an international internship program that enables students to live,
learn, and engage with impoverished communities in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and
Nicaragua. Students will spend eight weeks during the summer working with development
professionals and local entrepreneurs and helping to solidify local small businesses that make
sustainable products, technologies, and services.
Students earn nine credits total by
completing a seven-week introductory course on campus in the spring, an eight-week summer
internship in one of the host countries, and a fall symposium where students share their
experiences and products with our community here. Interested students may be eligible for
scholarship support for the summer internship through the Career Center’s “Bright Futures”
program. For additional information on MSEC, go to http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/centersexcellence/center-social-value-creation/initiatives-programs/go-global,
or
http://
globalmaryland.umd.edu/offices/education-abroad/maryland-social-entrepreneur-corpsmsec-information-session, or contact Betsy Yuen in the main office. She will have the precise
course information.
A special thanks to The Graduate School
Throughout the years, the Department has been very fortunate to receive the ongoing support
of the Graduate School here at UMD. With the generosity and assistance from Dean Charles
Caramello and his staff, the Department has been able to become—and remain—a nationally
ranked program, recruiting some of the best and brightest amongst faculty and students. The
Graduate School’s commitment to the Department has helped support faculty and student
research, multiple graduate student fellowships, professional development, dissertation
completion through fellowships and travel grants, and our diversity recruitment which now
leads the College of Arts and Humanities. The Department would like to thank the Graduate
School for its continued commitment to excellence in leadership, scholarship, and service.
AMST continues new ventures
One of the most exciting new ventures that bears on American Studies at the University is the
Center for the History of the New America. The Center is the brainchild of two of our affiliate
faculty from the Department of History, Distinguished University Professor Ira Berlin and Professor
Julie Greene, who serve as co-directors. As the 2010 census makes clear, the U.S. continues to
be an immigrant society, which is one of the compelling rationales for the founding of the
Center. It intends to “provide a distinctive institutional home for interdisciplinary research, for
training faculty and students, and for distributing information about the history of the immigrant
experience to a broad public.” It will also serve as a source of outreach and community
service to surrounding communities.
A solid partnership between American Studies and the Center is already developing. Our
commitment to transnational, interdisciplinary research and teaching about cultural
constructions of identity and difference and the cultures of everyday life makes the connection
almost a natural one. Professors Guerrero, Wong, and Struna serve on the advisory board.
Faculty and student research interests in food studies, digital media studies, the expanding
array of ethnic and racial-focused studies, explorations of cultural landscapes, and more fit well
with the Center’s mission and goals. We have also benefited directly from one of the initiatives
of Professors Berlin and Greene, the Migration Studies faculty cluster hire which enabled us to
lure Professor Nancy Raquel Mirabal away from the West Coast. We look forward to many
more collaborations with the Center for the History of the New America.
4
Nuestra Communidad :: USLT News
Recruitment is in full force
U.S. Latina/o Studies has been actively recruiting new minors to the program through various
campus outreach efforts that have taken a student-centered approach. In that spirit, USLT is
happy to report that new and current minors have been pleased with the program and are
excited about its future; according to Misael Arrue-Cisneros, a junior, USLT has been especially
invaluable because it allows him to “take what we can from the courses offered and we give
back to the community.” Sophomore Erica Puentes adds “the USLT minor will help me become
a more effective advocate for my community.” If interested in learning more about the minor
or programming, students are encouraged to contact Cassy Griff (ecgriff@umd.edu) or Dr.
Nancy Struna (nlstruna@umd.edu). We look forward to another great year!
College Consejos with USLT
On March 12, USLT hosted an informal professional development event
for all U.S. Latina/o Studies minors and students interested in the minor. It
was also an opportunity for students to meet U.S. Latina/o Studies
graduate students and learn more about the courses. Beyond that,
students were provided instruction on how to apply for jobs, construct a
résumé and cover letter, and given an opportunity to openly discuss the
particular issues faced by students of color within the University. The
event was full of energetic and engaging conversations. It was cosponsored by Sigma Iota Alpha, Inc., Chi Chapter. Thanks to all who
joined, and we look forward to future engagements!
Cristina Pérez and Cassy
Griff with student attendants
Panel discussion a success!
On March 27, the Latin American Studies Center and U.S. Latina/o Studies Program joined
together to present “Cuba and Cuba-America,” a panel presentation and discussion exploring
the ways in which contemporary changes in diplomatic relations impact Cubans in the U.S.
and in Cuba. Panelists explored questions of citizenship, belonging, race, nation, and empire
as they thought through what it means to be Cuban and Cubano in 2015. Panelists included
Mavis Anderson, Latin American Working Group, Senior Associate; Nefta Freeman, Institute for
Policy Studies, Coordinator and Activist; Dr. Rafael Lorente, Philip Merril College of Journalism,
Associate Dean, UMD; Dr. Nancy Raquel Mirabal, Department of American Studies and U.S.
Latina/o Studies, Associate Professor, UMD ; Dr. Ricardo Ortiz, Department of English, Associate
Professor, Georgetown University; and Dr. Laurie Frederik, Latin American Studies and
Performance Studies, Associate Professor University of Maryland.
The panel presentations were followed by a lively discussion with audience members and was
well received. Before and after the panel, attendants were able to enjoy The Art Gallery’s new
exhibition, Streams of Being, which features the artwork of Latin Americans, drawn from the
permanent collection of the Art Museum of the Americas (AMA).
