WGS Graduate Student Directory

Meet our great WGS Graduate Specialization/Minor students!

	Angela Adler PhD Student, Sociology e-mail
	Hannah Ashburn MA Student, Art History e-mail
	Chase Aunspach PhD Student, Communication Studies & English Minor e-mail Chase's research interests include: Critical Theory, Digital Culture, Field Methods, Masculinity, Materiality, Networked Media, Posthumanism, Queer Studies, Rhetorical Theory, and Visual Culture.
	Jamaica Baldwin PhD Student, English e-mail Jamaica grew up in Santa Cruz, CA. She earned her B.A. in Afro-American Studies from Smith College and her M.F.A. in poetry from Pacific University. Her work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Prairie Schooner, Guernica, The Adroit Journal, World Literature Today, The Missouri Review, and TriQuarterly, among others. Her first book, Bone Language, will be published by YesYes Books in 2023. She is a 2021 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, winner of the RHINO Editor's Prize, and the 2019 winner of the San Miguel de Allende Writers Conference Contest in Poetry. Her work has been supported by Hedgebrook, Furious Flower, and the Jack Straw Writers Program. Jamaica currently lives in Lincoln, NE where she is pursuing her Ph.D. in English at the University of Nebraska Lincoln with a focus in Creative Writing (poetry), African Diasporan Literature, and Women and Gender Studies.
	Alexandra Bissell PhD Student, English e-mail Advisor: Professor Matt Cohen Alexandra Bissell is a doctoral student in English Literary and Cultural Studies with an emphasis in Women’s & Gender Studies. Her current work centers on poetry & poetics, queer theory, trauma, and the affective role of literature in cultural archives. She holds an M.A. in English from DePaul University and a B.A. in English with a minor in Creative Writing from the University of Northern Iowa. She served for two years as the executive editor of the literary magazine, Inner Weather, and has presented papers on the poetry of Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Thom Gunn. Some of the accolades she has received for her critical and creative work include the Selina Terry Poetry Award, the James Hearst Award, and the James HiDuke Writing Award. She is also currently a recipient of the Crompton Fellowship.
	Amanda Brand PhD Student, Communication Studies e-mail Amanda's research interests include: Critical Theory, Digital and New Media, Dissent, Feminist Theory, Gender and Sexuality, Inequality, Pedagogy, Political Rhetoric, Rhetorical Theory, and Social Movements.
	Allison Cipriano PhD Student, Social and Cognitive Psychology e-mail Advisor: Professor Kathryn Holland Allison Cipriano received her BA in psychology from Ithaca College (2015) and her MA in social psychology from Ball State University (2018) before joining UNL. Allison Cipriano is currently a Social and Cognitive Psychology PhD student in the Department of Psychology at the University of Nebraksa- Lincoln, with a concentration in Women’s and Gender Studies. She works under Dr. Kathryn Holland in the Sexual Assault and Sexual Health Lab. Her research is informed by social psychological and feminist theory and her research interests include sexual violence, sexual identity, and sexual health with an emphasis on the experiences of sexual minority women. Allison teaches Human Sexuality and Society as well as Women, Gender, and Science.
	Karie Cobb MA student, English email Karie specializes in Literary and Cultural Studies, Women's and Gender Studies, and pursuing certification in the Teaching of Writing. She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Maryland Global Campus. Her research is primarily focused on 19th century literature, particularly the Civil War, and its impact and implications on American society in the 21st century. She currently works as a graduate assistant at the Walt Whitman Archive.
	Alex Diede PhD Student, Social Psychology e-mail Alex Diede (she/her/hers) received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Black Hills State University in 2016, and is currently a doctoral student in the Social Psychology program here at UNL. She is a member of the Sexual Assault Sexual Health (SASH) research lab working with Dr. Kathryn Holland. Her research interests revolve around social problems and their respective systemic and/or social barriers that adversely and disproportionally impact women, sexual minorities, and gender minorities. This includes topics such as the adjudication of sexual assault and intimate partner violence cases from a survivor-centric vantage, policy and social discourses related to sexual education, and social reactions to disclosures related to sex and sexuality.
