Interviews

American Studies across Borders: International Opportunities for PhDs and Postdocs

International experience has become a prerequisite for success in academia – but depending on how you look at it, this can be exciting and terrifying in equal measure. In the second interview of this series, I talk to Dr. David Bosold of the John-F.-Kennedy-Institute Berlin about transatlantic relationships, career development, and dreams of meeting US footballers.

My Career Story: Philip Davies, Director of the David and Mary Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library

U.S. Studies Online is excited to introduce our new segment “Career Stories”. This feature is an attempt to incorporate more professional development posts on U.S. Studies Online and address some of the wider anxieties in the postgraduate and early career cohorts regarding employment and employability. We hope to include interviews with professionals in a variety of research or American studies related positions. With us this week is Professor Philip Davies, Director of the David and Mary Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library since 2002. Current role How would you describe your current role at a job interview? I create and manage a programme of fellowships, activities, events, and acquisitions to enhance the work of the British Library in relation to North America. The British Library’s collection of materials relating to North America is the largest anywhere in the world outside the USA. In order to increase awareness of the Library’s North American holdings, and […]

There’s still more to be done, says Zalfa Feghali at the end of her two year term as BAAS ECR Representative

In April 2013 Zalfa Feghali was elected Early Career Representative for the British Association for American Studies. At the end of her term she joined U.S. Studies Online co-editor Michelle Green to discuss her time in the post, why she lobbied for this position in the BAAS exec, and where her successor can go from here.

American Studies in Europe: Interview with Dietmar Meinel, Freie Universität Berlin

[starbox] Richard Martin: Your postgraduate work was undertaken at the John F. Kennedy Institute in Berlin, which was founded in 1963. How would you characterise the approach to American Studies taken at the institute? Dietmar Meinel: My personal experience has been shaped by two trajectories at the JFKI. On the one hand, interdisciplinary thinking is a feature of the American Studies programme at the Institute. Since it is composed of culture, literature, history, sociology, political science and economics departments, these different approaches to American Studies are felt from the BA to the PhD level. In addition, I have found my field of work, cultural studies, to be passionately engaged in a critical dialogue with particular groups and movements in U.S.-shaped American Studies. In my experience, issues of theory and questions about the field of American Studies as such played a vital role in the approach to American Studies at the […]

American Studies in Europe: Introducing the Interview Series

In the coming weeks, US Studies Online will feature a series of interviews with early career scholars in American Studies who are teaching and researching at institutions across Europe – from western Spain to central Turkey, via Copenhagen, Warsaw and Timisoara. We’ll hear from PhD students, post-doctoral researchers, lecturers and associate professors working in literary studies, film studies, history and cultural studies.

Academic Job Interview “Do’s and Don’ts”

In June, Dr Sue Currell, BAAS Chair and Reader in American Literature at the University of Sussex, outlined some invaluable advice for when applying for academic jobs. In today’s post, Sue turns her attention to the interview process.

Editor’s Feature: ECR Ben Offiler Reflects On His First Academic Interview

Following the popularity of Sue Currell’s post on “Academic Job Applications: Do’s and Don’ts”, we thought it would be a good idea to consider what happens when you actually get invited to interview. Next week, we will be publishing Sue’s post on “Academic Job Interviews: Do’s and Don’ts” but today USSO co-editor Ben Offiler writes about his first academic interview experience:

“After deciding that my powder blue wedding tux wasn’t suitable for an interview I bought a new green suit (I know, a bold choice), having my own Pretty Woman moment in the process.”

USSO Interviews SHAW Postgraduate Writing Workshop Organiser Jon Coburn

In July 2014, the Society for the History of Women in the Americas held its third Postgraduate Writing Workshop in Cambridge. After the dust had settled, Emma Horrex spoke to the organiser, Jon Coburn, about SHAW, the programme, and the importance of postgraduate-led events.

“Be broad, be bold and be aware”: Review of the 2014 HOTCUS Postgraduate and Early Career Researcher Workshop

Providing a first hand synopsis of the 2014 HOTCUS Postgraduate and Early Career Workshop, Tom Bishop shares the invaluable advice from senior historians on several uncertain areas for postgraduates: they address, amongst other things, applying for jobs in the U.S. and U.K, the advantages of publishing with smaller presses, and how to engage the public with history through digital spaces and museums. Other panels include: surviving the interview process, grant capture and life outside the academy.

USSO Interviews BAAS Postgraduate Representative Rachael Alexander

In April 2014 Rachael Alexander was elected as the Postgraduate Representative for the British Association for American Studies. One month later Michelle Green spoke to her about her manifesto, what she thinks are the biggest challenges facing postgraduate students at the moment, and how we can all help.