We are pleased to announce the incoming graduate cohort for 2012. We look forward to having Amber Annis, Sarah Atwood, Kong Pha, and Robert Smith III joining us in the fall.
Amber Annis received the BA in History and American Indian Studies from the University of North Dakota in 2010 and will receive the MA in History from UND this spring. She served as president of the UND Indian Studies Association, 2007-2010. Amber's research interests include the history of American Indian boarding schools and Native resistance discourse.
Sarah Atwood received the MA in American Studies from the University of Massachusetts, Boston in 2011 and the BA from Hamline University in 2007. Her MA thesis examined how used clothing has constructed and symbolized respectability in the United States accross the long twentieth century. At UMN, Sarah plans to conduct research on identity, consumption, and material culture.
Kong Pha received the BA in Psychology from the University of Minnesota in 2011 with minors in Asian American Studies, History, and Sociology. Kong served as President of the Hmong Minnesota Student Association and, in that capacity, established the Hmong Human Rights Awareness Day. Kong was awarded the 2011 Dr. Stark Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Award. He is interested in developing queer analyses of Hmong communities in the United States and other sites in the Hmong diaspora.
Robert Smith III received the BA from Brown University in 2009 with concentrations in Africana Studies and Gender & Sexuality Studies. He completed an honors thesis on "AIDS Activism and the Shaping of Gay and Lesbian Politics in Rhode Island." Since graduating, Robert has worked as a Development Associate with the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Robert is interested in developing queer historical analyses of urban gentrification.