5
Undergraduate Student Spotlights
Emily Weiss
Emily Weiss is a junior American Studies major with a minor in Public Leadership
from Marietta, Georgia. On campus, she is the Executive Board Secretary for
University Student Judiciary, a Presiding Officer on Student Honor Council, an
ARHU Ambassador, and a representative on various advisory councils. Her
interests in American Studies and public policy include philanthropy, social
innovation, education, and digital policy. Emily has been selected, along with
20 other undergraduate students from across majors, as one of 2014-2015
Rawlings Undergraduate Leadership Fellows. Emily believes that her
background in American Studies will be an asset to her in learning about and
discussing public policy solutions.
The Rawlings Undergraduate Leadership Fellows Program assembles high-achieving University
of Maryland undergraduate students from different majors who aspire to join America’s next
generation of leaders. The program, established at UMD in 2006 and Directed by Dr. Nina
Harris, is part of Undergraduate Studies in the School of Public Policy and provides the
necessary skills, resources, and support to undergraduates with a commitment to cultural
pluralism, advocacy, and change. The program also prepares undergraduates for leadership
roles during the 2014-2015 school year and following program completion.
Ami Kutzen is a sophomore American Studies major with a double minor in
Law and Society and Innovation and Entrepreneurship. She is honored to be
spotlighted as an undergraduate student in the AMST newsletter. Ami grew
up in Newton, MA and loves the fact that Boston is so easily accessible to her
hometown. The proximity to such a culturally and historically significant city
influenced much of who she is today. She came to the University of Maryland,
College Park primarily because D.C. appealed to her as the capitol of the
United States government. Ami is extremely interested in issues surrounding
women’s rights, mental health awareness, and inequality.
Ami Kutzen
Ami is interning in D.C. twice a week with Massachusetts Congresswoman Niki
Tsongas and is absolutely loving the experience. She is learning about legislation that directly
correlates to topics she has learned about in her American Studies classes! In addition to
interning in D.C., Ami is a part of Phi Alpha Delta, the pre-law fraternity on campus, as well as
Sigma Delta Tau.
Joel Vazquez is a junior American Studies and Government and Politics double
major, with a double minor in Spanish and Public Leadership. Joel grew up in
Bowie, MD, in Prince George's County, and has loved the diversity of his home
ever since he recognized how it positively contributed to his development.
Due to his background, Joel investigates topics such as race relations and
diversity, and how communities of color are viewed in the public image, in
addition to his interest in Filipino-American Studies and Asian American Studies.
Joel serves as an undergraduate representative for the Department as well as
Joel Vazquez the Community Service Chair of the Filipino Cultural Association. He also has a
role on the Dean's Advisory Board for the College of Arts and Humanities and
acts as the Student Liaison for the Filipino Veteran's Recognition and Education Project. Joel
was recently one of eleven students selected by the University Career Center & The President’s
Promise as a recipient of a 2014-2015 Bright Futures Scholarship, a scholarship designed to
offset the cost incurred during unpaid summer internships.
6
AMST Undergraduate Student Award Recipients
David A. Ellis Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship recognizes David A. Ellis, a former AMST.
David was a passionate advocate of hip hop music and a student of cultural expressions of
many kinds. He was drawn to understanding cultures and subcultures different from his own—a
true interdisciplinary innovator! AMST congratulates Ellen Marie Gillingham and Manuel Nunez,
the respective recipients of the Ellis Scholarship from 2013 and 2014.
Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award. The department bestows this award every
semester to the senior graduating with the highest GPA. In 2013, the award winners were Ellen
Marie Gillingham (Dec), Elissa Fischel (Dec), and Laurel Kays (May). In 2014, the Outstanding
Undergraduate Students were Jessica Sabin (Dec) and Katie Lee Sint (May).
AMST Service Award. American Studies has a strong tradition of social activism and community
service, so the Department gives an award to graduating seniors that recognizes their
outstanding service to the campus and/or the community. In Spring 2014, Pamela Catherine
Marquez received the award, recognizing her service to Casa de Maryland and to the
Montgomery County Public Schools. In Spring 2013, Amy Young’s service was recognized,
particularly her work as Philanthropy Chair for Alpha Omicron Pi, Terp Thon, Make-A-Wish
Foundation, and Luke’s Wings, a military non-profit that supports the nation’s wounded warriors.
Savneet Talwar Award for Best Senior Paper. In 2013-14, AMST alumna Savneet Talwar (Ph.D.,
May 2010) made a gift to AMST to recognize the best paper written by a graduating senior
during each academic year. We awarded the first Savneet Talwar Prize in Spring 2014 to Katie
Lee Sint, for her AMST senior capstone project on the societal assumption that women comics
aren’t funny or don’t have a sense of humor entitled, “Hey Ladies: Rape Jokes are Funny, You
Aren’t.”
Best Honors Thesis Award. The AMST department also recognizes outstanding honors theses.
Last year we awarded a “Best Honors Thesis” prize to Joanna G. McKee’s “Playing Both Sides of
the Binary: Gender Swapping in Videogames and BioWare’s Mass Effect,” directed by Dr. Rob
Chester. The thesis turns a critical eye on modern forms of play and the cultural work they
perform, exploring through feminist analysis and media theory the possibilities for “gender
swapping” provided by contemporary video gaming.
2014 — 2015 Graduate Student Award Recipients
Kalima Young was given the best graduate student paper award at the Chesapeake
American Studies Association annual conference.
