Meet SCUA’s 2024 Research Fellows
In the world of academia, and beyond the walls of its institutions, the pursuit of knowledge is a collaborative endeavor that relies on the contributions of curious minds across time and space. At Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA), we take pride in fostering this spirit of collaboration, inquiry and research. Today, we are thrilled to announce the newest cohort of research fellows who will be joining us in our mission to explore, preserve and discover scholarly insight.
Each year, our fellowship program attracts researchers from around the globe, spanning various disciplines and fields of study. This year is no exception, as we welcome a fantastic group of individuals whose research promises to enrich our understanding of history, culture, and of our very own collections.
Meet our newest research fellows:
Le Guin Feminist Science Fiction Fellowship
Taylor Driggers holds a PhD in English Literature from the University of Glasgow. His research concerns fantasy literature’s ability to re-map relationships between theology and queer embodiment by constructing new sexual and religious imaginaries and embracing failure. His debut monograph, Queering Faith in Fantasy Literature (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022), was a finalist for the 2023 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies. Taylor is a part-time Tutor in English Literature at the University of Glasgow, a member of Glasgow’s Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic, and co-head of the 2024 World Science Fiction Convention’s Academic Track with Alice Langley.
Sarah Nolan-Brueck is a PhD candidate at the University of Southern California, where she studies how science fiction interrogates gender. Currently, she is researching a genealogy of the many ways science fiction authors critique medical legislation that restricts diverse gendered groups in the United States, and how the genre collaborates with activism in this arena. Sarah is a graduate editorial assistant for Western American Literature. She has previously been published in Orbit: A Journal of American Literature, the SFRA Review, Femspec, and Huffpost, and has work forthcoming in Utopian Studies and ASAP/J.
Tee A. Corinne Memorial Travel Fellowship
Cecily Evonuk (they/them/theirs) is a dedicated third-year undergraduate student at Oregon State University where they are currently pursuing a double major in History and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; with a Studio Art minor. Evonuk’s focus centers on American history, with an emphasis on civil rights, human rights, and the LGBTQ+ liberation movement. Their passion for historical research and commitment to social justice issues has led them to set aspirations to continue their academic journey beyond the undergraduate level. Post-graduation, they plan to pursue a master’s program in History and subsequently pursue a Ph.D. Evonuk’s academic achievements have earned them several prestigious awards and fellowships, including the Tee A. Corinne Memorial Travel Fellowship, the Emil H. Pubols Award in American History, the Drucilla Shepard Smith Award, the Finley Academic Excellence Scholarship, the Dr. Arthur E. Gravatt History Scholarship, and the Thomas and Margaret Meehan History Award.
Shai Feraro is a Research Fellow at the University of Haifa. He also teaches at the Open University of Israel and the Technion and serves as Secretary of the Israeli Association for the Study of Religions. His research interests lie primarily in the area of alternative forms of religion and spirituality in North America and the UK during the 19th-20th Centuries. Dr. Feraro is the author of Women and Gender Issues in British Paganism, 1945–1990 (2020), and has co-edited Contemporary Alternative Spiritualities in Israel (2016) and Magic and Witchery in the Modern West (2019), all published by Palgrave Macmillan.
James Ingebretsen Memorial Travel Fellowship
Faith McGlothlin is a PhD candidate in American Studies at New York University. Her research delves into the history of far-right paramilitary movements and the expansion of the federal security state in the United States during the 20th century.
Alex McPhee-Browne is a historian of the American right and twentieth-century fascism, currently completing a PhD at King’s College, University of Cambridge. His work focuses on the intersection of political, social and intellectual history, with a particular interest in the relationship between right-wing ideas and right-wing political praxis. He has published in Reviews in American History and the Journal of Right-Wing Studies, and has articles forthcoming in the Journal of American Studies and the Journal of Policy History.”
Aaron Moulton is Associate Professor of Latin American History at Stephen F. Austin State University. Multiple institutions have supported his research on transnational networks throughout the Western Hemisphere, with award-winning articles in Cold War History, The Americas, and the Journal of Latin American Studies. His previous project, Caribbean Blood Pacts: The Guatemalan Revolution and the Caribbean Basin’s Cold War, reveals how Guatemalan reactionaries, Caribbean Basin dictators, a transnational corporation, and British intelligence shaped what became the U.S. government’s notorious operations that destroyed Guatemalan democracy in the early 1950s. After working under a Wallis Annenberg Research Grant from the University of Southern California Libraries and a Scholar Research Support Fellowship from Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, Moulton will serve as a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Right-Wing Studies with the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues at the University of California, Berkeley, and will be a Mayers Fellow at The Huntington Library.
Please join us in congratulating this year’s cohort, and check back for information on their upcoming lectures as part of our SCUA Speaker Series, which takes place each month on Zoom.
