American Studies selected to host two featured speakers for the 2010 Commons University Lecture Series: “Writing Jazz”
American Studies will host two of the three featured speakers who will participate in the 2010 University Lecture Series at The Commons. The theme for this year’s series is “Writing Jazz.”
On February 25, 2010, American Studies and English will co-host a lecture by Fred Moten, Associate Professor of the Department of English at Duke University, and author of In the Break: The Aesthetics of the Black Radical Tradition (University of Minnesota Press, 2003). http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/English/fmoten
On March 9th, American Studies will host Tammy Kernodle, Associate Professor of Musicology at University of Miami, Ohio, and author of Soul on Soul: the Music and Life of Mary Lou Williams. http://arts.muohio.edu/music/people/faculty-listing-bios/tammy-kernodle. Dr. Kernodle’s talk will is entitled, ““Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit: Constructing Black Women’s Conversion Narratives in Jazz”
The University Lecture Series at The Commons is sponsored by the University of Kansas Honors Program in association with The Commons, a partnership among the Biodiversity Institute, the Hall Center for the Humanities, and the Spencer Museum of Art. The Commons fosters the exploration of nature and culture across the sciences, arts, and humanities
Julia Barnard,sophomore in History and Sociology, daughter of Cheryl Lester, Director of American Studies and Phillip Barard, Professor in English is a 2009-2010 Hall Center Scholar. Julia is a member of the Student Advisory Board of the Spencer Museum of Art, and serves as leader of the Student Advisory Board at the Dole Institute.
Earl H. Brooks was recently selected as a Hall Center Scholar for the upcoming 2009/2010 academic year and will have the opportunity to help with the Humanities Lecture Series and to meet with prominent scholars. He was also selected by the Honors Program as a nominee from KU to the Rhodes Scholars Competition, which funds two years of study at the University of Oxford for thirty-two recipients nationwide.
Earl is a senior from Topeka, Kansas and a double major in Music and American Studies. His research areas include jazz history, race and ethnicity, and African American literature. Earl served as vice president to the Black Student Union in the 07/08 academic year and is a member of Black Men of Today and International Gospel Voices. He is also a participant in the Deans Scholars Program and the McNair Scholars Program. He has conducted research under Dr. Maryemma Graham in the English Department and is currently working with Dr. Randal Jelks in the American Studies Department in his second McNair Scholars research internship. 
Sherrie Tucker was one of the keynotes for the tenth Feminist Theory and Music Conference, "Improvising and Galvanizing," held in University of North Carolina, Greensboro, Sherrie Tucker conducted an oral history workshop and on-stage interview with former members of the Darlinettes, an all-woman jazz band during World War II. The Darlinettes were a student-organized, rehearsed, and maintained jazz band that operated outside the official sanction (and without approval of professors, house mothers, and many parents) of Women's College, which later became UNC Greensboro. In conjunction with UNC's University Archives, Development Office, and Music Department, the oral history workshop and on-stage interview were audio taped and will be deposited into the archives at UNCG. Seven former Darlinettes shared their stories.
Sherrie Tucker published an article in Jazz Perspectives Vol. 3, Issue 1, 2009 entitled "Beyond the Brass Ceiling: Dolly Jones Trumpets Modernity in Oscar Micheaux's 'Swing!' "
Sherrie Tucker published an article in the Critical Studies in Improvisation/Etudes Critiques en Improvisation Vol. 4, No.2 (2008) entitled "When Did Jazz Go Straight?: A Queer Question for Jazz Studies"
Richard Schur, PhD 2000 University of Kansas, now Associate Professor and Director of Interdisciplinary Studies at Drury University was awarded the Joe Weixlman Award by the African American Review. This award is given in recognition of the year's best essay on 20th-and 21st century literature. Richard received this award for his article "Post-Soul Aesthetics in Contemporary African American Art," which appeared in the Winter 2007 issue of African American Review.
Xiangyi Huang has successfully passed her MA Thesis "How Japanese is Wii? The Reception and Localization of Japanese Video Games in America" on June 11, 2009 with Honors.
Three American Studies Undergraduate students are awarded McNair Summer Internships.
Joshua David Gapetz, junior in American studies and political science; Lake Weir High School, Ocala, Fla.; 2009 McNair Summer Research Internship.
Jennifer Karen Hurst, senior in American studies; 2009 McNair Summer Research Internship.
Earl Holmes Brooks, senior in American studies and music, son of Earl and Vanessa Brooks; Highland Park High School; 2009 McNair Summer Research Internship.
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Sherrie Tucker presented her paper "Together, but Unequal: Democratic Dancing at the Hollywood Canteen" on April 17, 2009 at the Dance Music Sex Romance: Pop and the Body Politic conference in Seattle, Washington.
Ben Chappell presented his paper titled "Lowrider Cars: Vernaculars, Mediation, and Agency in Automobility" at the Identities and Technoculture/Mid-America American Studies Association Conference at the University of Iowa on April 3, 2009.
