Asim Ali (aali@umd.edu)
Asim Ali is a doctoral candidate. His research interests include cyberculture, media and television studies, race and slavery, and religion in American culture. He founded and directs the Project on Religion, Culture, and Globalization.
Aaron Bryant (aebryant@umd.edu)
Aaron’s research interests include African American arts, culture and social history, American social theory, life history, material culture and museum scholarship. Prior to enrolling at Maryland as a University Fellow, he worked as a project manager and consultant specializing in feasibility studies, marketing, operations, and strategic planning for performing arts centers and museums.
He is currently a Curatorial Research and Exhibit Design Fellow at the Historical Electronics Museum, a Lord Baltimore Fellow at the Maryland Historical Society, and a Burroughs-Wright Fellow with the Association of African American Museums.
A recipient of the Gertrude Johnson Williams Literary Award, Aaron’s articles have appeared in Black Enterprise, The Crisis Magazine, Africana.com and Blackenterprise.com. He is also a frequent contributor to Black Issues Book Review. In addition to a Masters in arts management from Yale, Aaron earned his Bachelors in History from Duke and certification in Arts Administration from New York University.
Cornelia Cody (codyhickox@aol.com)
Cornelia is a Ph.D. student. Her research
focuses on humor, specifically New York City humor. Her dissertation
will be on the humor elements of the New York City personal
experience narrative. Cornelia is an adjunct instructor at New York
University’s Tisch of the Arts. She teaches a course titled “What’s
So Funny About New York?” for the Undergraduate Drama department.
Maddy Fickes (mfickes@umd.edu)
Maddy is a Ph.D. student in American Studies. She received her Bachelor's degree in American Studies from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in May of 2007. Her primary research interests surround the disadvantages shared by young people growing up in extremely rural and/or urban settings that stem from the similarly low incomes of many families in such areas. In order to stay engaged and motivated in her work, she draws on her experiences surrounding her own upbringing in a tiny Pennsylvania town and her move to Baltimore to attend college. Also, she loves working face to face with people, and as a result, relies on ethnographic methods for most of her research projects.
Bethany M. Gibson (bgibson1@mail.umd.edu)
Bethany is a Master's student in the department. Her research interests are in gender studies, popular culture, and ethnography. She plans to study masculinities & femininities, sexualtiy, and gender and how these work together and are shaped by cultural narratives and media. Bethany completed her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Maryland in American Studies and Women’s Studies. Originally from Maryland, she is happy to have such a fantastic university so close to home.
Kenyatta Dorey Graves (kdg1906@umd.edu)
Kenyatta Dorey Graves is a second-year Ph.D. student in American Studies. His research interests include African American identity politics and the oral, written, and visual representations of black same-gender-loving men. Kenyatta’s general interests include literature, film, pop culture, folklore, and material culture. He earned a BA from George Mason University and an MFA from the University of Maryland. Kenyatta has published literary criticism and fiction and is a self-employed K-12 education consultant, specializing in curriculum, instruction and professional development for various school districts across the nation.
Beth E. Graybill (BGraybill@mccus.org)
Beth is ABD in American Studies. She is working with John Caughey
on her dissertation,"Negotiating Business: the Strategies of Amish Women
Entreprenuers in the Lancaster County, Pa., Tourist Market." Her
research interests include gender and material culture, women and religion,
women's work and small-business entreprenuership.
Patrick R. Grzanka (pgrzanka@umd.edu)
Patrick is a doctoral candidate in the department entering his fourth year of graduate studies. He is also the Assistant Director of Honors Humanities, an honors program for talented undergraduate students interested in intellectual work and careers in the humanities and fine arts. Patrick's research draws on sociology and social psychology and is concerned with the relationships between social attitudes and popular culture, with particular emphasis on the intersections of race, gender and sexuality. His dissertation project focuses on White guilt and employs quantitative and qualitative methodologies, reflecting his general interests in innovative interdisciplinary approaches. He has taught courses on social issues in popular culture, technology and American culture, history of the arts and humanities, and philosophy and social theory. Patrick has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the Philip Merrill College of Journalism.
Elizabeth M. Hagovsky (sinisterwisdom@yahoo.com)
Elizabeth is an M.A. student with interests in film theory and production,
with a specific focus on documentaries and ethnographic film.
Robb Hernandez (robbher3@umd.edu)
Robb Hernandez is a Ph.D. student in the program. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a B.A. in Ethnic Studies and a B.S. in Broadcast Journalism. He also holds a M.A. in Film and Television from UCLA. His research focuses on Queer Latina/o Visuality, Art Museum Preservation/Exhibition and Chicana/o Avant-Gardism and Contemporary Art in L.A. He is the Founder and Director of the Latina/o Studies Working Group, and pursuing a certificate in Museum Scholarship and Material Culture. He has taught courses in Black Social Protest Movements, Chicana/o History, Culture and Theory, and American Television History.
Kristen Hodge (hodgekristen@yahoo.com)
Kristen is a Ph.D student in American
Studies and she recieved her BA in English from Spelman College in 2004.
Her research interests include examining constructions and conceptions
of Black masculinity among Black male children, as well as urban education/curriculum,
and child development.