	Sarah Eagan PhD Student, Psychology e-mail Advisor: Professor Sarah Gervais Sarah Eagan received her BA in psychology from Sonoma State University (2014) and her MA in social and cognitive processes from Ball State University (2016) before coming to UNL. Sarah Eagan is currently a PhD candidate in the Social and Cognitive PhD program within the Psychology Department, with a concentration in Women’s and Gender Studies. Sarah works under Dr. Sarah Gervais in the Objectification of Women Lab (OWL) where she researches aspects of sexual violence investigating sexual violence survivors’ experiences and risk factors/predictors of perpetration for male perpetrators. Sarah also works in Dr. Kathryn Holland’s Sexual Assault and Sexual Health Lab. Sarah draws her theoretical frameworks and concepts from social psychology, women’s, gender and sexuality studies, and public health perspectives. Sarah teaches Human Sexuality, Psychology of Gender, and Psychology of Social Behavior.
	Lara A. Garrido MA Student, Modern Languages and Literatures Lara is a Graduate Student in Spanish, and is a GTA in the Modern Languages and Literatures Department. She taught WMNS 101 during Summer 2022.
	Lindsey Huber PhD Student, Communication Studies Pronouns: she/her/hers e-mail I grew up in rural southeast Iowa. I joined the Iowa National Guard and served as a medic. I received my Bachelor's in English minoring in Women and Gender Studies and continued to receive my Master's in Rhetoric, Composition, and Professional Communication - and receive a graduate minor in Women and Gender Studies from Iowa State University. I received an Iowa State University Teaching Excellence Award during the Spring of 2021. As far as my research and interests, I am most interested in Public Memory and how various mediums affect how society remembers a particular person or event. To date, my research has been focused on the material representations and public memory of female veterans.
	Veronica Jemkur MA Student, Textiles, Merchandising, and Fashion Design e-mail Advisor: Professor Sandra Starkey Veronica Jemkur is a Master's student in the Department of Textiles, Merchandising, and Fashion Design at UNL. She majors in Apparel Design with a graduate minor in Women's and Gender Studies. She earned her BA in Fashion Design from the University of East London. Veronica's research interests include Plus-size Fashion and inclusive fashion for women with disabilities.
	Lizzie Kehr MA, Art History (WGS minor) lkehr2@huskers.unl.edu Lizzie is pursuing her Master's degree in Art History with a specialization in Ancient Greek art and archaeology and a minor in Women's and Gender Studies. Her research interests include the representation of women in Greek art, literature, and mythology, with particular interest in the villainized, monstrous women such as Medusa, Circe, and Medea. Lizzie is a native Nebraskan and received her BA in Art with specializations in ceramics and digital media from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 2023.
	Celie Knudsen MA Student, English e-mail Advisor: Professor Sheri Stenberg Celie Knudsen is an M.A. student in composition and rhetoric. She is specifically interested in queer and feminist rhetorics and the intersection between writing pedagogy and fat studies. Celie works as a Core Teaching Artist for the Nebraska Writers Collective, where she helps run the largest youth poetry festival in the state. She graduated with highest distinction from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a B.A. in English and Women's and Gender Studies.
	Meagan Kunitzer PhD Student, Sociology e-mail Meagan received her BA from the University of Northern Colorado in Sociology with a minor in Gender Studies, May 2019. As an undergrad she was selected to participate in the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program. Her position as a McNair Scholar allowed her to conduct original research. Specifically, how campus policy impacts reporting behaviors of sexual assault by students. Additionally, the Ronald E. McNair program is partially responsible for sending Meagan on her graduate school journey to the University of Nebraska Lincoln. The welcoming environment of both professors and students made her decision to come to UNL easy. Although the Nebraska Nice mentality could also contribute to the welcoming environment found at UNL.
	Jessica Long MA Student, Geography/School of Global Integrative Studies e-mail Jessica is a MA student in UNL's Geography department. She is interested in cultural and historical geography. Her research is focusing on the experiences of women in the Black Hills of South Dakota in the late 1800s.