Hong Cai was awarded a 2009 Summer Research fellowship. Hong will do his research in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California collecting information on Chinese women in the United States
Megan Williams was awarded a 2009 Summer Research fellowship. Megan will be doing research on her Dissertation titled " Not Quite Black and White: Representing Jewishness in the Autobiographical Practices of Hettie Jones, LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka, and Lisa Jones" She plans to defend her dissertation by the end of December.
Said Abdourazak Said successfully passed his MA exam on April 27, 2009.
Hai Cao defended her MA thesis entitled "Stories of Past and Present: An Analysis of the LIfe Narratives by Vietnamese Americans of the 1.5 Generation" on April 23, 2009.
Ailecia Ruscin passed her Oral Comprehensive for Doctorate on April 23, 2009.
Anne Dotter successfully defended her PhD titled "Transnational Cultural Transactions Distributing American Teen-Girl-Films in France, 1986-2006" on Friday, April 24, 2009 with Honors.
Jacob Bustad passed his MA thesis exam on April 14, 2009. His thesis title is "One Hundred Per Cent American", Nationalism, Masculinity and American Legion Junior Baseball in the 1920's.
Four graduate students Michelle McCudden, Chris Robinson, Rich Housh and Pete Williams in Sherrie Tucker's AMS 998 seminar "Interdisciplinary Approaches to Music as Culture", developed a web site named "Tracing Trees and Other Ramifications". The graduate students in collaboration with students in Michelle Heffner Haynes' Dance 150 course, developed the web site that is now a part of an exhibit in the Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, through May.
See web site.
Sherrie Tucker taught a session on "Jazz and Gender" on March 28, 2009, at an NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) Faculty Humanities Workshop for middle-and high school teachers in St. Louis, MO. The workshop, entitled "The Impact of Jazz on American Life, " is directed by Dr. Gerald Early, Director, Center for the Humanities, Washington University, St. Louis.
Scott Han Sheu, junior in American Studies and English, was awarded an Undergraduate Research Grant for his project, " The Postcolonial Culinary Landscape in Modern London," for the Spring 2009
Professor Cheryl Lester will present her paper entitled "From Kinston to Beale Street: Sounding the Black Metropolis in Faulkner's Sanctuary" at the American Literature Association Conference in Boston on May 21-24, 2009.
Ailecia Ruscin, PhD student, has been award a Mary Lily Travel Grant from the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture. She will visit t the zine collection at the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University for research on her dissertation.
Liz Yeager, PhD student, will present her paper, "Understanding It: The Materiality of Space in Limestone, Maine, August 2-3, 2003", at the 12th annual Grateful Dead Caucus which is held in conjunction with the Southwest Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Associations annual meeting in Albuquerque, NM on February 26, 2009. While there, Liz will also serve as discussant on the panel, That Same Sweet Song Again: The Grateful Dead in the Nineties. Liz will also have two academic entries (Trey Anastasio and Jerry Garcia) published in Musicians and Composers of the 20th Century in May 2009.
Liz Yeager, PhD student, will participate in the New Research in Cultural Studies seminar at the Cultural Studies Associations annual meeting in April 2009 and give a presentation on her dissertation work titled, "The Elusive and Affective It: Cultural Memory, Space and Americas Contemporary Jamband Scene Identity Formation".
Liz Yeager, PhD student, gave a presentation on her dissertation topic entitled, "Searching for It: Cultural Memory, Space, and Identity Formation of Americas Contemporary Jamband Scene", at the Graduate Musicology Symposium at the University of Kansas on February 18, 2009.
Liz Yeager successfully defended her comprehensive exam on December 12, 2008.
Ruben Afagla recently received the Teacher of the Month Award. He was nominated by the Pi Beta Phi Sorority for this award in February. The sorority created this award in order to have better contact with the faculty and staff on campus. Each month members of the sorority submit names of professors, GTAs, etc. whom they feel have made an impact on them and their education. It is rare that a GTA is awarded this honor. The Sorority hosted a dinner in his honor to present him with a certificate and a gift for his contributions.
Monique Laney published a selection of her dissertation research in a chapter, titled “’Operation Paperclip’ in Huntsville, Alabama,” in Remembering the Space Age. Steven J. Dick, ed., Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2008, 89-107.
Monique Laney discussed some results of her dissertation research in a presentation titled, "Globalizing History in Huntsville, Alabama," as part of a panel on "Spaceflight, Place, and Memory in Global Setting" at the 123rd Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association at the Sheraton New York Hotel in New York City on January 4th, 2009.
Associate Professor Sherrie Tucker along with Michelle Heffner Hayes, Associate Professor, Dance, University of Kansas, co-presented on a panel on interdisciplinary and improvisation at at conference in Montreal on February 13, entitled Listening Bodies: A Symposium on Improvisation and Interdisciplinary Collaboration. This international symposium involved participants who were physically present in Montreal(of which Tucker was one), and virtually present (Heffner Hayes was present via SKYPE) and was sponsored by the McGill Centre on Research and Teaching on Women and the Improvisation, Community and Social Practices major research initiative sponsored by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Tucker and Heffner Hayes presented on the collaborative, interdisciplinary process of improvising a relationship between two simultaneous classes at the University of Kansas in Fall 2008: an American Studies graduate seminar entitled" Interdisciplinary Approaches to Music as Culture" and and undergraduate Dance class entitled "Improvisation"
Sherrie Tucker, Associate Professor, American Studies, will present her paper, "Dance Floor Democracy: The Social Geography of Memory at the Hollywood Canteen" at the War and American Identity conference held at the Clinton Institute for American Studies, University College of Dublin, Ireland, March 20-21, 2009
Associate Professor Sherrie Tucker presented the paper, "Dance Floor Democracy: The Social Geography of Memory at the Hollywood Canteen" at the Joint meeting of the Los Angeles History Research
Group and the Autry Center Western History Workshop at the The Autry Center, Griffith Park, Los Angeles on January 13, 2009. More information.
