Julio Rodriguez
Director of American Culture Program, Associate Professor of American Culture
BA, East Stroudsburg University; MA, PhD, Bowling Green University
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Professor Rodriguez has published articles on baseball, basketball, boxing, and the performance of masculinity in sports films.
He is currently working on a book-length project examining the role of neo-conservative foreign policy in action-adventure films released during George W. Bush’s presidency.
In the summers he tirelessly, but fruitlessly, tries to break 80 on the golf course, quitting the game on a regular basis. The winter brings snowboarding and the to-date successful attempt not to break anything. Sports have always been central to his work and leisure. They instruct and inform his personal and professional search for a comprehensive understanding of the male gender.
M. Stang
Ainsworth Visiting Scholar of American Culture
BA, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor; MA, University of Southern California; MA, Yale University; MPhil, Yale University; PhD, Yale University
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Pronouns: they/them
Professor Stang is a historian of U.S. public amusement and popular culture. In particular, their research, writing, and teaching explore how mass entertainment refracts mass fear. While at Randolph, they will be working on their first book manuscript: a comprehensive history of the U.S. haunted house attraction industry and Halloween’s role in the intersecting histories of policing, secularization, and political violence from the early 20th century to the present.
In the classroom, Professor Stang encourages students to look twice at everyday entertainments—what we watch, where we shop, who we follow—and asks how students’ beliefs shape the way they engage with American culture and its history.
Off campus, you can usually find Professor Stang thrifting, watching movies, swimming laps, hunting down good food, or playing tabletop games. They proudly hold the title of second-favorite human to a pack of extremely fussy felines, who are far more devoted to Professor Stang’s spouse, Shane, because Shane doles out the kibble. In the summer, Professor Stang is either galavanting around theme parks, spelunking in archives, or finally catching up on all the novels they purchased yet failed to read during the school year.
Connor Kenaston
Assistant Professor of American Culture
BA, Yale University, Distinction in History; MA, University of Virginia, Corcoran Department of History; PhD University of Virginia
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Professor Kenaston is a historian of religion, politics, and culture in the United States. He has published articles on the long civil rights movement, universities and real estate, lynching and women’s ordination in American Methodism, and pedagogy. He is currently working on a book project on the history of religion and radio. In the classroom, Kenaston prioritizes creating an inclusive learning environment where students feel that they belong.
In his spare time, Kenaston enjoys hiking, singing, and playing soccer. In the summer, you’re likely to find him kayaking and swimming in the Greenbrier River near his hometown of Lewisburg, West Virginia.