University of Iowa professor Deborah Whaley’s latest book, Black Women in Sequence: Re-Inking Comics, Graphic Novels, and Anime, examines the history and effects of how black women are represented in comic books, graphic novels, and animation.

Associate Professor of American Studies and African American Studies Deborah Elizabeth Whaley has been extremely busy! Her book, Black Women in Sequence: Re-inking Comics, Graphic Novels, and Anime (University of Washington Press, 2015) has won a spot in the Scholarly Illustrated category of the 2016 AAUP Book, Jacket, & Journal Show. Jurors selected the cover as an example of outstanding design. The show will take place in June 2016 in Philadelphia, and then the exhibition will tour the country through May 2017.

On Friday, December 18, 2015, American studies had PhDs awarded to five of their students. Earning degrees were Allison Wanger and Larissa Werhnyak (American studies) and Sang Uk Joo, Marta Mack-Washington, and Dan Taradash (Health and Sport Studies). Congratulations to all!

This op-ed is about the event at FilmScene this Tuesday evening, February 24 at 6:00 p.m.. The Homestretch, a documentary about displaced youth, is being shown, following by a panel discussion. In this op-ed, Whaley makes connections between the film and Iowa City and national issues related to voice, displacement, and activism.

Congratulations to Dr. Jennifer Ambrose and Dr. Jae Chul Seo for receiving their PhDs at the conclusion of the fall semester!

After several years studying the history of time capsules, Nick Yablon had the opportunity last week to be involved in the opening of one.  A bronze chest, sealed on Wall Street in 1914 but forgotten for several decades, was finally opened at the New-York Historical Society, in the presence of a large crowd.  Nick served as a historical consultant in the planning stages and speaker at the opening.

At 2pm on May 23, 1914, a group of men wearing cocked hats, white wigs, and knee-breeches, emerged from the Fraunces Tavern, walked slowly up Broad Street, and then turned down Wall Street towards the river, accompanied by the steady beat of a Continental drum corps. “Had George Washington’s statue on the steps of the Sub-Treasury come to life,” remarked one witness, “he would surely have thought that the old Revolutionary days had returned.”  But it was merely the advance guard of a parade celebrating lower Wall Street’s importance not just as a center of the tea and coffee trade, but also as a birthplace of the revolution.

Prof. Travis Vogan's new book,Keepers of the Flame:NFL Films and the Rise of Sports Media, will be released by the University of Illinois Press next month.

Jaime Schultz (PhD 2005, Sport, Health, Leisure & Physical Studies) and currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Penn State University, has published "Qualifying Times: Points of Change in U.S. Women's Sports" (University of Illinois Press, 2014).

On January 27, 2014, the University of Iowa American Studies Department met to discuss the ramifications of the American Studies Association’s decision to boycott Israeli academic institutions and evaluate our own standing as a departmental member of the ASA. As a diverse collection of interdisciplinary scholars, we hold different positions on the ASA’s decision to boycott.  After an extended discussion of pros and cons, we decided to retain our departmental membership in the ASA.  While we understand that some of our colleagues may decline to renew their individual memberships, our departmental membership is a professional matter.  In keeping with the standards required for hiring, promotion and tenure at Iowa and other research institutions, faculty members and graduate students are expected to attend conferences and make presentations at conventions held by scholarly organizations such as the American Studies Association, the Modern Language Association (MLA), the American Historical Association (AHA), and the North American Society for the Study of Sport History (NASSH).  We often attend and present at such conventions. We value our ties to the larger American studies community. We believe remaining an active member of the ASA is a more effective way to influence its future.