Alumni Outcomes

GW American Studies Alumni Kevin Strait posing in front of Chuck Berry's famous red cadillac — Kevin Strait, PhD ’10, brought Chuck Berry’s famous red Cadillac to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Strait is one of two American Studies alumni who helped assemble the museum's collection. (Photo: William Atkins)

American Studies alumni pursue a variety of career paths, including academia, public history, public service, non-profit management, preservation and urban planning. Some of our graduates have launched their own businesses, others are artists and writers; others teach at world-class academic institutions.

Our PhD alumni include:

Kevin Strait, PhD '10, and Paul Gardullo, PhD '06, curators at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

Zaynab Quadri, PhD '22 postdoctoral fellow in international security studies at the Mershon Center at Ohio State University

Thomas Simsarian Dolan, PhD '21, ACLS Emerging Voices Fellow, Emory University Deaprtment of Middle Eastern and South African Studies

Megan Black, PhD '15, Associate Professor of History at MIT

Ramzi Fawaz, PhD '12, Associate Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin.

Our MA alumni include:

Sam Citarella, MA '18, Assistant Archivist, Tiffany & Co.

Libby Ellsworth-Kasch, BA '08 and MA '14, Civil Rights and Criminal Defense attorney, and a political activist in Wisconsin

Amanda Figueroa, MA '16, American Studies PhD student at Harvard University; co-founder, Brown Art Ink; Community Director at Curationist

Maggie Goddard, MA '14, PhD Brown University 2022, Postdoctoral Fellow, Virginia Commonwealth University

Chelsea Halling-Nye, MA '18, Program Assistant, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Betsy May-Salazar, MA ’91, chief operating officer of the National Building Museum

Teng (Monica) Xu, MA '14, Multimedia Journalist, Voice of America

Our BA alumni include:

Mark Kates, BA ’82, has been a central figure in the genre of alternative music since before it even had a name. He has helped launch the careers of countless legendary bands from Nirvana to the Beastie Boys

Amy Kurland, BA ’77, founder of the famous Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee

Amy Sussman, BA '98, Staff Photographer Getty Images

Jason Steinhauer, BA '02, author of the bestselling History, Disrupted and host of the podcast History Club. He is the founder and CEO of the History Communication Institute

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