Carly-Ann Anderson, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, became
interested in the American Studies Program while finishing her B.S. in
Biology at UW in 2009. After enrolling in a field class on historic
preservation and working on the nomination for the University
Neighborhood District, she was hooked. Carly-Ann formally enrolled in
the American Studies and Environment and Natural Resources graduate
programs in the fall of 2010. As part of her graduate assistantship, she
is currently working on a survey of Laramie’s West Side Neighborhood as
well as compiling lesson plans and research guides at the American
Heritage Center. If she isn't out looking at historic neighborhoods, she
may also be found counting dead birds and antelope droppings at a wind
farm west of town. Carly-Ann hopes to tie her varied interests in
biology, landscapes, and the built environment together and thanks the
American Studies Program for the encouragement to do so.
Email: camander@uwyo.edu
Zeynep Aydogdu
is from Turkey. She is a first year graduate student in the American
Studies Program. She completed her BA in American Culture and Literature
at Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. She was attracted to UW
American Studies because of its interdisciplinary nature, its location
in the heart of the American West, and the reputation of the friendly
faculty members. Her academic interests include construction of national
identity, transnationalism, and media with an emphasis on
representations of gender and race; issues of power and validations of
knowledge; and multi-ethnic literature.
Email: zaydogdu@uwyo.edu
Rie Misaizu
is from Nagano, Japan. She graduated from UW in 2009 with a BA in
anthropology. Her research interest is in the development, management,
environmental preservation, ecotourism, and Native American relations of
American national parks. This is the result of her working experience
to visit many national parks in Japan as a tour conductor before coming
to the US. For her interest in national parks, Rie thinks UW is an ideal
place to study and feel grateful to be here, surrounded by many
national parks that are just a few hours away. She is also interested in
US military bases' influence on Okinawan culture and its people. For
her free time, Rie enjoys going to national parks, cooking, and playing
her SANSHIN (Okinawan version of Japanese three-stringed instrument
similar to a banjo), with an amateur technique.
Email: rmisaizu@uwyo.edu
Julia Stuble comes to American Studies from western
Wyoming with an environmental education and journalism background. She
completed her MA in Environmental Studies from Prescott College in 2010,
focusing on western Wyoming ranching families’ attachment to place and
the language they use to express that attachment. Julia completed her
English BA at UW in 2006, but instead of picturing this as a full
circle, she sees this as the beginning to a new spiral, one in which she
hopes to combine her interests in Wyoming identity and construction of
place and community in western Wyoming with cultural geography
perspectives on landscape. Though she appreciates the return to
Laramie's college-town atmosphere, she plans to teach place-based
English and outdoor ecology programs in public schools anywhere west of
the Mississippi, but hopefully in Wyoming.
Email: stublej@uwyo.edu
John Agricola is from Gadsden, Alabama. He received
his B.A. in History and American Studies from the University of
Alabama-Tuscaloosa. After college, he worked for a few years in an
American art museum as an Education Coordinator. John was drawn to the
program for its reputation in the areas of visual and material culture.
He is intrigued by cultural constructions of regional identity, and he
hopes to thread together a course of study that examines cross-regional,
trans- Mississippi, cultural exchange. He hopes to focus his analysis
of identity and regional difference on the myth of the West, and more
specifically, on various genres that mythologize frontier violence-
especially vigilantism. John's interests are eclectic and include: early
American mass entertainment, the various ways "last stand" art has been
cinematized, Native American representation, 19th century travel
histories, and heritage tourism. He currently is working for the Wyoming
Humanities Council, but in his spare time he enjoys the chance to
fly-fish in the scenic Snowy Mountain Range.
Email: jagricol@uwyo.edu
Emma J Dodds is from Hertfordshire in the UK. She
holds a BA Honors degree in American Studies and spent an exchange year
at San Diego State University as a history major. Her research interests
lie in the areas of westward migration and settlement, particularly the
social history of frontier regions and wider issues of gender. Her
previous study of the West focused primarily on California history, and
she hopes her time at the University of Wyoming will allow her to expand
and develop her interests as well as forming a foundation for
comparative work. Emma was drawn to the American Studies M.A. at UW as
she believes that the interdisciplinary nature of the program affords
the best-suited approach from which to explore such a vast, diverse and
contested area as the American West.
Email: edodds@uwyo.edu
Molly Goldsmith is a 2009 graduate of Saint Mary's
College with a B.A. in History. Although she entered the University of
Wyoming's American Studies Program planning to continue her studies of
American history and philosophy, she discovered historic preservation in
her first semester and never turned back. Having grown up in Princeton,
a small town in north-central Illinois, her focus is based on rural
community issues and structures that she feels best represent the ideals
of small-town America: churches, railroad stations, and downtowns.
American Studies allows her to trace the cultural developments of
communities through historical research and the built environment. In
her spare time, Molly avidly follows Notre Dame football and attempts to
perfect her banana bread recipe.
Email: mgoldsm1@uwyo.edu
Hailing from the hills outside of Sheridan, Wyoming, Jascha Herdt
is a second year graduate student in the American Studies program. His
primary interests are music in American culture, with a focus on Blues,
Jazz, and Rock and Roll. He plays the drums, guitar, bass, and dabbles
in the keys and singing. As a musician, life includes being involved in
two groups; one a duo, and the other an Americana band. When not
enraptured in listening, practicing or performing music, Herdt enjoys
cooking a good homemade pizza with a sauce and dough made from scratch.
He also enjoys spending time with great friends. As a graduate student,
he continues to explore and incorporate his passion for music into the
field of American Studies.
Email: jherdt@uwyo.edu
Marit Maidla
graduated from the University of Tartu, majoring in English language
and literature. Although not her major, she managed to dabble in
American studies. She hopes that her background in literature and
history but also language studies, will enable her to focus on her
varied academic interests, which include gender studies, pop culture,
and especially the representation of religious rhetoric (and aspect) in
political thought in the U.S. culture. She is interested in the
intertwining of history, social movements, and pop culture,
understanding that the discipline of American studies entails almost
everything. She hopes that her background will enable her to see the USA
from a different point of view. Those insights of a 'legal alien' could
prove interesting to people who have spent their lives inside the
phenomenon that she is still discovering.
Email: mmaidla@uwyo.edu
Brie Richardson grew up in Wyoming, did her
undergraduate work in New York and California, and graduated from
Claremont McKenna College with a B.A. in Religious Studies. Her graduate
interests focus on the intersection between American Studies and
Environment and Natural Resources. Her thesis research focuses on
analyzing a particular kind of Western masculinity through contemporary
Western film and poetry. She is also interested in how the concepts of
morality and mortality are invoked in these media, specifically in their
construction of a prototypical Western Male. Brie is well-pleased to be
studying and living in Laramie and is grateful to be a part of the
American Studies cohort.
Email: brichar1@uwyo.edu