	Ana Maria Tudela Martinez PhD Student, Modern Languages (Spanish Section) and Women's and Gender Studies Pronouns: she/her e-mail Advisors: Professor Ingrid Robyn and Professor Luis Othoniel Rosa Ana is beginning her PhD program in the Fall of 2021, having graduated in May 2020 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as an MA student in Modern Languages, with specialization in Spanish. In 2019, she earned her BA degree in Hispanic Studies from the Unidersidad Autonoma de Madrid (Spain). Her research interests mainly concern Contemporary Latin American Literature, with an applied perspective of Subaltern, Ethnic, and Women's and Gender Studies.
	Keshia McClantoc PhD Student, English e-mail Advisor: Professor Marco Abel Keshia Mcclantoc is a PhD student in the English Department with an emphasis on Composition and Rhetoric, Community and Rural Literacy, and Women and Gender Studies. Keshia has certification in both Women and Gender studies and Digital Humanities. Her research interests include online archives, community literacies, and queer literacies. She's especially interested in queer people's literate practices in rural areas. She teaches in both the English and Women and Gender Studies departments.
	Zoe McDonald PhD Student, English e-mail Advisor: Professor Marco Abel Zoe McDonald is a Ph.D. student in rhetoric and composition with a specialization in women's, gender, and sexuality studies. She holds B.A. in English and gender studies from the University of Wyoming and a M.A. in English from the University of Vermont. Zoe is teaching the online sections of WMNS 101, "Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies" for Fall 2021.
	Alex Mohr PhD Student, Geography e-mail Advisor: Professor Robert Shephard As a pre-doctoral student in geography at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Alex Mohr is pursuing a third career. Alex first earned an A.S. in zookeeping while working as a school theater tech and then enjoyed a career as a zookeeper. Next, Alex pursued an undergraduate degree in Geography at the University of Nebraska-Omaha while working as a lab technician. Geography having provided a natural convergence of varied interests; Alex went on to earn an M.A. at UNO as well. In all careers, there was some element of teaching, whether it was in Zoo Camp, training employees, being a teaching assistant in both geography and geology, or as an adjunct teaching World Regional Geography. This is where Alex wants to focus: getting students interested in learning more about cultural and regional geography, human environmental geography, and how everything relates to everything.
	Cara Morgenson PhD Student, Teaching, Learning & Teacher Education e-mail Advisor: Professor Loukia Sarroub
	Jameson Morrow PhD Student, Sociology e-mail Advisor: Professor Emily Kazyak Prior to beginning in the Sociology department, I earned a BS in Psychology and a BA in Sociology from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. After learning about the Sociology program at University of Nebraska – Lincoln, I knew it would be a supportive department that would help students on the road to success through opportunities not only for research and collaboration, but for the application of research to helping solve the real-life problems individuals face every day. My research focuses on the life transitions of LGBTQ+ individuals and the social support they seek out during these transitions. My thesis involved collecting and analyzing my own data through interviews with LGBQ+ college students about their friendships during their first year of college, and the sources of support that they utilized to navigate that transition as a sexual minority. Future research is aimed at examining the transition to parenthood for LGBTQ+ families, and I am interested in answering my research questions through mixed methods. In addition, I am currently working on a project with a graduate of our department to examine researchers’ interpretations of participant’s self-identification on objective and subjective measures. Outside of Sociology, I plan to pursue a Women’s and Gender Studies specialization during my PhD program.
	Rin Nguyen PhD student, Counseling Psychology Rin (all pronouns welcome) received their undergraduate degree in Psychology and Women's and Gender Studies with minors in Japanese, Sexuality Studies, Global Studies, Asian Studies, and English at the University of Nebraska—Lincoln (UNL). Rin is currently working with Dr. Dena Abbott in the Secularity and Sexuality (SeCs) Lab. Rin's research interests broadly encompass all topics related to human sexuality with an emphasis on concerns within the lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) and transgender and gender diverse (TGD) communities. Rin looks forward to a career in academia where they can engage with underserved and marginalized populations through research, counseling, and teaching.
	Angelica Phillips PhD student, Sociology e-mail Angelica is a first year Doctoral student in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Sociology department, and has just finished her Master’s degree in Sociology in the UNL Sociology program!
