Eleven new students entered the graduate program in Southern Studies this fall. Nine are Southerners pursuing M.A. degrees, and two are taking courses as international exchange students.

Alke Hamann is an exchange student from Cologne, Germany. An M.A. candidate in English at the University of Cologne, she is currently taking classes in literature and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi. Alke believes studying the South will sharpen her outlook on German as well as Southern culture. She has become enmeshed in Southern culture while here and hopes to gain a better understanding of her own culture, through comparing differences and similarities, after spending a year in the South. Alke enjoys taking photographs, which she sends home to let her family know about her experiences in Mississippi. She also enjoys singing and has joined the women¹s ensemble choir as a second alto.

Yoko Matsubara, an exchange student from Kawanishi, Japan, is at the Center for a year as a Rotary scholar. She is working on her Ph.D. in American literature at Osaka University in Japan and is taking Southern Studies courses as a way to deeper her background on Faulkner's novels, the primary subject of her doctoral work. She believes experiencing Southern culture first hand will increase her understanding of Faulkner's novels. This is Yoko's first time to live away from her hometown. She learns something new every day and finds the coursework challenging and exciting. After completing her degree, Yoko hopes to teach Faulkner to Japanese students.

Kenneth Sallis is one of two Mississippians who entered the program this fall. Kenneth grew up in Lexington and recently graduated from Jackson State University with a B.A. in political science. He came to Ole Miss because of his interest in studying African American art, literature, history, and culture in the South. Kenneth began pursuing these interests at the age of 13 when he and his friends undertook an oral history project that recorded the lives, folklore, jokes, and blues of the senior citizens in his hometown. Fieldwork from the project was published as a magazine called Bloodlines. When he was 14, Kenneth embarked on another oral history project, one focused on the local civil rights movement, and the results again appeared as a magazine. The magazine, named Minds Stayed on Freedom, was later published as a book by Westview Press in Boulder, Colorado. Throughout high school and college, Kenneth continued to be active in local and national community projects. He believes an M.A. in Southern Studies will open doors to research, writing, and oral history opportunities. After earning his degree, Kenneth plans to go to law school and to focus on corporate law.

Steve Holland grew up on a farm in rural Lee County, Mississippi. After graduating from Mississippi State with a degree in business, Steve worked as an intern and then as an employee for three years in the Washington, D.C., office of the late Congressman Jamie L. Whitten, an experience that Steve credits as the foundation of his present political career. He has served as a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives since 1983. Before running for office, Steve became a licensed funeral director and embalmer, taking advantage of the opportunity his father allowed him by giving him the ownership of shares in a local funeral home.

Josh Haynes, from Leesburg, Alabama, graduated from Tulane University in 1998 with a B.A. in history. Before coming to the Southern Studies graduate program, Josh worked in Birmingham as a customer service representative at Oxmoor House Books, a subsidiary of Southern Progress Corporation. Josh's primary interest is in Southern history, yet he is discovering an increasing fondness for Southern literature. He also hopes to take advantage of the program's internship opportunities as an avenue to explore and gain different career experiences. Josh recently spent a summer working at Yellowstone National Park, where he lived out his passion for backpacking and hiking and where he discovered a love of both bird watching and identifying wild flowers. Josh is also a big fan of movies and live music.

Sarah Petrides grew up in Augusta, Georgia. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1998 with majors in linguistics and English. She brings to the Southern Studies master¹s program a strong interest in anthropology and the social sciences. She also loves literature, seeing it as vitally important in telling the stories of a people, deeply expressing who they are as a culture. After receiving her undergraduate degree, Sarah married her college sweetheart, worked as a substitute teacher for a year, and pursued her interests in creative writing and editing. Sarah also enjoys photography, sports (she ran track and cross-country for the University of Texas), and Ashtanga, a form of power Yoga. Sarah's husband, Michael Anderson, serves in the Navy and is currently at sea on the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

Robin Morris, from Tucker, Georgia, graduated from Queens College in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a B.A. in history in 1997. She spent two years in Tunica, Mississippi, with Teach for America. She taught sixth-grade social studies for her first year and the gifted program for the second through seventh grades during her second year. Robin really enjoyed teaching and, after completing her Southern Studies degree, may continue a career as an elementary school teacher. She is also interested in museum education programs for adults and children. She worked as an intern in the educational department of the Museum of the New South in Charlotte and as a research intern at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Robin enjoys reading and music. She is a volunteer with the local literacy council and served as a barbecue judge at the recent King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas.

Wes Boggs graduated from Emory and Henry College with a B.A. in history and psychology. Wes grew up nearby in Clintwood, Virginia, in the Appalachian Mountains. He is excited about the interdisciplinary Southern Studies curriculum because he believes studying a group's literature, art, music, and material culture allows one to gain a deeper understanding of people and culture. Wes was also drawn to the Center because of its many outreach programs and symposiums that benefit the state and community. Wes hopes to use his master's in the field of cultural and historic preservation.

Megan Davis is from Nashville, Tennessee. She graduated from Washington and Lee University in June with a B.A. in broadcast journalism and a concentration in English. As an undergraduate, Megan worked on many different publications, an interest she may continue to pursue in the future. She brings to the master's program a strong interest in Southern literature but is excited about the breadth of knowledge an interdisciplinary program offers. Megan plans to pursue a Ph.D., possibly in American Studies. Megan is also interested in working with Panhellenic Relations and is active in her sorority alumni club. She enjoys reading and unleashing her culinary creativity in the kitchen.

Donna Buzzard, from Durham, North Carolina, comes to Southern Studies with a strong interest in community organizing, bringing with her years of experience working in the nonprofit sector. Before discovering her passion for community work, however, Donna pursued her love of acting, studying theater at Occidental College in Los Angeles and then moving to New York City to act professionally. Realizing she did not enjoy the business side of acting, Donna moved back to her home state to finish her undergraduate degree in political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

After completing her undergraduate studies, Donna considered law school but decided to take a position with United Way as the director of fund distribution in Research Triangle Park. She has also worked for the Center for the Study of the American South at UNC. In addition to serving as the primary staff person for Unfinished Business, a project aimed at completing work begun by the civil rights movement, she assisted with literary festivals, a business history project, Southern Cultures magazine, and the pursuit of National Endowment for the Humanities grants.

Donna has recently developed a new interest, becoming intrigued by Jacob Thompson, of Oxford, Mississippi, a controversial figure during the Civil War whom she may make the focus of her thesis. After earning her master's degree, Donna plans to continue to do community work, write in her spare time, and possibly pursue a Ph.D. in history. When not reading, Donna enjoys distance biking, tennis, horseback riding, and learning to play the banjo.

Buddy Harris, from Charlotte, North Carolina, graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in journalism in 1994. After graduation, Buddy lived in Washington, D.C., pursuing an interest in politics; taught sixth-grade language arts in the Teach for America Program in Clinton, Louisiana; and moved to Durham where he worked for the nonprofit Public Allies, managing a team of seven young adults interested in working in the nonprofit sector. Buddy then took a position with the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, recruiting older adults to work as tutors in the school system. At this time Buddy began working on a young adult novel dealing with the theme of a young boy facing his family's history of racism. Before coming to the graduate program in Southern Studies, Buddy served as interim director of Experience Corps, an organization that creates volunteer opportunities to empower retired adults to become part of a school's family, serving 20 hours a week to help make a change in the school system.

Once again, the Center is pleased to welcome a talented and diverse group of students to the graduate program in Southern Studies.

Anne Evans

Photograph by David Wharton