Successes of American Studies Alumni

  • Kellie Leonard
    Capstone Title: I'm with the Banned: Censorship in the High School English Classroom and its Impact on Educators
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rebecca Hill, Dr. Nathalia Jaramillo

    Kelly Hoomes
    Capstone Title: Victory Gardens: Helping on the Home Front - A Curriculum Outreach Project
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Jennifer Dickey, Dr. Lauren Thompson

    Malika David
    Capstone Title: Senegambia and The American South: Where Identity Belongs
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rudy Aguilar, Dr. Cherif Diop

    Serena Smith
    Capstone Title: Back to Black: Analyzing the Presence of White Control Over Black Representations in Media and the Responses of Black Creators
    Capstone Advisor: Dr. Kate Schaab

    Kaelyn Ireland
    Capstone Title: Reproductive (In)justice in Contemporary Dystopian Fiction: A Critical White Feminist Analysis of The Handmaid’s Tale (2017–) and Future Home of the Living God (2017)
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Kate Schaab, Dr. Lauren Thompson, Dr. Rudy Aguilar

    Isaiah Rogers
    Capstone Title: Shut Up and Dribble: The Political Contradictions of Black Masculinity in Sports
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rudy Aguilar, Dr. Catherine Lewis

    Lauryn Jennings
    Capstone Title: See Me Show Me: Black Women's Representation in Television Sitcoms
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Lauren Thompson, Dr. Larrie Dudenhoffer

  • Daisha Huiel
    Capstone Title: Motherland Drip: Examining Performativity in Southern Black Motherhood
    Capstone Advisor:s Dr. Griselda Thomas, Dr. Seneca Vaught 

    Breighlynn Polk
    Capstone Title: The Second Side: A Historic Retelling of African American Life in Iberia Parish, Louisiana
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rebecca Hill, Dr. Luciane Rocha

    Rasheed Hall
    Capstone Title: Rhythm as Pedagogy of the Oppressed: Using Rhythms as a Critical Pedagogy to Fight Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes in the Classroom
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Seneca Vaught, Dr. Luciane Rocha

  • Kara Ireland
    Capstone Title: The Vast Unsaid: Lesbian Erasure and Celebration
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Griselda Thomas, Dr. Ashley Shelden, Dr. Pete Rorabaugh 

    Rhonda L. Baldonado
    Capstone Title: The Foundation and Center of American Studies; An Introduction to Native American Histories and Cultures - A Syllabus
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Stacy Keltner, Dr. Miriam Brown Spiers

  • Austin Wilson
    Capstone Title: Irradiated Playground: The Georgia Nuclear Aircraft Laboratory and the Legacy of the United States Nuclear Project
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Robbie Lieberman, Dr. Rebecca Hill, Dr. Tom Okie

    Andrea Putala
    Capstone Title: Can You See Me? Re-Centering Biracial Voices Through Chicana Intervention in Children's Literature
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Stacy Keltner, Dr. Rodolfo Aguilar, Dr. Sanjuana Rodriguez

    Jessica Mcdaniel
    Capstone Title: The Stories We Tell: Gender-Based Variances in Recovery Narratives
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Stacy Keltner, Dr. Nirmal Trivedi

    Felicia Glover
    Capstone Title: Endless Scrolling: Technology, (Dis)Connection, and Place in Times of COVID-19
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Stacy Keltner, Dr. Nirmal Trivedi

  • Claudia Lynn Zibanejadrad 
    Capstone Title: Service and Citizenship: Examining the Historical Relationship between Immigration and Military Service in the United States
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Jennifer Dickey, Dr. Tom Okie, Dr. Catherine Lewis

    Jacqueline Winters-Allen 
    Capstone Title: Jewish Identity on American Television and Viewer Attitudes in an Era of Rising Anti-Semitism
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rebecca Hill, Dr. Catherine Lewis

    Dudgrick Bevins
    Capstone Title: Tense Familiarity: Psycho and the Origins, Effects, and Pedagogy of the Trans-Coded Monster
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Stacy Keltner, Dr. David A. King

  • Olivia Hopkins
    Capstone Title: In the Queue for 'Cue: Consumption, Production, Power, and the Future of North Carolina Barbecue
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rebecca Hill, Dr. Tom Okie

    Jessica Duvall
    Capstone Title: Exploring Politics and Pedagogy of Safe Spaces in Higher Education
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Ugena Whitlock, Dr. Cameron Greensmith

    Jessica Fisher
    Capstone Title: Transgender Digital Embodiments: Questions of the Transgender Body in the 21st Century
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Stacy Keltner, Dr. Debarati Sen, Dr. Amy Donahue