	Brittany Piper PhD student, Sociology e-mail Brittany Piper is a PhD student in sociology. Her primary research area is the sociology of family and the life course, including relationship formation, and the effect of divorce on children in early adulthood. She is currently working on two research endeavors. First, she is studying the effect of parent divorce on women as they enter early adulthood. Second, she is researching differences in friendship networks through romantic relationship initiation, transition to marriage, and dissolution. Brittany is an Illinois native and earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology in 2008 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received her master’s degree in sociology from the University of Nebraska-Omaha in 2013. Her master’s thesis measured the effect of the “package deal” on class identity. The analysis revealed that financial satisfaction, childhood family income, and education are the overall strongest predictors in determining class identity, more than any of the characteristics of the package deal: marriage, parenthood, homeownership, or job status. She is interested in teaching introductory, gender, family, or social inequality courses in sociology. In Spring 2015, she is an instructor for the Sociology of Marriage and Family at UNL. She has previously taught Introduction to Sociology, Sociology of Sport, and Women in Contemporary Society.
	Jose Daniel Lino Plata MA student, Modern Languages and Literatures e-mail Daniel Lino Plata is a PhD student in the Modern Languages and Literatures Department with a certificate in Women's and Gender Studies. His research deals with cultural and literary representations of queer and LGBTQ+ subjectivities in contemporary Spain, focusing on masculinity studies, feminist theories, normativity, countercultural movements, and narratives of resistance. His article, "Gay Men and Homoaffection: Alternative Gay Masculinities in Hombres de verdad (2020), by Alberto Marcos", co-authored with Dr. Iker González-Allende, will be published in December 2022 in the journal Estudios LGBTIQ+, Comunicación y Cultura. He teaches both at the Modern Languages and Women's and Gender Studies departments. Courses taught: SPAN 101, SPAN 102, SPAN 201, SPAN 202, SPAN 203, SPAN 204, WMNS 101. WGS Courses WMNS 101: Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies Education B.A. English Studies, University of Salamanca, Spain (2019) M.A. Spanish, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2021) Areas of specialization Women's and Gender Studies Masculinity Studies Queer Studies Feminist Theories.
	Olatz Sanchez-Txabarri PhD student, Modern Languages and Modern Literatures e-mail Advisor: Professor Iker González-Allende Olatz Sanchez-Txabarri (Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain) completed her B.A in Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Deusto. In 2019 she received her M.A in Hispanic Studies at the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In 2020 she completed her M.A in Education at UDIMA (Spain), where she specialized in Second Language Teaching while working as a Spanish Language teacher for immigrants in Bilbao (Spain). Currently, she is working on her Ph.D. program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she also works as a GTA teaching Spanish for the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. Olatz specializes in Literature Written by Migrant Women studying literature from a gender and racial perspective to understand how migration affects women and their daughters and the relationships among them.
	Jaclyn Swiderski PhD student, English e-mail Advisor: Professor Melissa Homestead Jaclyn Swiderski is a Ph.D. student in Literary and Cultural Studies. She is pursuing a certificate in both Interdisciplinary 19th Century Studies and Women's and Gender Studies. She received her M.A. in British and American Literature from Northern Illinois University, and her B.A. in English with a minor in Linguistics from SUNY New Paltz. Her research interests are 19th and 20th century female novelists and disability studies. Recent publication: Jaclyn Swiderski (2020) “Your Body Must Be Heard”: Uncovering a New Language through Female Pain and Bodily Empowerment. Women's Studies.
	Eliza Thor PhD student, Sociology e-mail I graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the May of 2018 and moved into the graduate program the following fall. As well as pursuing my PhD in Sociology I am also working for my Women and Gender Studies minor. I am also a teaching assistant for Intro to Sociology.
	Carol Tschampl-Diesing PhD student, Communication Studies e-mail
	Andrea Wagh PhD student, History e-mail Andrea Wagh is a third-year history PhD student in the UNL History Department. Her research interests include 20th-century European History, the Holocaust, Jewish history, and comparative genocide studies. She is currently researching the experiences of Jewish children who were hidden during the Holocaust in western Europe.
	Cadyn Williamson MA student, Sociology Pronouns: they/them and he/him e-mail Cadyn's research interests include sex and gender focusing on LGBT issues, social movements, media, and qualitative methods. They are primarily interested in the intersections between LGBT issues and social movements as well as LGBT issues and media. As for qualitative methods, they find importance of looking into words and images as data and discovering narratives that would not be discovered in surveys or other quantitative research methods.