Daniel Greene was the recipient of 2014-2015 James W. Longest Memorial Award for Social
Science Research.
Terrance Wooten received the 2014-2015 James F. Harris Arts and Humanities Visionary
Scholarship as well as a 2014 Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship.
Ilyas Abukar was the recipient of a 2014 Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship.
Kevin Winstead received a 2015 ARHU Graduate Student Travel Award.
Tony Perry received a one-semester McNeil Center for Early American Studies Dissertation
Fellowship.
7
Fast Facts :: Graduate Student News
Bimbola Akinbola presented a paper, “‘Does Homeland Long for Us?’”: Ambivalent Nostalgia
and Diasporic Homemaking” in the Work of Wura Natasha Ogunji at the American Studies
Association Annual Conference. Over the summer, she completed a fellowship with the
Omooba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon Art Foundation in Lagos, Nigeria, where she had the
opportunity to conduct research in Nigeria's largest private art collection and the wider
contemporary art world.
Xinqian Qiu had interned for the Diversity Program in National Trust for Historic Preservation from
June to September, coordinating logistics for the 3rd National Asian Pacific Islanders American
Historic Preservation Forum being held in Washington D.C. Besides serving as the logistics cochair, she presented her recent research in the panel "Preserving Chinatown: How, When, and
Why?" discussing the efforts, issues, and challenges of preserving Chinatowns in major cities
across the country; she also co-designed and led the D.C. Chinatown historic heritage tour for
the "Featured Local Heritage Tour" session. Due to her strong interest and research in APIA
historic preservation, Xinqian received the National Park Service student scholarship for the
Forum.
Daniel Greene presented “What Are We Talking About When We Talk About 'Access'?: Digital
Bootstraps in Neoliberal Times” at the International Communication Association annual meeting
in Seattle. The International Communication Association serves as an international academic
association, the members of which share a passion for the study of human and mediated
communication forms.
Yujie Chen published an article entitled “Production Cultures and Differentiations of Digital
Labour” in tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique, which credits itself as an international
open access journal for a global sustainable information society. You can read her article in
issue 12, no. 2, of this journal, published in September 2014.
Jarah Moesch presented “Pollution, Collaboration & Queer-Feminist Knowledge-Making” at the
American Studies Association Annual Conference. She also presented “LUNGS, Hot-Spots, &
Queer-Feminist Knowledge Making: Intervening in the Ecologies of Pollution-based Illness” at the
Cultural Studies Association Conference. Additionally, at the Association for Computing
Machinery / Computer Human Interaction Conference on Human Factors in Computing
Systems, she gave a talk entitled “myWaldo: wearable technology for quantifying and
modifying generalized muscle weakness” for the
Biological Rhythms & Technology Workshop.
Izetta Autumn Mobley was named the 2014 Walter Hill Fellow in the Archives through the
Bannekar-Douglass Museum through the Maryland Commission on African American History and
Culture. Her project involved developing an exhibit which will launch in May of 2015. In
December of 2015, Izetta's writing on artist Kesha Bruce will appear in the catalogue for the
artists' exhibit.
Kevin Winstead will be a roundtable panelist at the 2 nd Annual Congressman Parren Mitchell
Symposium, “Intellectual Activist, Social Justice, and Criminalization,” at the University of
Maryland, College Park. He also presented “‘Authentically Black and Truly Catholic’: The
Knowledge Production Process of the Black Catholic Sub-Movement” at the Southern
Sociological Society Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA.
Kalima Young presented a paper entitled “Responsive Ethnography: Potential Impacts of Digital
Storytelling on Ethnographic Research” at the Chesapeake American Studies Association annual
conference in Baltimore, MD.
8
Paging All Graduates :: Alumni Updates
Dr. Neela Vaswani (Ph.D., 2006) received a Grammy at this year’s 57th annual awards for her
narration of the children’s audio book, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood up for Education and
was Shot by the Taliban. This piece won a Grammy for the 2015 Best Children’s Album
category. Recently the category of Best Children’s Album has come to combine two
previously separate categories, the Best Musical Album for Children and the Best Spoken Word
Album for Children. Dr. Vaswani was the first nominee for an audiobook narration since the
restructuring of the categories. She is no stranger to the literary arts, having authored an award
winning memoir entitled You Have Given Me a Country, among other literary endeavors.
Dr. Teresa Moyer (Ph.D., 2010) authored Ancestors of Worthy Life: Plantation Slavery and Black
Heritage at Mount Clare. In it, Moyer examines the inherent racism of Mount Clare Museum
House near Baltimore, MD. Many institutions like Mount Clare are reluctant to exhibit and
interpret the lives of those once enslaved, and consequently these stories important to the
history of both the sites and the United States at large go untold. This literary exploration of
racial practices and implications in historic museum institutions and plantation sites seeks to
spark discussion, in a balanced perspective, of the lack of acknowledgement of the important
role of African Americans in the history of United States economic, cultural, and historical
development.
Dr. Patrick R. Grzanka (Ph.D., 2010) joined the Department of Psychology at The University of
Tennessee, Knoxville as an assistant professor in Fall 2014. Dr. Grzanka teaches courses in
psychology and women’s studies. His primary appointment is in the counseling psychology
graduate program, which is the nation’s only American Psychological Association accredited
doctoral program with a social justice focused "scientist-practitioner-advocate" training model.