Bailey Kier (bkier@umd.edu)
Bailey is a Ph.D. student. His research interests include the
intersections of gender, class, race, and sexuality. He focuses on the
connections, contradictions, and meshing of queer and working class cultures.
Nicole King (nicoking_sc@yahoo.com)
Nicole is a is a doctoral student in American Studies. She has earned
a B.A. in English from Coastal Carolina University and a M.A. in Comparative
Literature and Cultural Studies from the University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque. Her master's thesis was on South Carolina’s roadside
tourist attraction “South
of the Border.” Her current research interests are in the politics
of leisure culture/popular culture, material culture, and southern
studies.
Rebecca Krefting (Beck) (beckortee@starpower.net)
Beck Krefting is finishing her fourth year as a doctoral student in American Studies where she studies women’s comic performance, most recently the work of Kathy Griffin. She earned a BA in English and Psychology at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and an MA in Women’s Studies at Ohio State University. She has been performing stand-up comedy and improv since 2001 and produced two all female comedy shows for Ladyfest Ohio in 2004. She is currently the assistant director for the Comedy Club, an after school program at Colonel E. Brooke Lee Middle School and a research assistant in African American Studies at UMCP. Her hobbies include biking, swimming, walking her dog and reality television, all of which she does laughing.
Henrike Lehnguth (lehnguth@umd.edu)
Henrike is a doctoral student in the department. She has also taught several classes in American studies and works currently as the Coordinator for Graduate Student Programs at the Center for Teaching Excellence. She has earned an equivalent of a B.A. at the Free University of Berlin and a Master's at the University of Texas in Austin. Her research interests include representations of the Middle East in literature, film, and newspaper discourse in the United States and Germany.
Justin Maher (justinmaher781@yahoo.com)
Justin Maher is a third-year PhD student in the American Studies program. He came to Maryland after receiving a BA in English and an MA in American Studies from the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Justin has worked on popular culture as it represents, relates to and engages with difference. His MA thesis and previous research has focused on queer sexualities in popular media. Currently, Justin is working on merging his investment in cultural representation and consumption with a newfound interest in the theorization of queer space and “community”/neighborhood building as it relates to issues of gentrification and urban planning.
Shayna Maskell (smaskell@umd.edu)
Shayna is a Ph.D. student in American Studies, as well as the Graduate Assistant for the Beyond the Classroom Living/Learning Program, which involves undergraduates in social justice issues and the nonprofit world. Her research interests involve the production and consumption of socio-political literature and music, and their effect on social movements, in 1960s and contemporary America. She received her B.A. from University of Pennsylvania in English, her Master's in Creative Writing at the University of Southern California, and has taught writing to undergrads for the last four years. She believes that avocadoes are underappreciated and that the Red Sox will win the World Series.
Johonna McCants (johonnam@yahoo.com)
Johonna McCants is a third year Ph.D. student and graduate
instructor whose work focuses on youth organizing, social movements,
and incarceration.
Her research investigates juvenile justice organizing among African-American
and Latino youth. Johonna also serves as a founding coordinator
of the Carceral Studies Working Group at the University of Maryland,
an interdisciplinary group engaged in research, education and activism
related to the incarceration of marginalized communities. She holds
Bachelors degrees in Journalism and Interdisciplinary Studies from
the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Teresa Moyer (tsmoyer@gmail.com)
Teresa Moyer is a Ph.D. student in American Studies who is pursuing a certificate in Museum Scholarship and Material Culture Studies. She holds a B.A. in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology from Bryn Mawr College and a M.A.A. in Applied Anthropology from the University of Maryland. Her current research focuses on the interpretation of the past and present at museums and parks. Other academic interests include the epistemology of material culture, curatorial method and theory, the question of relevance, and the application of archaeological resources to social justice issues. She has conducted numerous public history and archaeology projects with museums, national parks, and local historical organizations in the mid-Atlantic region. Her favorite cookie is chocolate chip.
Christine Muller (cmuller1@umd.edu)
Christine is a third-year Ph.D. student. Her primary interest in life
histories explores how people generate meaning from everyday life
through forms such as personal narrative. Specifically, she is
interested in the cultural implications of experiencing and witnessing
traumatic events such as September 11. She has a B.A. in history and
psychology and an M.A. in English from Villanova University, where she
also spent five rewarding years as Assistant Director of the
University's interdisciplinary Honors Program.
Jennifer Nolan-Stinson (jnolan2@umd.edu)
Jennifer is a Ph.D. candidate whose interests include ethnography and life history research and the uses of literature and reading in everyday lives. Her dissertation combines these interests by using life history methods to explore the roles that reading plays in the lives of avid readers. She has also taught a variety of classes in the American Studies department, service-learning courses within the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, and Freshman Composition. She holds a B.A. in English and Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in English from the University of Virginia.
