American Culture Studies

MASTER'S CANDIDATES                          PHD CANDIDATES

Master's

Nathan J. Micinski 
Hometown: Branch, MI
Undergrad Institution and Degree: B.S. in Liberal Studies- Emphasis in Cultural Studies and Political Economy, Minor in Philosophy, Grand Valley State University
Research Interests: Political economy, religion, postcolonial theory, video game studies
Email: njmicin@bgsu.edu

Kelly Strauch
Hometown:  Laurel, MT
Undergrad Institution and Degree: B.A., English Literature, Montana State University
Research Interests: Contemporary American film and television
Email: kstrau@bgsu.edu

Yuan Shi 
Hometown: Xi'an, China
Graduate Institution and Degree: English, Xi'an International Studies University
Research Interests: American history
E-mail: shiy@bgsu.edu

James C. Vlisides 
Hometown: Saint Louis, MI
Undergraduate Institution and Degree: B.A., Political Theology, Grand Valley State University
Research Interests: Border discourses between reality and virtuality, video game ehtnographies as well as post-modern religious discourses
Webpage: http://jamesvgames.blogspot.com, http://faithfuloblivion.blogspot.com
Email: jamesv@bgsu.edu

Kaitlyn Wauthier 
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Undergraduate Institution and Degree: B.A., History and American Studies, American University
Research Interests: Everyday American culture, travel and tourism, the family unit, exercise culture
Email: kewauth@bgsu.edu

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PhD

Johni Amos 
Hometown: Dayton, OH
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.A., Sociology and Criminal Justice, Ohio Northern University; M.Ed., Higher Education Administration and Student Personnel, Kent State University
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Tattoos and the tattoo subculture, advertisements, film
Email: jamos@bgsu.edu

Katie Sullivan Barak 
Hometown: Denver, CO
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.S., Journalism and Media Studies, University of Colorado at Boulder; M.A., Popular Culture, Bowling Green State University
Dissertation Title: Spinsters, Old Maids, and Cat Ladies: A Case Study in Containment Strategies
Research Interests: Representations of women in the media, female athleticism, humor, film and television studies
Email: kbarak@falcon.bgsu.edu

Wonda Baugh 
Hometown: San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Undergrad/Grad Institution and Degrees: B.A., Interdisciplinary Studies in Women and Gender Studies and History, Arizona State University; M.A., Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Cincinnati
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Disability studies, television studies
Email: wbaugh@bgsu.edu

Lauren Chesnut
Hometown: Vancouver, WA
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees:  B.A., Linguistics, Macalester College; M.A., American Culture Studies, Bowling Green State University
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Paranormal investigation television, energy drinks, bro culture
Webpage: http://blonderandthinner.blogspot.com
Email: lchesnu@bgsu.edu

Diana DePasquale 
Hometown: All over the Garden State!
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.A., American Studies, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: "Who Let YOU in Here? Class Boundaries, American Sitcoms, Social Mobility and The New Normal"; television studies, comedy and humor studies, women in comedy, cult films, the on screen representation of women as harlots, horrors and healers.
Email: dianad@bgsu.edu

Dan Elkan 
Hometown: Buffalo, NY
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.A., Political Science, Seton Hall University; M.A., American Studies, University at Buffalo (SUNY)
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Race, masculinity and imperialism; U.S. and Caribbean history; late 19th and early 20th century studies
Email: daelkan@bgsu.edu

Daniel Fawcett 
Hometown: Syracuse, NY
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.A., English/Textual Studies, Syracuse University; B.S., Integrated Language Arts Education, BGSU; M.A., English, Bowling Green State University
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Technology and culture, informatics, digital humanities, psychogeography, posthumanism
Email: dfawcet@bgsu.edu

Sam Greene 
Hometown: Vermilion, OH
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.A., History, Ohio University; M.A., History, Bowling Green State University
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Ideology, media as a tool for disseminating ideology, consumerism and "American Exceptionalism" in 21st century politics
E-mail: greenes@bgsu.edu

