Sheryl Adelman Kimmel will be presenting a paper, "Waging a reaction to the 'Skokie affair': Post-World War Two American Jewish communal leadership and change," as part of the American Jewish Thought and Leadership Panel at the 20th Annual Conference of the Midwest Jewish Studies Association with DePaul University Chicago, to be held at the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, in Chicago, IL, on October 26-27, 2008.
Ruben Afagla was awarded a Summer Research Fellowship for summer 2008. Factors that were considered include appointment as a teaching assistant, recommendation from the department, and superior academic performance. Afagla is a PhD student and AMS GTA.
Jason Barrett-Fox successfully defended his MA thesis titled, "Feminism, Socialism, and Pragmatism in the Life of Marcet Haldeman-Julius, 1887-1941" on April 16.
Rebecca Barrett-Fox was awarded a Summer Research Fellowship for summer 2008. Factors that were considered include appointment as a teaching assistant, recommendation from the department, and superior academic performance. Barrett-Fox earned her MA in 2002 and is a PhD student.
Amber Clifford-Napoleone was named Associate for Contemplative Pedagogy Summer Seminar. This competitive, international summer seminar is sponsored by the Center for the Advancement of Contemplative Education at Naropa University, and the Center for the Contemplative Mind in Society. Clifford-Napoleone earned her PhD in 2007.
"Frank" Hong Cai received one of three Exemplary Teaching Awards at the Graduate Studies Awards Ceremony on April 23 for his work as a Humanities and Western Civilization GTA. Cai is a 2003 MA graduate and a current PhD student.
Daniel Carey successfully defended his MA thesis, "Suburban Place?: Finding Place in Overland Park, Kansas," on April 22.
Ben Chappell, Assistant Professor, presented his paper, "Low Riders and the Materiality of Culture," at the Nuestra America in the US? conference in February at KU. Chappell and his ethnographic research on Mexican American lowriders were also featured in the short documentary "Anthropology: Looking at the Human Condition," which aired on the History Channel February 17. The documentary will be packaged as supplemental material in the upcoming release of the DVD box set "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles - volume 3" from Lucasfilm. On February 27, Chappell addressed the American Seminar of the Hall Center for the Humanities, discussing "Custom Mexican America: Lowrider Style as Subjugated Knowledge." On March 7, he presented "Scales of Access in the Global Modern" at the 17th annual Kansas State University Cultural Studies Conference. On March 14, Chappell was at Bethel College to present the convocation "Mexican American Lowriders: The Space of Culture in Everyday Life." He also presented "The Barrio Moves: Poetics and Politics of Space in a Mexican American Lowrider Scene" as a part of the Socio- Cultural Anthropology Speaker Series on April 4 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Anne Dotter is the winner of a Hall Center Summer Research Fellowship. Dotter is a PhD student.
Lindsey Feitz was a finalist for a Graduate Teaching Assistant Award at the April 23 Graduate Studies Awards Ceremony for her work as an American Studies GTA. She was also awarded a Summer Research Fellowship for summer 2008. Feitz earned her MA in 2006 and is a current PhD student.
Ruben Flores, Assistant Professor, has been appointed an external research fellow for 2008-2009 by the Institute for Historical Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He will be working on his book manuscript, "Forging an American Pluralism", which examines the influence of the Mexican Revolution on the American civil rights movement.
Ivan Goldman will be publishing two novels in 2009. The Barfighter (The Permanent Press) will be released in April, and Exit Blue (Black Heron) will be published in December. Goldman earned his MA in 1967.
Howard Graham was a finalist for a Graduate Teaching Assistant Award at the April 23 Graduate Studies Awards Ceremony for his work as a Humanities and Western Civilization GTA. Graham is an MA student.
Luba Guinzbourg was awarded a Summer Research Fellowship for summer 2008. Factors that were considered include appointment as a teaching assistant, recommendation from the department, and superior academic performance. Guinzbourg is a PhD student.
Ebony Howard is the recipient of the Alexis F. Dillard Student Involvement Award. The award goes to a graduating senior who has unselfishly contributed to the university through campus involvement. Howard will receive her BA in May 2008.
Sirkka (Bertling) Howes was interviewed by Bill Radke on the radio program Weekend America about Shirley MacLaine and the Rat Pack, which aired November 10, 2007. Howes earned her MA in 2004.
Jameson Reece Jones was selected to clerk for US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Jones earned a BA in American Studies in 2003.
