Postdoctoral Fellows
The postdoctoral fellowship program, directed by Professor Margaret Levi of the US Studies Centre and the University of Washington, brings to Sydney a cohort of the world's emerging scholarly leaders working on the United States in the humanities, social sciences and related professional disciplines.
Fellows complete a major research project as well as engage with students and scholars in Sydney and around Australia during the fellowship period.
Class of 2011
Six 12-month fellowships were awarded from a field of nearly 200 international applicants:
- Georgiana Banita
Petro-fiction – American literary culture and the global oil crisis - Robert Blakeslee Gilpin
Slavery’s hold on the American imagination - Peter Hatemi
The neuro-biological foundations of political behavior - Maria Ponomarenko
The impact of federalism on the American legal system - Allison Pugh
Women’s commitment and change in a Turbulent Age - Felicity Turner
The gendered political dynamics shaping nineteenth century American national identity
Class of 2010
The Centre received nearly 180 fellowship applications for its inaugural class, and awarded six Fellowships for a 12-month period:
- Jason Casellas
No Latino Left Behind: The Development of Latino Education Policy, 1968 - Mark W. Geiger
Financial Innovation and the Chicago Board of Trade - Willie Gin
Transforming Exclusivist Identities in the USA, Australia and Canada - Sabino Kornrich
Consumerism and Inequality in the 1980s and 90s: the Role of Emulation, Bidding and Lifestyle - Jeremy Pressman
The United States & Arab-Israeli Relations: Force, Diplomacy & Interests - Rebecca Sheehan
American Redemption: Sex, Rock, and Religion, 1968-1983
Class of 2011

Assistant Professor Georgiana Banita
Postdoctoral Fellow
georgiana.banita@sydney.edu.au
Georgiana Banita is Assistant Professor of Literature and Media Studies at the University of Bamberg, Germany. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Konstanz.… more

Dr Robert Blakeslee Gilpin
Postdoctoral Fellow
R. Blakeslee Gilpin received his PhD from Yale University in May, 2009 and spent the next year as a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Car… more

Assistant Professor Peter Hatemi
Postdoctoral Fellow
Pete Hatemi received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Nebraska, and continued his post-doctoral study in Human Genetics and Psychiatry at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric an… more

Maria Ponomarenko
Postdoctoral Fellow
maria.ponomarenko@sydney.edu.au
Maria Ponomarenko is completing her PhD in History at Stanford University, where she was a graduate fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center. She received her AB and AM in History and Economics from t… more

Assistant Professor Allison Pugh
Postdoctoral Fellow
Allison Pugh is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia, which she joined in January 2007 after completing her Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research inte… more

Dr Felicity Turner
Postdoctoral Fellow
Felicity Turner graduated from Duke University with her PhD in May 2010. Her research, which analyzes the handling of infanticide cases within local communities to consider larger questions about gen… more
Class of 2010

Dr Jason Casellas
Postdoctoral Fellow
Jason Casellas is Assistant Professor of Government and Associate Director of the Public Policy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his B.A. in political science from Loyola Un… more

Dr Mark Geiger
Postdoctoral Fellow
Mark W. Geiger received his B.A. from Carleton College and his M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania. Before starting graduate study in history at the University … more

Dr Willie Gin
Postdoctoral Fellow
Willie Gin received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was also a fellow in the Democracy, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism Program. He is primarily interes… more

Sabino Kornrich
Postdoctoral Fellow
Sabino Kornrich received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Washington. His dissertation research examined household outsourcing - spending on services which replace household labour - and … more

Dr Jeremy Pressman
Postdoctoral Fellow
Jeremy Pressman is an Associate Professor of political science at the University of Connecticut (United States). He is author of Warring Friends: Alliance Restraint in International Politics (Cornell … more

Dr Rebecca Sheehan
Lecturer in US History
Phone: +61 2 9036 9208
Rebecca Sheehan received her PhD in United States history from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. She received her MA in history from USC, and a BA from the University of New South Wa… more
See also:
VIDEOS & INTERVIEWS
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The first black president may be the exception that proves the rule of a racially divided United States, says Professor Kevin Gaines.
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Dr Mark Geiger discusses the previously unknown financial conspiracy which funded guerrillas during the Civil War.