Starlit Hill 
Hometown: Mesquite, NM
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: Bachelor and Masters of Criminal Justice, New Mexico State University
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Juvenile prison experiences, intersections of ethnicity and gender, Latino representation, social justice, power and masculinities
Email: schill@bgsu.edu

Mallory Jagodzinski 
Hometown: Temperance, MI
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.A., English, Michigan State University; M.A., Popular Culture, Bowling Green State University
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Romance novels; feminism; popular representations of love and romance; online communities of women;
Email: mjagodz@bgsu.edu

Tiffany L. Knoell
Hometown: Fayetteville, NC
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.A., History, Utah Valley University; M.A., American Culture Studies, Bowling Green State University
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Late 19th and early 20th century mass media, animation, consumer culture, memory, historical reenactment, living history, history as commodity
Webpage: http://www.tlknoell.net
Email: tknoell@bgsu.edu

Clare Lemke
Hometown: Milwaukee, WI
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.A., English and Women's Studies, University of Iowa; M.A., American Culture Studies, Bowling Green State University
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Third wave feminism; queer subcultures and literature; cultural and historical shifts in U.S. based feminisms; special interest in queer or non-normative femininities
Email: crlemke@bgsu.edu

Melinda Lewis 
Hometown: Indiana, PA
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.A., English- focuses in British/American Culture and Literature; Media Studies, Indiana University of Pennsylvania; M.A., American Culture Studies - thesis: “Renegotiating British Identity Through Comedy Television,” Bowling Green State University 
Dissertation Title: "'That's What She Said':  Politics, Transgression, and Women’s Humor in Contemporary American Television" (working title)
Research Interests: Humor Theory, Comedy performance, Television and Film Studies, Production Culture, Gender Studies
Email: mmlewis@falcon.bgsu.edu

Chris Lezotte 
Hometown: Detroit MI, residing in Ann Arbor, MI
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.F.A., Advertising Design, Wayne State University; M.L.S., Women's and Gender Studies, Eastern Michigan University
Dissertation Title: "Have You Heard the One About the 'Woman Driver'? Chicks, Muscle, Pickups, and the Reimagining of the Woman Behind the Wheel." (tentative title)
Research Interests: Automotive culture, women's and gender Studies, ethnography
Email: clezott@bgsu.edu

Zachary Morgan 
Hometown: Moosic, PA
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.As., Communication Studies and English, East Stroudsburg University; M.A., Communication Arts, Marywood University
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Mythology, technology’s effects on society, How does one construct an identity in relation to technology, work, 
consumerism, and mythology?

JoAnna R. Murphy 
Hometown: Grand Rapids, OH
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.A., Popular Culture, Bowling Green State University; M.A., Sociology, University of Toledo
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Fat studies, Foucauldian approaches to the body, social construction, popular culture
Webpage: http://www.facebook.com/Mrs.MurphDog?ref=tn_tnmn
Email: jmurphy@bgsu.edu

Nguyen Tuan An
Hometown: Ho Chi Minh City-Vietnam
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.A., English, University of Languages and international Studies-Vietnam National University; M.A., American Culture Studies, Bowling Green State University
Dissertation Title: Tickets to America: Vietnamese Immigrants in the New Millennium
Research Interests: Transnational identities, cultural diasporas, Vietnam studies, immigration, politics and refugees, Asian/Asian American studies
Email: antn@bgsu.edu

Justin Philpot 
Hometown: Beverly, MA
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.A., Hampshire College; M.A., Popular Culture, Bowling Green State University
Dissertation Title: Death, Power, Resistance: Suicide as a Cultural Object
Email: jmphilpot@gmail.com

Nicki Reamer 
Hometown: Tiffin, OH
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.A., Communication Studies, The University of Toledo; M.A., Communication Studies, Kent State University
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Most things mediated with a particular emphasis on feminist perspectives of popular television, video games and gaming culture, as well as the many ways in which audiences/viewers/users interact with these media to build and maintain culture, community, and identity; dissertation will focus, at least in part, on the ways in which video games can be used to build virtual communities and maintain geographically distant relationships.
Webpage: http://pk-techgirl.blogspot.com/
Email: nreamer@kent.edu