Dr. Justin Maher (Ph.D., 2011) joined the faculty at The University of Massachusetts, Boston as the
Assistant Dean for Academic Programs at the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and
Global Studies. He also recently published an article in Antipode: A Radical Journal of
Geography titled "The Capital of Diversity: Neoliberal Development and the Discourse of
Difference in Washington, D.C."
Dr. Vincent Stephens (Ph.D., 2005) has a new blog, “Riffs, Beats, & Codas,” that is gaining
national acclaim. His blog provides a fresh perspective on popular music, regularly featuring
essays, reviews, and excerpts from his book manuscript. Alongside launching and managing
his new blog, Dr. Stephens serves as the Director of Multicultural Student Services at Bucknell
University; he has served in this role since August 2011.
Erika Thompson (M.A., 2014) accepted a one-year Archivist position at the Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, which she completed in March. Following her work in
Atlanta, she joined the African American Library at the Gregory School in Houston, Texas as a
Community Liaison.
Aaron Kaufman (B.A., 2011) serves as the Vice Chairman of the Maryland Developmental
Disabilities Council. In June 2014, Aaron was elected to the Montgomery County and State
Democratic Central Committees, the governing body of the local and state Democratic Party.
In this role, he assists with strategy, fundraising, and staffing of all the precincts in the County.
He also will recommend candidates to the Governor for seats on the Board of Elections and to
the Maryland General Assembly in the event of a vacancy. During the 2012 legislative session,
he worked for the Ways and Means Committee in the Maryland House of Delegates. Currently,
he is the Public Policy Specialist for The Arc Maryland, the State's largest disability advocacy
organization.
9
Next Steps :: 2014 Graduate Placements
Dr. Douglas S. Ishii (Ph.D., 2014) accepted a position as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Asian
American Studies Program at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Dr. Darius Bost (Ph.D., 2014) accepted a tenure-track position as an Assistant Professor in the
Department of Sexuality Studies at San Francisco State University.
Dr. Shanna Smith (Ph.D., 2014) is the Frederick Douglass Teaching Scholar in the English
Department at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Kelly Trigger (Ph.D., 2014) is the Associate Vice President for Teaching and Learning at
Frederick Community College.
Dr. Elise White (Ph.D., 2013) is deputy project director at the Center for Court Innovation’s
Midtown Community Court, the country’s first community court.
Dr. Asim Ali (Ph.D., 2013) is currently a Lecturer here in the Department of American studies at
the University of Maryland, College Park.
Abby Kiesa (M.A., 2012) is currently the Youth Coordinator & Researcher at CIRCLE: The Center
for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University in
Massachusetts.
Dr. Wendy Thompson-Taiwo (Ph.D., 2009) accepted a tenure-track position as an Assistant
Professor in the Department of Ethnic and Religious Studies at Metropolitan State University.
Dr. John Daves (Ph.D., 2007) accepted a position this year as the Dean of Faculty at The
Pennington School in New Jersey.
Congratulations to the successfully defended
dissertations of 2014!
Dr. Douglas Ishii
“Dissembling Diversities: On ‘Middled’ Asian Pacific American Activism and the Racialization of
Sophistication”
Chaired by Prof. Christina B. Hanhardt
Dr. Shayna Maskell
“Politics as Unusual: D.C. Hardcore Punk and the Politics of Sound”
Chaired by Prof. Nancy Struna
Dr. Darius Bost
“Evidence of Being: Urban Black Gay Men’s Literature and Culture, 1978-1995”
Chaired by Profs. Psyche Williams-Forson & Christina B. Hanhardt
Dr. Shanna Smith
“Tell Me Your Diamonds: Life History & Story-bearing Performance in African American Women’s
Narratives”
Chaired by Prof. Psyche Williams-Forson
Dr. Kelly Trigger
“(Im)mobilizing Community College Youths’ Digital Culture: Theorizing the Implications of
Everyday Digital Practices, Perceptions, and Differences Among Frederick Community College
Youths”
Chaired by Prof. Nancy Struna
Dr. Kirsten Crase
“Place as Common and Uncommon Wealth: A Relational Ethnographic Analysis of the
Conceptual Landscapes of Place Amidst the Shifting and Marginalized Grounds of Letcher
County, Kentucky and Southeast Washington, D.C.”
Chaired by Prof. John Caughey
10
Occasion for Accolades :: Faculty News
Dr. Christina Hanhardt is enjoying her sabbatical for 2014-2015, which is
generously supported in part by a Research and Scholarship Award from the
Graduate School. During her time off, she is dividing her time between D.C. and
NY, where she is a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics at
the City University of New York, Graduate Center. Last spring Dr. Hanhardt was
elected to the National Council of the American Studies Association, and
subsequently appointed to its Executive Council. Her book Safe Space: Gay
Neighborhood History and the Politics of Violence (Duke UP, 2013) won the 2014 Lambda
Literary Award for Best Book in LGBT Studies, and she was also awarded sole honorable mention
for both the John Hope Franklin Best Book in American Studies and the Lora Romero Best First
Book in American Studies prizes. In recent months she has given invited lectures at Yale
University and the City University of New York and keynote addresses at the Perver/Cité festival
in Montreal and the Gender/Power/Space symposium at Lewis and Clark College. Her book
Safe Space was also featured in an Author Meets Critics panel at the last Cultural Studies
Association meeting.
