American Studies PhD candidate Dominic Dongilli has earned a prestigious Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellowship. He will be spending 2023-24 conducting research and completing his dissertation at the Smithsonian Zoo in Washington DC, studying in the archives and engaging the animals there.

American Studies PhD candidate Peter Larsen, who is also a practicing attorney, was interviewed by KCRG on January 26 about the effects of HF 2. Iowa HF2 is a bill for an act relating to public contracts, public fund investing, and lending practices with certain companies that engage in economic boycotts based on environmental, social, or governance criteria, and including effective date and applicability provisions.

Congratulations to LATS faculty Dr. Jose Fernandez on receiving an Arts and Humanities Initiative (AHI) grant! Dr. Fernandez will be conducting archival research into three major Latinx authors to examine the links between their literary writings and their articles in Spanish-language newspapers.

American studies PhD students Glenn Houlihan and John Tappen have an article regarding the critical interdisciplinary engagement with institutions, labor and culture article in the journal Science for the People. https://magazine.scienceforthepeople.org/labor-special-issue/science-work-and-service-work/ This article will be released in full online in January 2023. You can access the full issue now in paperback or digital formats.

American studies doctoral candidate and practicing civil rights attorney Peter Larsen has a guest post in the Pitt Law Center for Civil Rights and Racial Justice newsletter on the U.S. student loan forgiveness program. Find the post here https://www.civilrights.pitt.edu/racial-impact-and-rhetoric-student-loan-forgiveness-peter-larsen

American Studies PhD student Glenn Houlihan won the American Studies Association's 2022 Sports Studies Caucus Graduate Student Essay Prize for "From Placemaking to Profit: Cricket’s Cultural and Commercial Logic in the United States.”

Latina/o/x Studies joins the Latino Native American Cultural Center in celebrating Native American Heritage Month.

Congratulations to Celia Hernandez, Enterprise Leadership and Latina/o/x Studies student, on her recent win in the Fall 2022 John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center IdeaStorm competition.

Congratulations to LATS faculty Dr. Jose Fernandez on the publication of his new book, Against Marginalization: Convergences in Black and Latinx Literatures, from Ohio State University Press.

The Latina/o/x Studies (LATS) Program wishes you a happy Latinx/a/o Heritage Month!