Rene Rocha received a PhD in Political Science from Texas A&M University in 2006. A leading scholar of racial and ethnic politics in the United States, His research has received prestigious recognition in his field, including awards from the American Political Science Association, the Midwest Political Science Association, the Western Political Science Association, and the Southwestern Political Science Association.

Lindsay Vella is the Departmental Administrator for African American Studies, American Studies, Classics, the Division of Interdisciplinary Programs, Gender, Women's & Sexuality Studies, the Magid Center for Writing, and Religious Studies. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Iowa.

Hallie Abelman (she/they) is a Ph.D. student in American Studies at the University of Iowa. Their research revolves around tactile representations of animals and the ways that we perform and move in their presence. Hallie comes to Iowa with a deep commitment to ecological theatre and the ways it can be used to de-legitimize renderings of animals that perpetuate racist or ableist practices and ideologies. They hold bachelor's degrees in Anthropology and Community Health from Tufts University (2014), an MFA in “illness arts” from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie (NL), and a Performance Studies MA from NYU Tisch. Before moving to Iowa, Hallie worked as the studio manager for the Dutch artist Melanie Bonajo and the graduate research assistant to the ecological-theatre scholar Una Chaudhuri. Hallie was proud to become a founding member of the North American Association for Critical Animal Studies in 2019.

Bluford Adams is an associate professor in the Departments of American Studies and English.

Uche Anomnachi is a PhD student in American Studies. His current work centers on race making in American visual culture, Black spectatorship, and post-modern Blackness. He is also a fellow with Iowa City's Center for Afrofuturist Studies.

Susan Birrell is a Professor in the Department of American Studies and the Department of Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies. She has a B.A. in English from St. Lawrence University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, which was the first graduate program in sport studies in the U.S. She joined the American Studies faculty after many years in the UI Department of Health and Sport Studies.

David is the IT Support Consultant for African American Studies, American Studies, Classics, and Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies.

Laurel is an adjunct faculty member in American Studies. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. She received her B.A. in English from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota and her M.A. in English Literature from the University of Colorado - Boulder. Her research interests include popular American cinema, popular culture, and gender and women’s studies.

Laura is a PhD student in American Studies. She received her B.A. in history and political science at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota and her M.A. in History: Public History at the University of Northern Iowa. Her research dabbles in the fields of public history, digital humanities, labor history, Indigenous studies, and memory studies with specific interests in studying the relationship between history and memory, hoboing culture, Indigenous placemaking, digital archiving, and oral history. Currently, she is developing a digital archive called Hobo Archive in partnership with the hoboing community of the upper Midwest.

Glenn is a Ph.D. student in American Studies. Glenn received his B.A. in American Studies and Film Studies at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom and his M.A. in American Studies from the University of Wyoming. His current research focuses on the shifting position of cricket within the U.S. sports space and how elite sports institutions and teams are adapting to, or seeking to mitigate, the climate crisis

Laura Kerr is the Administrative Service Coordinator for African American Studies, American Studies, and Gender, Women's & Sexuality Studies. Serving as a public facing liaison, she supports students, faculty, staff, and the public, assists with course scheduling, purchases, department websites, and creating promotional materials.  

Peter is a doctoral candidate in the Department of American Studies.

Janeanne Levenstein is a doctoral student in the Sports Studies subtrack of American Studies at the University of Iowa. They also holds a Graduate Certificate in Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies.

Ashley Loup is a Visiting Associate Professor. Her research interests include sports and memory, public art and commemoration, California cultures and American popular culture. She is particularly interested in sport statuary and memory culture in Los Angeles. Born and raised in California, Ashley completed her B.A. and M.A. degrees in American Studies at California State University, Fullerton before coming to Iowa City in 2018. Her other interests include fashion in American culture and Art History.

Kim Marra is a theatre historian who specializes in U.S. theatre and performance mainly in New York City at the turn into the twentieth century. From 2008 to 2011, she served as chair of the Department of American Studies. Her book Strange Duets: Impresarios and Actresses in American Theatre, 1865-1914 (U of Iowa Press) won the 2008 Joe A. Callaway Prize awarded biennially for the best book on theatre and drama by the NYU Department of English.

Mandy McAllister is the University Shared Services staff member for African American Studies, American Studies, Classics, English, Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies, Philosophy, Rhetoric, Social Work, and the Writers' Workshop.

Kevin McGlynn is the Senior Accountant for the School of Art and Art History, African American Studies, American Studies, Classics, and Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies.

Tom Oates holds degrees in American Studies and Mass Communication and holds a joint appointment with the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. His interdisciplinary scholarship has appeared in journals spanning communication, sport studies, and cultural studies. He is the author of Football and Manliness and the co-editor of The NFL: Critical and Cultural Perspectives, and Playing to Win: Sports, Video Games, and the Culture of Play.

Catriona (Tina) Parratt, Associate Professor Emeritus of American Studies at the University of Iowa, is a third generation migrant from the Isle of Skye and first generation migrant to Iowa City. Her research and teaching interests are in the history of sport and leisure.

Horace Porter is emeritus F. Wendell Miller Professor of English & American Studies.

Lauren Rabinovitz, Professor Emeritus, American Studies and Cinema, received her Ph.D. in American Civilization from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include American cinema, amusement parks and world's fairs, as well as foodways.

John Raeburn is Professor Emeritus of American Studies and English at the University of Iowa. His research interests include: American twentieth-century cultural history; American photography; American film; the 1930s; American literature after 1865; and history of the book.

Laura Rigal is associate professor emeritus of American Studies and English. Her research interests include American literature and culture, 1750-1900.

Ali Romano-McClain is an HR Generalist for African American Studies, American Studies, Classics, Creative Writing (Writers' Workshop), History, Religious Studies, Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies, Division of Interdisciplinary Programs, and Magid Center for Writing.

John is a Ph.D. student in American Studies and works in the department as a Teaching Assistant. His current research considers the ways U.S. culture indices, prefigures, and responds to economic, political, and geographic transformations — with a particular focus on labor. In the past, he has worked as a research assistant for the Iowa Labor History Oral Project (ILHOP).

Eric Vázquez is an assistant professor in American Studies and Latino Studies at University of Iowa. His scholarship emphasizes the cultural, political, military, and economic bonds that link populations and institutions in the United States to Central America.

Travis Vogan's research and teaching center on sport, media, and U.S. culture. He is especially interested in film and television, media industries, documentary, and how understandings of “high” and “low” culture figure into these topics.