Blog

My name is Krystle Stricklin, and I am a 7th- year doctoral candidate in the History of Art and Architecture Department. My research focuses on American art and photography and the visual legacies of war and empire in th...
I am a PhD student in the History of Art and Architecture program, where I am working on a dissertation project that explores the exhibition history of the Smithsonian's First Ladies Collection. As the interface between the archive, objects, and publics, museums have driven both my professional and...
The Image of the Black in Western Art was a research project begun in the 1960s by the Menil family in response to the US Civil Rights movement. Its initial goal was to cat...
My name is Victoria LaFave, and I am a second-year PhD student in Theatre and Performance Studies. I wanted to create a collections-based module because many students on our campus are not aware of the robust materials in our Curtis Collection theatre archives. With such a thriving theatre community...
I am a curator, writer, and fourth-year Ph.D. student in the History of Art and Architecture at Pitt. My research considers the roles artists played in constructions of race and national identity in the Americas in the 20th century.  For the Humanities Engage Curricular Development grant, I partnere...
I am now going into my second year as a doctoral student and my fourth year as a graduate student (having received my MA in April 2019) in the Department of French & Italian at Pitt. With each year, my interests have become more and more clear to me, and I have found myself time and again...
I am a third year PhD student in the Literature Program of the Department of English. I work on the poetics and politics of water in the Global South, and my current research is animated by the following question: If the world is on the verge of disappearance because of climate change and rising sea...
My name is LeTriece Calhoun, and I’m a fifth-year doctoral student in Pitt’s Composition program, housed in the English Department. Although it might sound superficial to say on a site dedicated to scholars who wholeheartedly delve into public and digital humanities, I truly love technology and lear...
My name is Taylor Waits. I am completing my first year within the English Critical Studies PhD program. Currently, I am spending my summer compiling a reading list, developing my project proposal, and finalizing my chosen audience and sample size for my dissertation project. Additionally, I have bee...
I am a fourth-year graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology with the Music department at the University of Pittsburgh. My research focuses on the participation of women in Zambia’s pop music scene as song writers, singers, and music performers since the 1990s when Zambia transitioned to...
Entering my fourth year as a Ph.D. Student in Theatre and Performance Studies, it is unsurprising that the existential anxiety of graduate school has kicked in hard. These days, familiar questions bubble up frequently: Is this degree worth it? What does a degree like this afford me, and others, in t...
My name is Brenda Sólkez, and I am from Durango, México. I am a full-time doctoral student in the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures, and I will be entering my fourth year in the Fall of 2020. Currently, I...
My name is Sean Nonnenmacher, and I am a fifth-year Ph.D. student in Linguistics at the University of Pittsburgh. I came to Pitt in 2016 after working for several years with a non-profit organization in Phoenix,...
I am Patoimbasba Nikiema, a 4th-year Ph.D. student of French and Francophone Studies in the Department of French and Italian at the University of Pittsburgh. My studies mainly focus on Francophone postcolo...
I am an incoming PhD student in the History of Art and Architecture (HAA) department at Pitt and a former Hot Metal Bridge Post-Baccalaureate Fellow (2019-2020 AY). My research focuses on art production in carceral spaces in the United States and Latin America. In my fellowship year in HAA, I develo...