This year, Dr. Jason Farman took over the role of Director of the Design | Cultures +
Creativity Program, which is geared toward freshman and sophomore students in
the Honors College. Over the last year, he has published three book chapters and
two journal articles. These include book chapters on storytelling and locative
media, map interfaces on mobile phones, and the material infrastructure of
mobile media. His recent journal articles, appearing in Surveillance & Society and
Leonardo Electronic Almanac look at topics such as "creative misuse" of
surveillance as a mode of resistance and an article on mobile media art and the role of the
nonhuman.
Drs. Wong and Guerrero receive seed grant
AMST faculty members Drs. Janelle Wong and Perla Guerrero
have been designated the Principle Investigators on the recently
funded 2014 UMD-Smithsonian Seed Grant for their project
“Asian-Latino Education Lab: Piloting Innovative Curricular Tools
to Enable Intersectional, Cross-Community Learning and Cultural
Competencies for Minority Communities.” The award ($50,000)
will be shared between the Asian American Studies Program
(AAST) and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center to pilot Smithsonian digital assets as
innovative classroom learning tools specifically focusing on cross-cultural connections and
collisions. AAST will collaborate with the Smithsonian Asian-Latino Project (SALP), an
existing Smithsonian initiative that begins the necessary work of seeing cultures in complex
intersection, exploring the many points of crossing, historical and contemporary, between the
two fastest growing populations in the U.S., Asian Americans and Latinos. This proposed
collaboration will bring SALP into University of Maryland classrooms.
Seed funding will enable the first prototype of an Asian-Latino Education Lab, a rich, portable
learning experience made up of a range of digital assets and curricular materials.
Smithsonian and University of Maryland researchers, led by AAST Instructor Dr. Lawrence-Minh
Davis and including American Studies faculty Perla Guerrero and Janelle Wong, will
collaborate to begin compiling and building the foundations of the Asian-Latino Education
Lab. They will solicit written, visual, audio, and video materials from leading artists, filmmakers,
Continued on page 13
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Dr. Paoletti publishes new book!
Dr. Jo Paoletti's latest book Sex and Unisex: Fashion, Feminism, and the Sexual Revolution (Indiana University Press, February 2015), examines the interplay between popular material culture and the various public and private
discourses about gender and sexuality during the 1960s and 70s. In Sex
and Unisex, Dr. Paoletti argues that various trends and shifts in styles during
this period explored but ultimately failed to resolve questions about sex,
gender, and sexuality, questions with which contemporary culture
continues to grapple. An advance reviewer called it "very provocative
and timely," which is exactly what Dr. Paoletti had in mind.
Dr. Paoletti’s book has already garnered a fair share of buzz. Her book was prominently
referenced in a recent article published in The Atlantic and Public Radio International. Please
join us in celebrating Dr. Paoletti’s great accomplishment!
Dr. Williams-Forson on MHP
On November 29, 2014, our very own Dr. Williams-Forson
appeared on the Melissa Harris-Perry Show.
She discussed
society’s negative racial associations with foods, and how they
came to be. Along with a panel of equally qualified speakers,
including Dr. William Jelani Cobb, Sunny Anderson, and Raul A.
Reyes, Dr. Williams-Forson investigated why the cultural
associations between African Americans and food exist, often in
Dr. Williams-Forson discussing food, negative contexts. She examined the historical elements that
race, and identity with Raul A. Reyes
have contributed to these racial stereotypes and why they
continue to exist today; she also considered modern African American icons, like First Lady
Michelle Obama, and Disney Princess Tiana, to think about how they affect these stereotypes.
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Williams-Forson on the wonderful work she continues to do!
Betsy Yuen gets promoted!
The Department would like to congratulate Betsy Yuen on her promotion!
Betsy has tirelessly served as an Administrative Assistant since 2009,
providing central support to faculty, staff, and students with scheduling,
book orders, commencement, and other unit needs. More than that, she
has been integral to the energy and spirit of the Department. She always
greets everyone with a warm smile and goes above and beyond to help
others. As a recognition of her continued excellence and service to the
Department, Betsy was nominated for a 2014 ARHU Staff Service Award, a
very befitting nomination.
In her new role as Academic Coordinator, Betsy will continue doing some of the tasks she has
been doing but she also assumes some management, communication, and academic
planning and coordination responsibilities. Please remember to congratulate her on her welldeserved promotion when you stop by!