Krista Park (krista.park@verizon.net)
Krista M. Park’s dissertation will examine lifestyle, constructions of identity, and American leisure practices through the lens of the marathon. Her methodologies include ethnography, discourse analysis, and spatial analysis using GIS. Tangential scholarly interests include methods of urban and social planning that encourage sustainable, healthy communities. Professionally, Krista is a full- time test preparation professional with an international test preparation, education, and media corporation. In her leisure time, Krista promotes positive portrayals of gay, lesbian, bi, and trans people in the media through her work with the DC-area fan group LambdaSF and the Gaylactic Spectrum awards (an annual award given to speculative fiction works with positive portrayals of GLBT individuals or lives). Finally, Krista trains for marathons and long distance bike rides.
Manon Parry (parrym@mail.nlm.nih.gov)
Manon Parry is a Curator in the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine, where she is currently developing an exhibition on global health planned for 2008. She was co-curator of the 2004 exhibition, “Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians,” as well as the traveling version now touring the United States. Manon has taught business history as a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), and classes on women and medicine and the history of biology as a graduate teaching assistant at the Johns Hopkins University. Her research interests include disability studies and the history of medicine, and her dissertation will explore the history of health communication in international family planning programs since the 1950s. The "Changing the Face of Medicine" online exhibition is available at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/changingthefaceofmedicine/ index.html
Christopher J. Pérez (chripere@gmail.com)
Christopher is a third-year doctoral student in the Department of American Studies. His work has been largely informed by poststructuralist thought, queer theory, and cultural studies scholarship. Christopher holds degrees in English Literature, Women's Studies, and American Studies. His current research interests include transnationalism, ethnography, and intersectional approaches to identity. Christopher's specific research in the Department of American Studies at University of Maryland is an ethnographic exploration of gay men living in the US under political asylum. Christopher also teaches "Introduction to Popular Culture and Cultural Studies" in the Department of American Studies and is the GSG representative for American Studies.
Dawn Reynolds (dawnrey@yahoo.com)
Dawn is a fourth year Ph.D. student and graduate instructor. Her research
applies narrative analysis, feminist theory, and disability studies to
examine how women shape their life narratives around trauma and
disability. She recently published an article in Sexuality Research and
Social Policy: Journal of the National Sexuality Resource Center
(http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/srsp.2007.4.1.40). Teaching
experience has included studies of autobiography, film, and material
culture in contemporary American society. Dawn holds a Bachelor's degree
in American Studies from Brandeis University.
A. Sandosharaj (asandosharaj@hotmail.com)
A. Sandosharaj is a doctoral candidate in American Studies. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from The Ohio State University and is interested in the utility of memoir/self-ethnography to critical race theory and poverty studies. She is especially interested in relationships between Black Americans and Model Minorities. Her work has appeared in Massachusetts Review, Subcontinental, Crab Orchard Review, Alligator Juniper, Bartleby, River City, American Literary Review and at addictedtorace.com.
Shelby Shapiro (shelshap@comcast.net)
Shelby is now a Ph.D. Candidate in American Studies working on a dissertation, tentatively titled "Words to the Wives: The Jewish Press, Immigrant Women, and Identity Construction, 1895-1925." From Shelby: "Goals: teaching and more research. I have continued as the English-language editor of _TSUM PUNKT/To the Point_, the small magazine put out by Yiddish of Greater Washington."
Jennifer
Stabler (js482@umail.umd.edu)
Jennifer is a Ph.D. student concentrating on historical archaeology,
cultural landscapes, and material culture. She is interested in the
formation and development of rural communities in Central Texas and
the role of women, children, and ethnic minorities in the farm economy.
She also works in the History Department for the Combined
Caesarea Expeditions, an archaeological project on the coast of
Israel, under the direction of Prof. Kenneth G. Holum.
Catherine Stewart Thomas (sbcsthomas@yahoo.com)
Catherine is a Master's student concentrating on 18th and 19th
century material culture and historic preservation. She also has full-time
job as Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts at the Baltimore Museum of
Art.
Wendy Marie Thompson (wmt@umd.edu)
Wendy Marie Thompson is a doctoral candidate whose areas of specializations are Chinese diaspora studies, contemporary mixed race identity, and travel/nature writing.
Judith Church Tydings (jtydings@xecu.net)
With an MA in History from St. John's University, New York, Judith is ABD in American Studies working with John Caughey. In her eighth decade herself, her dissertation, Yankee Women Coming of Age: Life Histories and Cultural Significance (the working title) explores the foreign terrain of old age with some old women. Thirty years after de Beauvoir's work, "we're still pioneering - this must be rough country indeed." (L. Marshall NWSA Journal 4/2006) Judith's interests include the nascent field of Age Studies, feminist gerontology, New England Studies, and contemporary American memoir.
Elise White (elisemwhite@yahoo.com)
Elise is a second-year Ph.D. student whose interests include 20th century
American literature and literary history, postcolonial studies, and
theories of racial construction and performance.
Amelia Wong (awong22@umd.edu)
Amelia Wong is a Ph.D. student in American studies whose dissertation research focuses on the interplay between digital technology and the concept of the museum. Other academic interests include public history, the collecting impulse, and architectural space; non-academic interests involve the pursuit of the perfect pie, the perfect handstand, good sightlines at concerts, and adequate knitting skills. She holds a B.A. in History/Art History from UCLA and has held several positions in humanities research in Los Angeles and the mid-Atlantic area.
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