Congratulations to our Spring 2014 graduates!

We would like to extend our congratulations and best wishes to the following graduates of the American Studies program this spring. Go forth and do awesome things, everyone! Ph.D.Andrew FriedenthalEric CoveyAndy JonesLisa Powell M.A.Caroline Pinkston B.A. (this includes students who are both graduating and/or walking)Ogbaa Stephen AgwuRicardo Isaac AlanisPatrick W. ArnoldJeremy Kahn AronGrant Blessing BatesSabrina Christine BigelowCharlotte McHenry BlountSarabeth J. BrattonTaj Aimee BrunoCandace Morgan BundickMichelle Eileen BurdinAlyse Michelle CamusAndrea Nicole ChampionShannon Kay CollinsCollyn Lucille CooperGrace Gibson HansenMelissa Patrice HermanLauren Faye JacksonLillian Ann JeneveinMorgan Summer MachiorletteAndrew Aaron MartinezWilliam Ben MerrittMeghan Elizabeth QuirkElizabeth Adela RubioKelly Suzanne SalasLillie J. SchechterAmanda Michelle SejnowskiRyan William SteinhartDemetrius Jaron White

Announcement: congratulations to our 2013 graduate degree recipients!

We recently featured some of the fascinating theses from our graduating honors undergraduates, and we'd like to take a moment to congratulate some of our graduate students who will be graduating this spring and summer. Way to go, everybody!Greg Seaver, MAWAKE-UP ARTISTS: MAXIMALIST VOICE IN THE NONFICTION OF JAMES AGEE, LESTER BANGS, AND DAVID FOSTER WALLACESherri Sheu, MABecky D'Orsogna, Ph.D.YOGA IN AMERICA: HISTORY, COMMUNITY FORMATION, AND CONSUMERISMTony Fassi, Ph.D.MANUFACTURING RUINKatie Feo Kelly, Ph.D.ORGANIZING THE AMERICAN DOMESTIC INTERIOR: 1978-2010Rebecca Onion, Ph.D.SCIENCE AND THE CULTURE OF AMERICAN CHILDHOOD, 1900-1980

Undergrad Research: A Post-Grad Post from David Juarez

One of our favorite aspects of American Studies as a broad, interdisciplinary field is that it enables students to pursue any number of interests and activities both during school and after graduation. We've asked our graduating seniors to write a quick reflection on their time in the American Studies department and to share what amazing things they'll be up to next. We begin this series with some words from David Juarez.Being an American Studies major at UT over the past three years has been many things: incredible, eye-opening, thought-provoking, intellectually stimulating, challenging, and phenomenal. I’ve had the opportunity to take classes that still impact how I think about and analyze the texts, art, people, and the world around me. I’ve also been fortunate to work with some of the most intelligent teachers, professors, and students I’ve ever met. To say I’ve changed my ways of living, creating, thinking, and working since I came to UT would be a gross understatement.I’ve wanted to be an American Studies professor since my junior year of high school and my time spent at UT has not deteriorated that pursuit in the least. In fact, it’s made it stronger than ever. To me, American Studies has become a field so entrenched in my personality and character I can’t imagine being anywhere else in the world right now than in this area and in this department.After graduation, I will be returning to UT in the fall as an American Studies graduate student. This means I will have the opportunity to forge deeper relationships with the amazing people I’ve met so far in the department, as well as new ones with my own incoming cohort. I don’t think it’s time for me to leave this institution. There’s still so much to learn and so much to do here that to leave it now would be preposterous. I’m just glad that the university, and most importantly, the department, wants me back just as much as I’d like to return.Here’s to the department that’s treated me so well during these three wonderful years, and to the many more years to come! Cheers!

Announcement: MA Graduate to Speak at Commencement

This weekend is Commencement at the University of Texas, and we'd like to again offer our hearty congratulations to all of those in the department who will be leaving with BAs, MAs, and Ph.D.s!We'd also like to share some related news about one particular student: Carrie Andersen, who will be graduating with an MA, has been selected to speak at the University-wide Commencement Concert that immediately precedes the procession of degree candidates in the main mall. She recently completed her MA report on representations of Kennedy's assassination in videogames, and how they reconstruct historical memory and political ideology, and she'll continue on in the program as a Ph.D. student.Her remarks at Commencement will center on a decidedly more whimsical topic: the recent internet celebrity known as Double Rainbow Guy.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI]

The concert begins at 7:20pm on Saturday, May 19 in front of the Tower. If you're not in Austin, you can watch the webcast here.