    Jean Potter
    Capstone Title: Protest Music of the 1960s-1970s in Latin America and the United States: Exploring Transcultural Connections
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rudy Aguilar, Dr. Robbie Lieberman

    Johnny Ivansthenko
    Capstone Title: The Jeremiads: A Screenplay
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. David King, Dr. Gabrielle Fulton

  • Elizabeth Hensley
    Capstone Title: The Pride of America: Cruise Ship Hospitality in Transnational Perspective
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Stacy Keltner, Dr. Charles Parrot

    Gayle Anderson 
    Capstone Title: "Life is Very Hard Here": A Comparative Analysis of Central American Migrants in El Norte & Enrique's Journey
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rodolfo Aguilar, Dr. Ernesto Silva

    Mark Green
    Capstone Title: Stumbler: A Screenplay
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Robbie Lieberman, Dr. David King, Bill Rice

    Ben Rogers
    Capstone Title: Memory & Media
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Larrie Duedenhoeffer, Dr. Sergio Figueiredo

    Nicole Askew
    Capstone Title: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy & Approaches to Curriculum
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Nichole Guillory, Dr. Griselda Thomas

  • Kristen Walker
    Capstone Title: Revoluntionary Everyday
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Robbie Lieberman, Dr. Karen Robinson, Dr. Rebecca Hill

    Camille Kleidysz
    Capstone Title: Secrets of Morgan Hill
    Capstone Advisor: Dr. Griselda Thomas, Dr. Thomas A. Scott

    Meya Hemphill
    Capstone Title: Watching Race: A Look into Black Femininity and Masculinity/Trauma & Gender in Luke Cage and Empire
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Griselda Thomas, Dr. Nichole Guillory

    Stefano Milkidis
    Capstone Title: Re-Queering Space & Time: An Inquiry into Manhattan's Lost & Waterfront
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rebecca Hill, Dr. Ariel Eisenberg

    Alexandra Vuich
    Capstone Title: Between the Rural and Suburban: The Social, Political, & Economic Dynamics of Policing Forsyth County, Georgia
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rebecca Hill, Dr. Matthew L. Mitchelson

    Anna Tussey
    Capstone Title: "We Ran a Different Schoool Within a School": Educator Perceptions of Guatemala-Maya Students in a North Georgia Public School System
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rebecca Hill,  Dr. Amanda Rochey, Dr. Alan LeBaron

    Stephanie Hogue
    Capstone Title: Pink is the New Bull: The Feminization of Pit Bulls in Visual and Literary Discourses as a Rescue Tactic
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Griselda Dr. Thomas, Dr. Laura Beth Daws

    Christi Williams
    Capstone Title: American Horror Story: The Dark Side of the American Dream
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Robbie Lieberman, Dr. Larrie Duedenhoeffer

    Tanya Brinkley
    Capstone Title: Practicing Equality: A Gender and Women's Studies Course for Social Workers: A Curriculum Development Capstone Project
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Ariel Eisenberg, Dr. Stacy Keltner, Dr. Ugena Whitlock

    Lissa Small
    Capstone Title: "What is My Environment, I will Change": Exploring the Possibilities of Trans-Feminism Through KSU Middle Eastern and North African Students
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Stacy Keltner, Dr. Dan Paracka

    Kristy Ventre
    Capstone Title: Jeep Nation: Wilderness Ideology & the American Icon
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Albert Way, Dr. Larrie Duedenhoeffer

  • Naznin Sultana
    Capstone Title: Unmasked Gospels: Islam, Islamophobia, & Ideologies of Bangladeshi Muslims in Atlanta
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rebecca Hill, Dr. Debarati Sen, Dr. Ken Williamson

    Vanessa Schill
    Capstone Title: The Importance of Teaching Media Literacy: A Cultural Approach to Navigating Media Landscapes
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rebecca Hill, Dr. Erin Ryan

    Aajay Murphy
    Capstone Title: Tracing Coffee, Culture, and Coloniality Between a Core (U.S.) and a Periphery (El Salvador) Through the Lens of Third-Wave Ideations
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Jesse Benjamin, Dr. Ernesto Silva

    Heather Harris
    Capstone Title: Video Documentary on Van Dwellers
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Sergio Figueiredo, Dr. Linda Niemann

    Paola Garcia
    Capstone Title: Decolonial Interstice in Carnaval Montevideanos: Murga as Hegemonic Dissent at the Tablado de Berrio
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Debarati Sen, Dr. LeeAnn Lands

    Walt Tillman
    Capstone Title: Time and Nationhood: The United States and Indigenous Nations
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Kathryn Walkiewicz, Dr. Heather Pincock