Monique Laney is the winner of the Richard and Jeanette Sias Graduate Dissertation Fellowship from the Hall Center for the Humanities. The fellowship will support writing and research on her doctoral dissertation, “National History and Transnational Memory: How German Rocket Engineers Became Americans in Huntsville, Alabama.” Laney is a PhD student.
Hilary Lowe will receive a Summer Research Fellowship for summer 2008. Factors that were considered include appointment as a teaching assistant, recommendation from the department, and superior academic performance. She is also the winner of a Quarry Farm Fellowship from the Center for Mark Twain Studies. Lowe is a PhD student.
Ray Pence, Lecturer, will have six articles published in the 2009 edition of the Encyclopedia of American Disability History: "Barbara Jordan," "Thomas Szasz," "Thadine Hedges Maytum," "Patrisha Wright," "National Association of the Physically Handicapped," and "Not Dead Yet." His article "People with Disabilities Get Ready: Curtis Mayfield in the 1990s" will be published in the 2008 Review of Disability Studies. Pence was also honored on May 5 at the KU Center for Teaching Excellence annual Celebration of Teachers event. He was chosen for this award by undergraduate American Studies students. Pence received his PhD from KU in 2006.
Caitlin Shanks received an Undergraduate Research Award for Spring 2008 from the University Honors Program and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. To be considered for this award the selection committee reviewed the quality of the proposal, the student’s academic record and ability to complete the proposed research project, the project’s potential contribution to knowledge and the educational value of the research to the student. Her proposal was titled: “The Picture Book Princess as a Modern Role Model.” Shanks will receive her BA in May 2008.
Cheryl Ragar successfully defended her dissertation "Plunging into the Very Depths of the Souls of Our People: The Life and Art of Aaron Douglas" on April 1. Ragar has accepted a tenure-track position in the American Ethnic Studies program at Kansas State University.
Ann Schofield, Professor, has been awarded a Senior Fellowship at the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford for the 2008-2009 academic year. This fellowship will support writing and research on her book manuscript, The Age of Respectability: Gender, Class and Cultural Change in America, 1870-1920 which studies how respectability functions as a surrogate for class in an ostensibly classless society.
Emily Soener was selected to receive a Harley S. Nelson Scholarship for 2008-2009 from the University Honors Program. Soener is an undergraduate AMS major.
Max Stettner was awarded "Student Organization Member of the Year" at the Jayhawk Choice Awards for his role as a KU Hillel board member. Stettner is an AMS major.
Elizabeth Steuwe was awarded the Rusty Leffel Concerned Student Award, which is given to students who show a concern for furthering the ideals of the university and higher education. Steuwe will receive her BA in May 2008.
Damon Talbott successfully defended his MA thesis titled "Recommended by Duncan Hines: Automobility, Authority, and American Gastronomy" on April 10. He received honors for his defense.
Andrea Weis successfully defended her dissertation titled "Das Zweite Gesicht der Niederlage - Transnational Private Memories of German Prisoners of War in U.S. Captivity" on April 22.
Milton Wendland will have two academic encyclopedia entries published in 2008. His entries will be featured in LGBTQ America Today (ed. John C. Hawley) and Encyclopedia of Contemporary LGTBQ Literature of the United States (ed. Emmanuel Nelson). Wendland also passed his Oral Comps with honors on April 22. Wendland earned his MA in 2006 and is currently an American Studies PhD student.
Doretha William was awarded the Mellon Mays University Fellows Dissertation Grant from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. The fellowship will support writing and research on her dissertation, "Revisiting and Revisioning the Free State Narrative: Black Women and the Kansas Legacy, 1877-1954." Williams is currently a PhD student.
Megan Williams was named "Outstanding Woman in Partnership" by the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center. She was also a finalist for a Graduate Teaching Assistant Award at the April 23 Graduate Studies Awards Ceremony for her work as an American Studies GTA. Williams is also the author of "Negro Girls are Beautiful Too: Ebony Ladies, Postwar Pin-up Politics and Representations of Lena Horne in Ebony Magazine" which will be published in The Journal of American Studies. Williams is a 2006 MA graduate and is currently a PhD student.
Liz Yeager was awarded a Summer Research Fellowship for summer 2008. Factors that were considered include appointment as a teaching assistant, recommendation from the department, and superior academic performance. Yeager is a PhD student and AMS GTA.
