Please join us for the
American Studies Senior Thesis Showcase
Thursday May 8, 2025, 11:30 am – 3:30 pm
370 Dwinelle Hall
Join the American Studies community for our annual celebration of the fantastic research and writing conducted by UC Berkeley’s American Studies majors this year! The 3rd Annual American Studies Senior Thesis Showcase will feature short presentations from 12 senior thesis students and an afternoon Q&A roundtable with presenters, who will share more about their senior thesis experience and their advice for future thesis students. The day will end with a reception for all attendees in Ishi Court from 2:30–3:30 pm.
The schedule of presentations are listed on the program (see image to the left) and below.
This event is free and open to the UC Berkeley public, so please feel free to forward this announcement to colleagues across campus who might be interested in our program and our students’ work.
Please RSVP for the Showcase using this online form.
11:30 — Welcome and Introductions
First Session
11:40 — Genevieve Schweitzer, “Birthing Choice: Midwifery in 1970s Counterculture”
11:50 — Afton Okwu, “‘The Devil Made Me Do It’: Cross Dressing on the Black Comic Stage”
Noon — Jackie Morgan, “From the Closet to the Club: Queer & Trans Identity and Expression within Night Time Leisure During the Early 20th Century”
12:10 — Fay Cordeiro, “Lou Sullivan: Transness in America”
12:20 — Sophie Rosenblum , “The Optimized Frontier: Biohacking and the American Dream of Eternal Life”
12:30 — Casey Grae, “How the Right Won the Post-Pandemic Internet: A Case Study of Libs of TikTok”
12:40 — Break
Second Session
12:50 — Katherin Velazquez, “Accessible MIDI Instrument”
1:00 — Elyse Sierra Miller, “The Making of the Modern Frankenstein: Analysis and Perspectives Throughout the Past Two Centuries in Popular Media”
1:10 — Carly Dutcher, “Saving Sad Boys, One Indie Film at a Time: The Rise of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl in 2000s Cinema”
1:20 — TJ Bollers, “Media, Sports and the Urban–Rural Divide”
1:30 — Simone Nguyen, “Someone’s gotta be the gatekeeper to society’: Evaluating Narratives of Personal Responsibility in California Parolees”
1:40 — Simone Parisi, “The Predator Next Door: Cultural and Political Debates on Sex Offender Registration and Notification”
1:50 — Break
2:00 — Q&A Roundtable with Presenters
2:30 — Reception in Ishi Court
3:30 — Showcase concludes