    Gabriel Greaves
    Capstone Title: Hidden Black and Brown Bridges: The Mutual Influences of Dr. Martin Luther King and Hispanic Theologian Dr. Justo González
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Seneca Vaught, Dr. Jaime Ortiz

  • Robert Hadaway
    Capstone Title: Dramaturgy: Kurt Weil's Street Scene and the Immigrant Experience
    Capstone Advisors Dr. Ugena Whitlock, Dr. Jenn Soleo-Shanks

    Ashley McFarland
    Capstone Title: Cooking and Eating the Other: Contemporary Representations of Domestic Workers in Popular Media
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Stacy Keltner, Dr. Griselda Thomas

    Nilufer Gokmen
    Capstone Title: A Journey of Tears: What They Don't Tell You About America: A Memoir
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rebecca Hill, Dr. Linda Niemann

    Emmie Trull
    Capstone Title: There is No 'I' in Team: A Look at Gender Equality in Collegiate Athletic Attendance
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Robbie Lieberman, Dr. R. Keith Tudor

    Daniel Blaine McCarty
    Capstone Title: The Legends of Big Foot: Or How I Regained My Manhood
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rebecca Hill, Dr. Larrie Duedenhoffer

    Sean Watkins
    Capstone Title: The Turning Point of Who Shall Be Master: Killer of Sheep: Naming, Gender, and the Gaze of the African American Women
    Capstone Advisor:s: Dr. Robbie Lieberman, Dr. David King

    Christine DeBord
    Capstone Title: "'Cause I'm Young & I'm Black & My Hat's Real Low": Race, Hip-Hop, & Transformations in the NBA During the Late 1990s & Early 2000s
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Robbie Lieberman, Dr. Rebecca Hill

    Nykia Hannah
    Capstone Title: "I'm Rich Bitch": Black Class Performance & the New Nouveau Riche
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rebecca Hill, Dr. Griselda Thomas

    Yen Rodriguez
    Capstone Title: The Triple Double: Racially Ambiguous Afro-Latino Identities in America
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Jesse Benjamin, Dr. Ernesto Silva, Ken Maffitt

    Nykkeshia Wilson
    Capstone Title: The Marriage of Charles and Rose Ward Tutty: Racial Identity and Intermarriage in Turn of the Century America
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Randy Patton, Dr. Rebecca Hill

  • Ann Burkly
    Capstone Title: Nomination to the National Register of Historical Places: Warden's Residence, McNeil Island, Washington
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Catherine Lewis, Dr. Jennifer Dickey

    Amber Martinez
    Capstone Title: Japanese American Internment: A Tragedy of War
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Catherine Lewis, Dr. Jennifer Dickey

    Shelley McGinnis
    Capstone Title: "Haunted by the Spirits of Men in Blue and Grey": The "Ghosts of Marietta" Tour, Selective History, and the Construction of Local Identity
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Linda Niemann, Dr. Linda Stewart

    Crystal Money
    Capstone Title: Nonprofit Organizations and the Ever-Changing Culture of the American Society: An Analysis of Values and Support
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rebecca Hill, Dr. Linda Johnston

    Ilham Ramram
    Capstone Title: Marginalizing Muslims as the Other: Dominant and Persistent Prejudicial Imagery, Discourse, and Policy of the United States
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Dan Paracka, Dr. Anne Richards, Dr. Maia Hallward

    Joann Trodahl
    Capstone Title: The Salzburger Story and Its Legacy in Rincon, Georgia
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Catherine Lewis, Dr. Jennifer Dickey

  • Meghan Griffin
    Capstone Title: Gay and Lesbian Comic Book Characters
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Julia Brock, Dr. Jennifer Dickey

    Juan Carlos Trejo
    Capstone Title: The Vietnam War and its Detrimental Effects on Chicanos
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Alan LeBaron, Dr. Randall Patton

    Mary Elizabeth Tyler Boucebci
    Capstone Title: The Adventures of Aziz and Hyar: An Exploration of Gender Roles and Marriage in Muslim-American Reality TV
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. David King, Dr. Anne Richards

  • Emily Dolezal
    Capstone Title: The Innocents Abroad?: Examining Reasoning Behind Conscious Cultural Transgressions Performed by Central Asian Peace Corps Volunteers
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Todd Harper, Dr. Alan LeBaron

    Judith Obiofuma
    Capstone Title: Factors Influencing the Enrollment, Retention, and Graduation Rate of African American Males at ÁñÁ«»ÆÊÓƵ
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Jennifer Wade-Berg, Dr. Seneca Vaught

    Michael Irving
    Capstone Title: Place and the ESOL Student in the Middle School Environment
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. LeeAnn Lands, Dr. Linda Niemann