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And from Our Affiliates
Awards and Recognition:
Ira Berlin (HIST), awarded W. E. B. Du Bois Medal, Harvard University; and the focus of a UMD
conference honoring him, “Slavery Freedom, and the Remaking of American History”
Faedra Carpenter (TDSP), awarded tenure and promotion to Associate Professor, and
appointed director of the Foxworth Creative Enterprise Initiative for ARHU
Robert Levine (ENGL), Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study, Texas A & M University
Marilee Lindemann (ENGL), appointed Executive Director of College Park Scholars
Randy Ontiveros (ENGL), received Board of Regents Faculty Award, University System of Maryland
Sangeeta Ray (ENGL), awarded semester RASA for 2015/16
Brian Richardson (ENGL), Scholar in Residence at the University of Bologna
Mary Helen Washington (ENGL), awarded semester RASA for 2015/16
Ruth Zambrana (WMST), awarded semester RASA for 2015/16
Recent Book Publications:
Jonathan Auerbach (ENGL), Weapons of Democracy: Propaganda, Progressivism, and
American Public Opinion (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014)
Ralph Bauer, Zita Nunes, Carla Peterson, eds. (ENGL), The Cultural Politics of Blood, 1500-1900
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2015)
Regina Harrison (CMLT/SPAN), Sin and Confession in Colonial Peru: Spanish-Quechua Penitential
Texts, 1560-1650 (University of Texas Press, 2014)
Robyn Muncy (HIST), Relentless Reformer: Josephine Roche and Progressivism in Twentieth-Century
America (Princeton University Press, 2014)
Brian Richardson (ENGL), Unnatural Narrative: Theory, History, and Practice (Ohio State
University Press, 2015)
Michael Ross (HIST), The Great New Orleans Kidnapping Case: Race, Law, and Justice in the
Reconstruction Era (Oxford University Press, 2014)
Paul Shackel (ANTH), Archaeology, Heritage, and Civic Engagement: Working Toward the
Public Good (Left Coast Press, 2014)
Martha Nell Smith (ENGL), Emily Dickinson: A User’s Guide (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015)
Patrick Warfield (MUSC), Making the March King: John Philip Sousa’s Washington Years, 1854- 1893
(Univ. of Illinois Press, 2013)
Mary Helen Washington (ENGL), The Other Blacklist: The African American Literary and Cultural
Left of the 1950s (Columbia University Press, 2014)
David Wyatt (ENGL), When America Turned: Reckoning with 1968 (University of Massachusetts
Press, 2014)
AMST faculty receive seed grant (cont.)
writers, and scholars, then work together to shape these materials into a cohesive and focused
learning experience. The Lab was tested in the classroom (Fall 2014 academic semester) and
was reevaluated, refined, and further developed over winter 2014 for re-deployment in the
classroom in the Spring 2015 academic term. The ultimate aim of the project is a large-scale
national implementation of intersectional education, with the Education Lab appearing in 20+
college and university classrooms simultaneously, linked virtually to form one “big” interactive
classroom. This Smithsonian-University of Maryland collaboration is the initial development and
testing phase, a vital step in that direction. Please join us in congratulating Drs. Wong and
Guerrero on this amazing opportunity to do inspiring, engaged scholarship of such caliber!
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News from the Director of undergraduate studies
The Department of American Studies is launching its own LinkedIn Group to
help undergraduate majors, grad students, alumni, and faculty tap into the
networked job market to gain career-specific information and employment
leads through academic, professional, and alumni contacts. Please join our
group at http://ter.ps/AMSTLinkedin!
LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking service that helps
professionals and academics post their credentials, connect, network,
participate in discussions, and post job, internship, and fellowship opportunities. LinkedIn went
online in 2003, but during the past five years, it has dramatically changed the process of looking
for jobs. ARHU’s career advisor Kate Juhl reports that 94% of the employers who recruit UMD
students are on LinkedIn. Currently, 27,000+ Terps (alumni and current students, staff, and
professors) are using LinkedIn.
AMST is urging our faculty, alumni, and grad and undergrad students to get on LinkedIn in order
to increase each current or former student’s networking opportunities and to help support their
job searches. We envision and encourage you to contact and connect with AMST alums who
may be able to share job preparation tips, engage in informational interviewing, and help fellow
AMST Terps get oriented in new locations through LinkedIn.
The beauty of joining the AMST Group on LinkedIn is that it enables you to reach out to other
members of the UMD AMST family for advice, inside tips, endorsements, and to post job or
internship opportunities. To take best advantage of LinkedIn’s networking potential, we
recommend that you also join the University of Maryland College Park Alumni Association
(Official) LinkedIn group. Every member of these groups can explore the group database to
find out which Terps are already working in the field or company you aspire to join, have similar
kinds of experience to yours, or live in the city where you will be relocating for your new job. Any
member of the groups can contact any other member through LinkedIn’s email function.
The AMST Group is a moderated group and only UMCP AMST majors, faculty, staff, and alumni
will be permitted to join. Please sign up and send us the email addresses of former AMST majors
you are in touch with so that we can send them a personal invitation.
For more information on LinkedIn, how to join our group, and how to build a professional-looking
profile, here are some resources:
Within the Department, you can contact Dr. Sies (sies@umd.edu), Stephanie Stevenson
(ssteven1@umd.edu), and/or Mike Casiano (mcasiano@umd.edu).
Additionally, you can contact Kate Juhl (kjuhl@umd.edu), Career Specialist and Program
Director for the University Career Center at the College of Arts and Humanities (ARHU).
Career the Turtle, the hardcopy 2014-2015 Terp Guide to Internships & Job Search, is available at
the University Career Center, 3100 Hornbake Library, South Wing.
For help and training from the LinkedIn website visit https://university.linkedin.com/.
For LYNDA training on LinkedIn (free to all UMD students, faculty, and staff), please visit
http://www.it.umd.edu/lyndatraining.
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Department re-launches brown bag series
The Department is happy to announce we have brought back our brown bag series, which is
geared toward highlighting the work of faculty and students in the Department and providing
an informal opportunity to workshop ideas and scholarship in a nurturing environment.
Fourth year doctoral candidate Terrance Wooten kicked off the series on February 23 with his
talk entitled “Shelter Denied: Trans Bodies, Bathroom Bills, and the Production of the Sex
Offender.” In this talk, he analyzed the conversations and debates that circulated in print
media and online blogs leading up to and immediately following the passing of the Fairness for
All Marylanders Act of 2014, popularly referred to as Maryland’s “bathroom bill.”
