Announcement: Congratulations to our newly minted Ph.D.s!

Enormous congratulations to the following graduate students who are now, as of this weekend's commencement festivities, official Ph.D. recipients. We are so proud of them!Sean Cashbaugh"A Cultural History Beneath the Left: Politics, Art, and the Emergence of the Underground During the Cold War"Supervisor: Randolph LewisBrendan Gaughen"Practices of Place: Ordinary Mobilities and Everyday Technology"Supervisor: Jeff MeikleJosh Holland"Kurt Hahn, the United World Colleges, and the Un-Making of Nation"Supervisor: Julia MickenbergLily Laux"Teaching Texas: Race, Disability and the History of the School-to-Prison Pipeline"Supervisor: Shirley ThompsonSusan Quesal"Dismantling the Master's House: The Afterlife of Slavery in the Twentieth-Century Representations of Home"Supervisors: Shirley Thompson and Stephen MarshallKirsten Ronald"Dancing the Local: Two-Step and the Formation of Local Cultures, Local Places, and Local Identities in Austin, TX"Supervisor: Steve HoelsherJackie Smith"Black Princess Housewive and Single Ladies: Renee Cox's Housewife Enactments and The Politics of Twenty-First Century Wealthy Black Womanhood"Supervisor: Shirley Thompson

Announcement: Dr. Heather A. Williams, "The Emotional Violence of Slavery"

We would love to draw your attention to a series of events transpiring on campus TODAY (Tuesday, March 29) at 4:00pm and tomorrow (Wednesday, March 30). Dr. Heather A. Williams (The University of Pennsylvania) will be delivering two Littlefield Lectures: today's is entitled "The Emotional Violence of Slavery" and tomorrow's is "Murder on the Plantation."The events will take place in the Glickman Conference Room in the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) Building, and they are sponsored by the UT History Department.For more information about Dr. Williams, see her faculty page here.

Announcement: Dr. Maurie McInnis appointed UT Provost and Professor of American Studies

Earlier this week, University of Texas at Austin’s President Greg Fenves announced the appointment of Dr. Maurie McInnis as the University’s executive vice president and provost. In addition to her duties as the provost, Prof. McInnis will also be appointed as Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities #1 in the Department of American Studies.Prof. McInnis has long taught undergraduate courses in American Studies and Art History, including an innovative multi-disciplinary lecture class focused on the history and culture of the slave South. A former Chair of University of Virginia’s American Studies program, her interdisciplinary scholarship focuses on the relationship between politics and art in early America. Prof. McInnis’s most recent book, Slaves Waiting for Sale: Abolitionist Art and the American Slave Trade, was awarded the Charles C. Eldredge Book Prize from the Smithsonian American Art Museum for outstanding scholarship in American Art and the Library of Virginia Literary Award for non-fiction. Her scholarship has been long engaged with public history, and she has worked regularly with museums and historic sites. More details on Professor McInnis’s scholarship, research and accomplishments are available on her website.We are delighted to welcome Maurie McInnis to both the College of Liberal Arts, and the Department of American Studies!

Announcement: core and affiliate American Studies faculty explore relevance of 'Gone With The Wind'

Mark your calendars, everyone: on Wednesday, October 1 at 4:00pm, professors Daina Ramey Berry, Jacqueline Jones, Randolph Lewis, Thomas Schatz, and Coleman Hutchison will be participating in a panel discussion exploring Gone With The Wind's contemporary relevance, 75 years after its premiere in Atlanta.Dr. Lewis is a member of our core faculty, while Jones, Schatz, and Hutchison are American Studies faculty affiliates.The panel, held at the Harry Ransom Center, is a part of a series of events this semester occurring alongside the center's impressive and comprehensive Gone With The Wind exhibit, open until January 4, 2015.For more information, see the event announcement here.