    Annie Moye
    Capstone Title: "Blue-Haired Ladies and Mumbling Rednecks": Preserving Pasaquan Through Community Engagement
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. LeeAnn Lands, Dr. Diana McClintock

  • Wende Ballew
    Capstone Title: Religious Control Within Georgia's Women's Prisons and How It Influences Sexual Identities
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. LeeAnn Lands, Dr. Ugena Whitlock, Dr. Rebecca Hill

    Karen Burton
    Capstone Title: Traumatic Family Narratives in a Cosmopolitan World: Identity in American Third Generation Holocaust Survivors
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Catherine Lewis, Dr. Linda Johnston

    Anna Golden
    Capstone Title: Identity Theft: HOAs and the Cultivation of Exceptional Whiteness
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rebecca Hill, Dr. LeeAnn Lands

    Emily Fox
    Capstone Title: Preserving Roswell: The Voices of Historic Preservation in Roswell, Georgia
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Linda Stewart, Dr. LeeAnn Lands

    Mandy McGrew
    Capstone Title: A Balanced Approach to Health: Understanding the Health Care Practicies of Guatemalan Maya in the United States
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Alan LeBaron, Dr. Kenneth Maffitt

    Kaci Schmitt
    Capstone Title: Exploring Dress and Behavior of the Emo Subculture
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Rebecca Hill, Dr. Ugena Whitlock

  • Kyra Whitton
    Capstone Title: Women as Subject and Audience in World War II Venereal Disease Posters
    Capstone Advisors: Dr. Elsa Nystrom, Dr. Joe Thomas

 

Testimonials

Anna Tussey: "During my time as a Master's student in American Studies, I was able to personalize my course of study to better fit my professional desires. I emphasized the study of Education. Currently, I work as a high school teacher in an alternative program for Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE)."

Sean Watkins: "When I reflect on my education in the ÁñÁ«»ÆÊÓƵ MAST program, I realize the program prepared me in unpredictable ways for my career. Through workshops with incredibly supportive classmates, and professors who were nothing short of champions, I was challenged to discover a voice I didn’t know I had. I find myself building on my MAST education, able to communicate and collaborate in new ways as I further my education at Harvard University with a Master of Science in Theology."

Tanya Brinkley: "I am an Army retiree. I was drawn to the KSU MAST Program because I wanted to do further study of identities and social construction theories. The American Studies Graduate degree made a difference in my career because the school where I now work was hiring faculty with interdisciplinary experience. I’m able to do the exact work I’d like to do, part instructing, part advocacy and activism."

Annie Moye: "While a student in the MAST program, I was able to provide real-world, practical solutions for my community partners at the Pasaquan Preservation Society (PPS). My Capstone project was also included in a major grant proposal, which led to a multi-million-dollar restoration project at the art environment known as Pasaquan in southwest Georgia. Today, I’m the chair of the PPS, and it is impossible for me to imagine these happy circumstances without the work I did and the people I met in KSU’s MAST program."

Mandy McGrew: "The MAST program changed the way that I see the world; it opened my mind to the many varied perspectives of everyone around me and helped me take a critical view of everyday experiences. This practice has helped me to be successful in my career as an educational developer where I work with faculty and students from different backgrounds, motivations, and views of the world. The high expectations set by my professors and faculty mentors in the program showed me what I was capable of accomplishing."

Jacqueline Winters-Allen: "The MAST program at ÁñÁ«»ÆÊÓƵwas a great way to do in-depth graduate study on a variety of topics in American culture and history. The interdisciplinary nature allowed me to take classes toward both my professional goals and personal interests. Through MAST, I was also able to participate in a study abroad program in Oaxaca, Mexico for 2 weeks during the summer — it was an amazing opportunity I will never forget."

Ashley McFarland: "The MA in American Studies opened doors for me. Before this program, I did not know what I wanted to do professionally other than find a way to earn a living writing. I especially did not envision a career in academia, because I wasn't a particularly involved undergraduate. I stayed quiet, completed my work, and hurried off campus as quickly as I could once class was over. My experience in graduate school was completely different. Though the program was rigorous, I learned I enjoyed the challenge. I learned that I liked unpacking difficult theoretical concepts and talking about them with others. I learned that I could do something with my passion for social justice.

I loved the flexibility of the program. The students I took classes with all came from different academic backgrounds. I was an English undergrad, but I learned with students with degrees in Theatre and Performance Studies, History, Education, Sociology, Anthropology, and Business. The faculty I studied under are brilliant, dedicated, and passionate about helping students succeed. Since I have graduated, I continue to collaborate with some of my professors from American Studies for writing projects, conference presentations, scholarly service work, and activism."