The second brown bag, “From Theory to Theorizing,” occurred on March 26 and featured the
work of Department Chair Dr. Nancy Struna. In her discussion, Dr. Struna encouraged
audience members to actively participate in what she called a “thinking-out-loud” session
about material experience, racial formation, and sites of cultural production as they relate
both to tavern culture and to American studies scholarship more broadly.
The Department welcomes everyone to join us in our last brown bag of the year on April 30 in
Susquehanna Hall, Room 3105, where current graduate students Jessica Walker, Izetta Mobley,
Ilyas Abukar, and Kalima Young will consider the state of various fields of study and
Afropessimism in relation to the interdisciplinary training of American Studies.
Another successful graduate student recruitment!
With another year comes the exciting prospect of
a new group of faces joining the Department. The
Department of American Studies was proud to
welcome the newly admitted cohort to
Susquehanna Hall on Monday, March 8 for the
annual Admitted Students Visitation Day. All seven
members of the new cohort enjoyed an
entertaining and enlightening day of conversations
with faculty and current graduate students in the
Department. The agenda for the day included the
usual introduction of department faculty and
individual meetings with possible faculty mentors.
Students gaining insight on
graduate school life and culture
Admitted students smiling and enjoying their tour of campus
Newly admitted students were given the opportunity to engage with
a panel of current graduate students, who shared their experiences in
the Department, provided critical advice on how to navigate and
accomplish benchmarks, and offered insight to life in the DMV. From
there, the new cohort, along with current graduate students and
faculty, participated in a campus tour, which included a trip to the
David C. Driskell Center to see the Spring 2015 exhibition,
Emancipating the Past: Kara Walker’s Tale of Slavery and Power.
Current graduate students continued their community-building efforts
by concluding the Admitted Students Visitation Day with the “Pizzas
and a PhD: Grad Students Mix and Mingle,” where students relaxed,
had engaging conversations, and debriefed about their long day.
If this day serves as any indication of what the future has to hold, then the new cohort is sure to
contribute to the continued intellectual excellence and social liveliness of our Department.
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CESA Summer Institute a success!
This past June, the Critical Ethnic Studies Association
(CESA) in conjunction with the Department of
American Studies and the Asian American Studies
Program at the University of Maryland, College Park
hosted a three day summer institute organized
around the following question: “What is critical
ethnic studies?”
Scholars and activists from around the world
convened at the community-building institute to
discuss topics including “Ethnic Studies in Germany:
on the Limitations and Possibilities of the Academic Institutionalization of Racialized Knowledge
Production,” “Dispossession and Disposability,” “Racial Colonial Genocide,” “Settler Colonialism
and Anti-Blackness,” and “Neoliberalism, Disablement, Health, and Nation.”
Local arrangement committee members enjoying food after a
long but successful summer institute
Invited to lead the seminars were scholars such as Jin Haritaworn (York University), Alexander
Weheliye (Northwestern University), Junaid Rana (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign),
Neferti X. M. Tadiar (Barnard College), John Márquez (Northwestern University), Dylan Rodríguez
(University of California, Riverside), Denise Ferreira da Silva (Queen Mary/University of London),
Andrea Smith (University of California, Riverside), Rachel Gorman (York University), and Dian
Million (University of Washington).
In order to promote the inclusion of diverse voices from around the world, the Local
Arrangements Committee provided a livestream of the three day event. Viewers were able to
engage in discussions in a chatroom and tweet comments under the hashtag #CESASI2014.
Brian Crawford, IT Coordinator of Digital Media in the College of Arts and Humanities, organized
the livestream and Michael Casiano, an American Studies doctoral student, moderated the
livestream and posed questions posted in the chatroom by remote attendees directly to the
panel moderators.
The University of Maryland’s Local Arrangements Committee organized and hosted a welcome
dinner sponsored by the Department of American Studies, daily breakfasts, a film screening of
Who is Dayani Cristal, organized by American Studies doctoral student Bimbola Akinbola, and a
reception dinner sponsored by the Asian American Studies Program.
Department co-sponsors Queer Studies symposium
On Friday, April 17, the Department proudly co-sponsored the
Eighth Annual D.C. Queer Studies Symposium, Queer Speculations,
along with several other departments on campus, including the
Departments of Women’s Studies, Anthropology, and English; the
Asian American Studies Program; the LGBT Equity Center; the
Office of Diversity & Inclusion; and the Nathan and Jeanette Miller
Center for Historical Studies, as well departments at George
Washington University, Georgetown University, and American University. This one-day
conference featured a plenary session with Drs. Ramzi Fawaz (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
and Shanté Paradigm Smalls (St. John’s University). The keynote address was delivered by Dr.
Juana María Rodríguez (University of California, Berkeley). The day was a huge success that
showcased critically engaging questions of queer speculation about embodiment, political
transformation, futurity, and intimacy. Thanks to everyone who came out to support this
important event!
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Introducing the New Graduate Cohort :: Class of 2014
Ashley Minner is doctoral student and a Visual Artist and Educator from Baltimore,
Maryland. She holds a B.F.A. in General Fine Art, as well as an M.A. and an M.F.A.
in Community Art, which she earned at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She
is engaged in ongoing research of the Indigenous and African Diasporas and
their many intersections in the U.S. South and Global South.