Christian Remse 
Hometown:  Munich, Germany
Graduate Institution and Degree: M.A., American Cultural History (Major), Theater (Minor), Psychology (Minor), Ludwig-Maximilians-University (University of Munich)
Dissertation Topic: Vodou and the U.S. counterculture
Webpage: www.christianremse.de
Email: cremse@bgsu.edu

Debbie Ribera
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Undergrad/Grad Institution and Degrees: B.A., Sociology, University of San Diego; M.S., Counseling, California State University at Los Angeles
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: The transmission of affect in international aid work; diversity education in urban public schools; documentary media representations of urban education; digital media representations of children in developing countries, critical pedagogy
Webpage: www.beyondtheblock.org
Email: dribera@bgsu.edu

Stephanie Salerno 
Hometown: Naperville, IL
Undergrad/Grad Institution and Degrees: B.A., Music History, Roosevelt University; M.L.S., North Central College
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Rufus Wainwright and queer affects thru music, performing masculinity, popular music, the intersection of high and low art in popular culture
Webpage: http://bgsu.academia.edu/StephanieSalerno
Email: sasteph@bgsu.edu

Zach Sands 
Hometown: Grand Rapids, MI
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.A., Film Production, Columbia College Chicago; M.A., English (Film and Literature), Northern Illinois University; Fulbright Scholar, 2009-2010, Republic of Moldova
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Film studies, political economy, American history, social movements, generational divides, the Cold War, globalization, music, new media
Webpage: www.zachsands.com
Email: zsands@bgsu.edu

Heather M. Sloane 
Hometown: Manassas, VA
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.S., Psychology, The College of William and Mary; M.S.W., Health Social Work, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dissertation Topic: Medical Culture - The relationship between poverty and medical education in the U.S.
Webpage: http://www.epsilen.com/hsloane
Email: hsloane@bgsu.edu

Tobias Spears
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Undergrad/Grad Institution and Degrees: B.A., History, Binghamton University; M.A., Women’s Studies, Georgia State University
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Black queer geographies, urban geography, space and sexuality; community studies
Email: tobiass@bgsu.edu

Ed Uszynski 
Hometown: Xenia, OH, originally Elyria, OH
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.A., Secondary Education/Communications, Kent State University; M.Div., Trinity Evangelical Divinity School; M.A., Christianity/Contemporary Culture, Trinity International University
Dissertation Topic: The Highly Identified Cleveland Professional Sports Fan: Fandom as a Function of ‘Implicit Religion’?
Research Interests: Intersection of sport, culture, theology; 1970s/80s American popular culture, especially film/music; fandom and the construction of identity                                   
Email: ed.uszynski@athletesinaction.org

Abby Van Vlerah 
Hometown: Angola, Indiana
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.A., Humanistic Studies, Saint Mary’s College; M.A., American Studies, University of Wyoming
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Motorcycle studies, gender and sport, media representations of women
Email: avanvl@bgsu.edu

Ying-bei Wang 
Hometown: Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: B.A., English, National Chengchi University; M.A., Comparative Literature, University of Iowa
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Modern fiction, popular culture, ethnic issues, digital humanities
Email: yingbw@bgsu.edu

Ann DeMeulenaere Weedon 
Hometown: South Bend, Indiana/Niles, Michigan
Undergrad/Grad Institutions and Degrees: A.A., Journalism, Southwestern Michigan College; B.A., English, Indiana University South Bend; M.A., American Culture Studies, Bowling Green State University
Research Interests/Dissertation Topic or Title: Ihe intersection of gender, sexuality and age as it relates to women in midlife; film, television and media studies; performativity and performance; women's, gender, sexuality and queer studies
Email: aweedon@bgsu.edu

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