BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//events.la.psu.edu//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20201101T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20200308T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:19774-cb259dcaaeba58a3be840a8443c556d6@events.la.psu.edu DTSTAMP:20260917T092150Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260901T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260901T143000 SUMMARY:Richards Center Fall Professional Development Workshop #1 with Taylor Bl ack and Heather Menefee DESCRIPTION:\nHeather and Taylor have generously agreed to share their a pplication materials with us as we talk through the job market process. We will be discussing the DOs and DON'Ts of job application materials.\n \nHeather Menefee is the 2026–2027 Civil War Era history postdoctoral fe llow. Heather completed her Ph.D. in Native American and U.S. history at Northwestern University\, where she was a Mellon Cluster Fellow in Nati ve American and Indigenous Studies\, a T.H. Breen Fellow in History\, an d a Presidential Fellow. Her dissertation\, “Kinship in Daḳota Maḳoc̣e \, 1815-1862\,” demonstrates how conflicting settler and Dakota conceptu alizations of kinship shaped the political development of the United Sta tes and the Dakota oyate (nation) throughout the nineteenth century and beyond. Her research interests include transformations of Indigenous sov ereignty and U.S. citizenship since the early nineteenth century\, Dakot a history\, the relationship of federal Indian policy to U.S. imperialis m\, John Trudell’s political philosophy\, and histories of the Great Lak es. As a non-Native historian\, Heather is committed to supporting the r eturn of Dakota land and the health of the Dakota language. She earned a n M.A. in American studies at UNC Chapel Hill in 2019\, and a B.A. (summ a cum laude) from Northwestern University in 2015 with an ad hoc major i n Native American Studies. She enjoys the White Sox\, choral singing\, s tudying languages\, and befriending other people’s dogs. Heather’s famil y’s donkey is named Jackson and lives in Georgia\, where he protects cow s from coyotes. She is thrilled to join the Richards Center as a postdoc toral fellow and welcomes anyone to reach out.\n\nTaylor Black\, is a 20 26–2027 Richards Center Predoctoral Fellow and a doctoral candidate in t he History Department at the University of California\, Davis. His resea rch focuses on religion\, race\, and U.S. imperialism and colonialism in nineteenth century America. His dissertation\, “Between Faith and Force : Black U.S. Army Chaplains in the Age of Empire\, 1865-1915\,” recasts Reconstruction as a struggle over religious sovereignty that\, for many African Americans\, became entangled within larger processes of U.S. imp erialism. The project centers the stories of the first five Black Christ ians to serve as Baptist and African Methodist Episcopal chaplains in th e U.S. Regular Army from 1884 to 1920. After liberating themselves from slavery\, they embarked on a mission to remake the world as Black religi ous agents of the U.S. imperial state in the South\, the Caribbean\, the trans-Mississippi West\, and the Pacific world. Their story further rev eals the complicated stakes of making modern\, racialized subjectivities beyond the borders of former slave states in the long Civil War Era. Ta ylor’s work has been supported by the Russell J. and Dorothy S. Bilinski Educational Foundation\, the Phi Beta Kappa Society\, and the Reed-Smit h Travel Research Fund.\n\nFor more details: https://events.la.psu.edu/e vent/rcwec-fall-pd-black-and-menefee/ X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Heather and Tay lor have generously agreed to share their application materials with us as we talk through the job market process. We will be discussing the DOs and DON'Ts of job application materials.

Heather Menefee is the 2026–2027 Civil War Era history postdoctoral fellow. Hea ther completed her Ph.D. in Native American and U.S. history at Northwes tern University, where she was a Mellon Cluster Fellow in Native America n and Indigenous Studies, a T.H. Breen Fellow in History, and a Presiden tial Fellow. Her dissertation, “Kinship in Daḳota Maḳoc̣e, 1815-1862,” demonstrates how conflicting settler and Dakota conceptualizations of k inship shaped the political development of the United States and the Dak ota oyate (nation) throughout the nineteenth century and beyond. Her res earch interests include transformations of Indigenous sovereignty and U. S. citizenship since the early nineteenth century, Dakota history, the r elationship of federal Indian policy to U.S. imperialism, John Trudell’s political philosophy, and histories of the Great Lakes. As a non-Native historian, Heather is committed to supporting the return of Dakota land and the health of the Dakota language. She earned an M.A. in American s tudies at UNC Chapel Hill in 2019, and a B.A. (summa cum laude) from Nor thwestern University in 2015 with an ad hoc major in Native American Stu dies. She enjoys the White Sox, choral singing, studying languages, and befriending other people’s dogs. Heather’s family’s donkey is named Jack son and lives in Georgia, where he protects cows from coyotes. She is th rilled to join the Richards Center as a postdoctoral fellow and welcomes anyone to reach out.

Taylor Black, is a 2026–202 7 Richards Center Predoctoral Fellow and a doctoral candidate in the His tory Department at the University of California, Davis. His research foc uses on religion, race, and U.S. imperialism and colonialism in nineteen th century America. His dissertation, “Between Faith and Force: Black U. S. Army Chaplains in the Age of Empire, 1865-1915,” recasts Reconstructi on as a struggle over religious sovereignty that, for many African Ameri cans, became entangled within larger processes of U.S. imperialism. The project centers the stories of the first five Black Christians to serve as Baptist and African Methodist Episcopal chaplains in the U.S. Regular Army from 1884 to 1920. After liberating themselves from slavery, they embarked on a mission to remake the world as Black religious agents of t he U.S. imperial state in the South, the Caribbean, the trans-Mississipp i West, and the Pacific world. Their story further reveals the complicat ed stakes of making modern, racialized subjectivities beyond the borders of former slave states in the long Civil War Era. Taylor’s work has bee n supported by the Russell J. and Dorothy S. Bilinski Educational Founda tion, the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and the Reed-Smith Travel Research Fun d.

For more details: https://events.la.psu.edu/event/rcwec-fall -pd-black-and-menefee/

LOCATION:102 Weaver Building END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR