Alumni Outcomes

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:

• Sara Awartani, PhD '20, Assistant Professor, Program in American Culture, University of Michigan
• Megan Black, PhD '15, Associate Professor of History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Kimberly Probolus, PhD '19, ACLS Leading Edge Fellow
• Pat Nugent, PhD '16, Thomas V. Mike Miller Director of Civic Engagement, Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, Washington College, Chestertown, Maryland
• Zaynab Quadri, PhD '22, Henry Chauncey Jr. '57 Postdoctoral Fellow in the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy, Yale University
• Kevin Strait, PhD '10, and Paul Gardullo, PhD '06, curators at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Amber Wiley, PhD '11, Presidential Associate Professor in Historic Preservation and the Matt and Erika Nord Director of the Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites, Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania

Our MA Alumni Include:

• Jasmine Cannon, MA '19, Curator, Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
• Samantha Citarella, MA '18, Assistant Archivist, Tiffany & Co.
• Jenna Dawkins, MA '14, Principal Associate, Pew Charitable Trusts
• Jacqueline Drayer, BA '15 and MA '18, City Historian, The Valentine, Richmond, Virginia
• Libby Ellsworth-Kasch, BA '08 and MA '14, civil rights and criminal defense attorney, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Maggie Unverzagt Goddard, MA '14, Assistant Professor of Museum Studies at the University of Kansas
• Chelsea Halling-Nye, MA '18, Program Coordinator, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
• Mary Stewart, MA ’11, Vice President for External Affairs, WETA

Our BA Alumni Include:

• Rebekah Beaulieu, BA ’03, Louise Taft Semple President & CEO, Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, Ohio
• Eric Darnell, BA ’16, is a William Morris Endeavor talent agent in Los Angeles, California
• Clara Hanson, BA '12, data scientist for Spotify
• Mark Kates, BA '82, a central figure in the genre of alternative music, has launched 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
• Katie Doland Morey, BA '08, Manager, International Post at The Walt Disney Studios
• James Zarsadiaz, BA ’08, Associate Professor of History and Director of the Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program, University of San Francisco
   

Recent Undergraduate Alumni Employers

More Undergraduate Alumni Outcomes

Recent Graduate Alumni Employers

More Graduate Alumni Outcomes

PhD Alumni Job Placement Data

2021

Thomas Dolan

• Fullbright Teaching Scholar, The American University in Cairo

Vyta Pivo

• Postdoctoral Fellow, Michigan Society of Fellows at the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan

2020

Sara Awartani

• Global American Studies Postdoctoral Fellow at the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History, Harvard University

Michael Horka

• Visiting Assistant Professor, Global and Intercultural Studies, Miami University

2019

Craig Allen

• Postdoctoral Fellow/Assistant Director in Public Humanities at NYU

Kimberly Probolus

• Leading Edge fellow, American Council of Learned Societies

2018

Lindsay Davis

• Assistant Teaching Professor of History & Co-Director of Gender Sexuality and Women's Studies Program, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Carol Lautier-Woodley

• Director, Movement Building at Demos

Justin Mann

• Assistant Professor of English, Northwestern University

2017

Kimberly Pendleton

• CEO at Uncover

Rahima Schwenkbeck

• Director of Media, The Policy Studies Organization

2016

Ashley Brown

• Assistant Professor & Allan H. Selig Chair in the History of Sport and Society, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Meghan Drury

• Adjunct Assistant Professor, Pacific Northwest College of Art & Portland State University

Kathryn Kein

• Lecturer in the Gender,Women’s and Sexuality Studies Department - UMBC

Scott Larson

• Lecturer IV, American Culture Undergraduate Advisor, University of Michigan

Shannon Davies Mancus

• Teaching Associate Professor, Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences, Colorado School of Mines

Patrick Nugent

• Deputy Director for the Starr Center, Lecturer in History, Washington College

Katie Schank

• Post Doctoral Teaching Fellow, Institute for Liberal Arts, Emory University

2015

Megan Black

• Associate Professor of History at MIT

Joseph Malherek

• Botstiber Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study at Central European University

2014

Emily Dufton

• Co-Founder and Lead Writer, Takoma Writers, LLC

Matt Kohlstedt

• Associate Director of Admissions and Research, University of Wisconsin- Madison

Steve Lorenz

• Archivist, Rock Creek Woods Historic District

Kym Rice

• Associate Professor, Museum Studies Program, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at The George Washington University

MA Alumni Job Placement Data

2021

Courtney Mason

• Engagement Manager, European Union Policy and Outreach Partnership

2020

Brendan Hornbostel

• PhD student, GW History Department

Harry Lewis

• Event Manager, Andy Kim for Congress

Shannon Papin

• Senior Architectual Historian, Environmental Science Associates

2019

Jasmine Cannon

• PhD student, Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Rutgers University & Pope House Museum Manager (Parks, Recreation and Cultural resources Departent) City of Raleigh Museum

Olivia Sayah

• Public Programs Coordinator, Massachusettes Historical Society

2018

Sam Citarella

• Corporate Assistant Archivist at NYSE

Chelsea Halling-Nye

• Program Assistant, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Rebekah Turnmire

• PhD Student at the University of South Carolina in History

2017

Kate Kronau

• Historic Preservation Associate at Hill Studio

Will Near

• Manager of Website Administration at City Year

Maria Willhoit

• Senior Program Coordinator, Supplemental Instruction & Honors, Tulane University

2016

Amanda Figueroa

• AMST PhD student at Harvard University, Coordinator of Experimental Practice, MIT Museum

Brady Forrest

• Adjunct Faculty, Women’s and Gender Studies program at Georgetown University

Ravon Ruffin

• Program and Communications Manager, NEW INC at New Museum of Contemporary Art

2015

Lindsay Brayton

• Marketing and Communications Manager, Film at Brooklyn Academy of Music

Erin Sexton Mashni

• Digital Archives Consultant at Kalamazoo Valley Museum

Caroline Spurry

• Archetictural Historian at George Washington's Mount Vernon

2014

Erin Howe

• Lead Tax Credits & Senior Project Manager at EHT Traceries

Teng Xu

• Multimedia Journalist, Voice of America

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Alumni Class Notes

• Class Notes, 2024
• Class Notes, 2023
• Class Notes, Fall 2022
• Class Notes, Fall 2021
• Class Notes, Fall 2020
• Class Notes, Winter 2019
• Class Notes, Fall 2017
• Class Notes, Winter 2016
• Class Notes, Summer 2016
• Class Notes, Winter 2015
• Class Notes, Summer 2015
• Class Notes, Fall 2014