2108 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20052

Thursday, May 16, 2024

As we close out another school year, my nineteenth at GW, a few thanks and felicitations. To our gutsy 2024 graduates, congratulations! Having started your college years online, you’ve endured more than your fair share of ups and downs these last four years. Thanks for joining and enriching our American Studies community—and for entrusting us with this vital stage of your education!

To my faculty colleagues, thanks for putting our department on the map, for keeping it there, and for inspiring me and our students with your teaching and scholarship, mentorship and public-facing work in museums and in the arts, on cable news and podcasts, at conferences and workshops. I’ve been especially struck these last few weeks by how devoted you are to the well-being of our students, through thick and thin.

Thanks to our far-flung community of alumni. You continue to stay in touch with our department and support it, sometimes many decades since you last stepped foot in our well-worn G Street townhouse. And you make us proud with your exemplary work in universities and museums and non-profits and government and business and more. We appreciate you!

Finally, many thanks to Andy Johnson, our MVP Senior Academic Administrator. The day-to-day department hums along because of you.

Enjoy the summer months, everyone. You earned it!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2024!