Associate Professor Sherrie Tucker, along with Nicole T. Rustin, published Big Ears: Listening for Gender in Jazz Studies, from Duke University Press, 2008. More information.
Assistant Professor Ben Chappell presented the paper "Mexican American Lowriders: Material Poetics as Subjugated Knowledges" as part of the panel "Movement and Cultural Traffic" at the Cultural Studies Association conference in Austin, TX on March 22, 2008. He says, "I was a member of a roundtable of lowrider researchers in a session attended by some of the lowrider car club members who had taken part in my field research."
Assistant Professor Ben Chappell reviewed Lisa García Bedolla's "Fluid Borders: Latino Power, Identity, and Politics" in Southern California Quarterly 90:3 (2008).
Assistant Professor Ben Chappell published the chapter "Lowrider Style: Cultural Poetics and the Politics of Scale" in Cultural Studies: An Anthology (Blackwell, 2008).
Assistant Professor Ben Chappell presented the paper "Mexican American Lowriders: Material Poetics as Subjugated Knowledges" as part of the panel "Movement and Cultural Traffic" at the Cultural Studies Association conference in New York City on May 22, 2008.
Milton Wendland will be presenting a paper titled "My Dark (Conference Hotel Room) Heart: A Polemics of Queer Sex" on the "Academic Conference Sex" panel at the Modern Language Association MLA Annual Convention in San Francison, CA, from December 26 to January 1. He received a travel grant from MLA to attend.
Elizabeth Miller successfully defended her comprehensive exam on May 27, 2008, successfully defended her dissertation prospectus on August 6, 2008, and presented a paper at the Rocky Mountain Interdisciplinary History Conference at the University of Colorado on September 20, 2008.
Assistant Professor Jacob Dorman presented the results of recent research at the inaugural Jesse B. Semple Brownbag Seminar of the new Langston Hughes Center at KU. The talk was titled "Circus, Shriners, and Fairs, Oh My!" and included material from research trips to Memphis and New York this summer, funded by KU's New Faculty General Research Fund and by the Gilder Lehrman Institute in New York.
Call for papers for Feminist Theory and Music 10. The tenth meeting of the international, biennial conference Feminist Theory and Music takes place at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, May 27-31, 2009. Line-up includes Sherrie Tucker s on-stage interview with former members of the Darlinettes, Greensboro's all-girl band of the WWII era; Yolanda Broyles-González, author of Lydia Mendoza's Life in Music; Tammy Kernodle, author of Soul on Soul, a biography of composer and pianist Mary Lou Williams; and a panel on Title IX, Music, and Academic Careers. Other special features of FTM 10 will include an opportunity to participate in a pre-conference half-day workshop on feminist ethnography/oral history with members of the Darlinettes, led by Sherrie Tucker, author of Swing Shift: All-Girl Bands of the 1940s. Send proposals (250 words) for scholarly papers by Nov. 1, 2008, to Elizabeth L. Keathley, elkeathl@uncg.edu. Be sure to include "FTM10 Proposal" in the subject line.
Monique Laney published an article, "Wernher von Braun and Arthur Rudolph: Negotiating the Past in Huntsville" Schulze, Mathias, James M. Skidmore, David G. John, Grit Liebscher, and Sebastian Siebel-Achenbach, eds. German Diasporic Experiences: Identity, Migration, and Loss. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2008, 443-454.
Anne Dotter was the recipient of the Hall Center Research and Writing grant this summer and will be giving a paper at the Hall Center on Sept. 10. She will also be giving a paper at the NYMASA 'Circulation' Conference Nov. 8.
Generations of University of Kansas students will benefit from two $10,000 endowed scholarships established in memory of a former KU professor's parents. The John S. and Yoshino Harmon Multicultural Scholars Award and the John S. and Yoshino Harmon Award in American Studies funds were established through KU Endowment by their children, former KU professor Chico Herbison, Olympia, Wash., and Tonya Farmer, Kansas City, Mo. Read the announcement.
Monique Laney of the University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc., has been awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation for support of the project entitled "Doctoral Dissertation Research: Immigration, Science, and the Cold War: Rehabilitating Nazi Germany's Rocket Engineers in Huntsville, Alabama," under the direction of Sherrie J. Tucker. This award is effective September 1, 2008 and expires August 31, 2009.
Luba Guinzbourg received an internship from the United Nations from September 15, 2008 to November 14, 2008
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.
