Congratulations to Sophie White on promotion to Full Professor! Sophie White's recent book, "Voices of the Enslaved: Love, Labor, and Longing in French Louisiana," received honorable mention for the Merle Curti Award for best book in American social history from the Organization of American Historians. With support from a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, White uncovered and analyzed courtroom testimony from enslaved Africans in 18th-century Louisiana who testified as defendants, witnesses, and victims. Her course, "Captives and Slaves," builds on her extensive research on the subject.

Sophie White Professor of American Studies

Congratulations co-recipient of The J. Sinnott Meyers Award for outstanding service to the Universy Community. A quote from Laksumi, "The Department of American Studies is unparalleled in its course offerings. As an undergraduate, I was able to study America through the lenses of race, religion, gender, class, popular culture, politics, and more. As I started my senior year, I was nervous about the job search, but I found that employers were impressed with my ability to speak and write clearly. I am grateful to my professors for developing me into a skilled critical thinker and communicator. I am so excited to work for General Mills after graduation and use my American Studies degree every day."

Laksumi Sivanandan Class of 2020, American Studies and Political Science Major

Congratulations to Perin Gurel on her promotion to Associate Professor with tenure! Her research and teaching explore the United States in the world and the world in the United States through transnational feminist lenses, with special focus on U.S.-Middle East relations and Islam in the United States after World War I. Her work has appeared in American Quarterly, American Literary History, Journal of Transnational American Studies, Journal of Turkish Literature, and elsewhere. She is a member of the Advisory Network for the Yale Initiative for the Study of Material and Visual Cultures of Religion.

Perin Gurel Associate Professor of American Studies