Nicole Currier is a Ph.D. student. She holds a B.A. in History from Atlantic Union
College in Lancaster, Massachusetts, and an M.A. in American Studies from
University of Massachusetts, Boston. Her research interests include images of race
and ethnicity in popular culture, American imperialism, transnationalism, and
critical tourism.
Ashley Hufnagel is a Ph.D. student in the Department . Ashley received her B.F.A.
at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2002. She is a native of Baltimore, MD.
Her research focuses on the history of capitalism, anti-poverty social movements,
the current economic crisis, and narratives of poverty.
Leah Bush is an M.A. student in the Department. Leah holds a B.A. in Sociology
from Eastern University. Her research interests center on an interdisciplinary
examination of relationships between popular music, subcultural identity
formation, and subcultural style, with a particular focus on the Goth subculture.
Omar Eaton-Martínez is a Ph.D. student in the Department. Omar received his
B.A. in African American Studies from the University of Maryland in 1996, and went
on to pursue a Masters in Educational Leadership from American Intercontinental
University in 2009. His research interests are Diversity and Inclusion in museums
and cultural institutions; Afrolatinidad/Afrolatinoness in the United States; and Hip
Hop history, culture, and education.
Shoji Sanders is a doctoral student and McNair Fellow in the Department. She
earned a B.A. in Public Relations from Marquette University. She is currently
interested in investigating the legal and social status of free black peoples in
Antebellum Maryland. Particularly, she is interested in how relationships between
African Americans, property, and status relate to citizenship during the 19 th century.
Philip Byrd is an M.A. student in the Department and is also currently earning a
Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies and Material Culture. He graduated
with a B.A. in history from Norwich University, the Military College of Vermont.
Upon graduation he was a deck seaman in the United States Merchant Marine
for 5 years. Philip is studying Persian Diaspora in America and hopes to make
cultural museum exhibits upon graduation.
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New Graduate Cohort continued
M. Benitez is a doctoral student in the Department. After nearly a decade as an
industrial welder working throughout the U.S. and abroad, M. Benitez took time off
to pursue an undergraduate degree. Beginning at Seattle Central Community
College and later transferring to NYU, M. Benitez’s work focuses on the
intersections of gender, work, and performance.
Kevin Kim is a doctoral student in the Department. Kevin holds a B.A. with Honors
in History from Swarthmore College. The majority of his research touches on the
influence of food in American life. Specifically, he hopes to study the food and
cultural landscapes in the American South, as well as gender and desire in
modern American food media.
Watch for new issue of Powerlines
We Want to Hear from You
Powerlines is happy to announce the
upcoming publication of its third issue, which
will feature articles, art reviews, and book
reviews, due to be published in May 2015.
As part of AMST’s efforts to create a stronger
community among its alumni and former
students, we want to know what you’re up to!
To view last year’s issue visit
http://amst.umd.edu/powerlines/.
Send professional or personal news to
americanstudies@umd.edu for inclusion in a
future department newsletter.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!!
AMST End-of-Year Event
4/23 @ 4pm
Maryland Room, Marie Mount Hall
The Department of American Studies invites all of our AMST family—undergrad students,
grad students, faculty, affiliate faculty, alumni, and friends—to an end of semester
celebration. This is a special occasion: we are welcoming our two new faculty
members—Associate Professor Dr. Nancy Mirabal and Assistant Professor Dr. La Marr
Jurelle Bruce—and celebrating Associate Professor Dr. Jo Paoletti’s new book
publication, Sex and Unisex: Fashion, Feminism, and the Sexual Revolution, hot off the
press (Indiana University Press, 2015). The formalities will begin at 4:15 pm with a brief and
informal research presentation from each honoree. There will be a Q&A session
following and lots of time for informal mingling.
American Studies at 70
4/29 @ 4pm
Maryland Room, Marie Mount Hall
The Department of American Studies invites you to join us in celebrating our 70th
anniversary at the University of Maryland: “Scholarship for the Future: Engaging Local
Communities in Knowledge Production.” To be followed by a reception.
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Support the Next Generation of
American Studies at Maryland
American Studies students are accomplishing great things in and out of the classroom. Our
faculty’s teaching, scholarly publications, and presentations have earned awards and are
making an impact within and outside the University.
We invite you to be a part of our exciting and meaningful teaching, learning, and scholarship:


Can you offer our students internships and research experiences?
Would you like to serve as a guest speaker to help students translate their academic
experiences to professional skills?
With State funding on a steep decline, we are also grateful for your financial support that helps
us to expand undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships, lecture programs, and
professorships. Your gift is tax deductible and creates opportunities for members of the
American Studies community.
To reconnect and contribute, contact Nancy Struna at nlstruna@umd.edu.
Please make checks payable to:
University of Maryland
College Park Foundation
Mail to:
Julia John, Coordinator
4113 Susquehanna Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
Department of American Studies
University of Maryland
4115 Susquehanna Hall
College Park, MD 20742
Newsletter Contributors
- Tatiana Benjamin
- Michael Casiano
- Jason Farman
- Cassy Griff
- Christina Hanhardt
- Robert Jiles
- Julia John
- Jo Paoletti
- Mary Corbin Sies
- Nancy Struna
- Kevin Winstead
- Terrance Wooten
- Betsy Yuen
- Ashley Zupkus
Contact Information
American Studies
University of Maryland
4115 Susquehanna Hall
College Park, MD 20742
amst.umd.edu
americanstudies@umd.edu
Phone: 301-405-1354
Fax: 301-314-9453