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Rebecca Stiles Onion Curriculum Vitae

Current Address: Phone: 646.206.1492 2205 Richcreek Rd rebeccaonion@gmail.com Austin, TX 78757 www.rebeccaonion.com On Twitter: @rebeccaonion Education

Doctoral Candidate, American Studies, University of Texas at Austin

Expected defense date Summer 2012 Dissertation: “How Science Became Child’s Play: Science, Technology, and the Culture of American Childhood, 1890-1970″ Committee: Janet Davis (co-supervisor); Julia Mickenberg (co-supervisor); Jeffrey Meikle; Bruce Hunt; John Hartigan

Comprehensive Exam Fields: American Civilization (Julia Mickenberg); Environmental and Animal Studies (Janet Davis); Technology and Culture (Jeffrey Meikle); Cultural Anthropology (John Hartigan)

M.A., American Studies, University of Texas at Austin, May 2007

Thesis: “Sled Dog Stories: Discourses of Domestication, Race, and Work in Alaska, 1867-1925” Thesis Director: Janet Davis; Thesis Reader: Julia Mickenberg

B.A., American Studies, Yale University, cum laude, with distinction, May 2000

Thesis: “Pain, Fear, and Transcendence: Narrative Constructions in the National Media Reaction to the Columbine High School Shootings” Thesis Director: Jean-Christophe Agnew

Research Interests

Twentieth-century American history, history of childhood and youth, history of science and technology, animal studies, environmental studies, material culture, visual culture, history of education, museum studies, digital humanities

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles: “Picturing Nature and Childhood at the American Museum of Natural History and the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, 1899-1930.” Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Fall 2011), 434-469.

“Reclaiming the Machine: An Introductory Look at Steampunk in Everyday Practice.” Journal of Neo-Victorian Studies 1:1 (Autumn 2008), 138-163.

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Book Chapters:

“Ronnie Vinikoff,” “James McMurtry” (both with Lisa Powell), oral histories in The Republic of Barbecue: Stories Beyond the Brisket, a project carried out by UT/Austin American Studies graduate students and published by the University of Texas Press in 2009.

“Environmental Health, Biological Risk, and Medical Display: The Individualist Etiologies of BODY WORLDS,” in The Anatomy of Body Worlds, ed. Thora Jespersen et. al (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008), 55-65.

“Sled Dogs of the American North: On Masculinity, Whiteness, and Human Freedom,” in Animals and Agency, ed. Sarah MacFarland and Ryan Hediger (Leiden: Brill Academic, 2009), 129-156.

Encyclopedia Entry:

“Theodore Roethke,” in Modern American Environmentalists: A Biographical Encyclopedia, ed. G.A. Cevasco (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009), 421-426.

Review Publications:

Review: Sally Kohlstedt, Teaching Children Science: Hands-On Nature Study in North America, 1890-1930. Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Fall 2011), 518-520. Review: Edward Johnson and Michael Mappin, eds., Environmental Education and Advocacy: Changing Perspectives of Ecology and Education. Green Theory & Praxis: The Journal of Ecopedagogy, Vol. 5, No. 1 (2009), 280-282. Review: Nelson Lichtenstein, ed., American Capitalism: Social Thought and Political Economy in the Twentieth Century. E3W Review of Books, Vol. 9 (Spring 2009), 38-39.

Review: Documentary Film: “King Corn.” Green Theory & Praxis: The Journal of Ecopedagogy, Vol. 4, No. 1 (2008), 122-124. Review: Kenneth Foote, Shadowed Ground: America’s Landscapes of Violence and Tragedy. E3W Review of Books, Vol. 6 (Spring 2006), 47-48. Fellowships and Grants

2010-2011 William S. Livingston Graduate Fellowship, University of Texas at Austin 2011 Summer Research Grant, Department of American Studies, University of

Texas at Austin 2011 Research Grant, Friends of the Princeton University Library 2011 Shin Pond Summer Retreat Program Fellowship, Humane Society of the

United States

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2010 Robert A. Heinlein Online Archives Research Grant 2010 Chemical Heritage Foundation Travel Grant 2010 Hannah Beiter Graduate Student Research Grant, Children’s Literature

Association 2007 Liberal Arts Graduate Research Fellowship, University of Texas at Austin 2007 Stott Travel Fellowship, University of Texas at Austin 2005-2006 Harrington Fellowship, University of Texas at Austin Scholarly Honors and Prizes

2011 Winner, Graduate Research Award, University Co-Op, University of Texas at

Austin 2011 BootCamp Fellowship, to attend THATCamp (digital humanities

conference), awarded by Mellon and Kress Foundations 2008 Winner, Outstanding Thesis Award, University Co-Op, University of Texas

at Austin 2008 Invited to speak at the Material Culture Symposium for Emerging Scholars,

University of Delaware/Winterthur Museum 2008 Travel Award to attend University College Dublin Clinton Institute Summer

School, given by University of Texas at Austin Department of American Studies

2007 Graduate Participant, University of Texas at Austin Humanities Institute Faculty Seminar, “The Human and its Others”

Research Experience

2009-2010 Research Assistant to Dr. Penne Restad, History Department, University of

Texas at Austin • Assisted with curriculum development for survey course;

created course website: http://sites.la.utexas.edu/history2point0/, password “oldschool”

2007-2008 Research Assistant to Dr. Janet Davis, American Studies Department, University of Texas at Austin

• Assisted with research for book project, including archival work and Spanish-to-English translations

Teaching Interests

American history survey, Introduction to American Studies, popular culture, gender studies, technology and culture, popular science, science fiction, culture and climate change, history of the American West, environmental history, animal studies, history of childhood/childhood studies, material culture, food studies, digital humanities

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Teaching Experience

2011 Assistant Instructor, Department of American Studies, University of Texas at Austin

• Course Title: Popular Culture and American Childhood • Course Websites: americanchildhoods.com (F’11),

popcultureandamericanchildhood.com (S ’12) • Syllabus: http://americanchildhoods.com/syllabus/ (F ’11),

http://popcultureandamericanchildhood.com/syllabus/ (S ’12)

2008-2009 Assistant Instructor, Department of Rhetoric and Writing, University of Texas at Austin

• Course Title: Introduction to Rhetoric and Composition 2008-2009 Consultant, University Writing Center, University of Texas at Austin

• Assisted students with writing projects 2007 Supplemental Instruction Leader, University of Texas at Austin Learning

Center • Led discussion sections attached to large lecture class;

provided instruction in study skills & written communication 2006-2007 Teaching Assistant, American Studies Department, University of Texas at

Austin • Course Titles: Introduction to American Studies: Femininity

and Masculinity in America (Dr. Elizabeth Engelhardt); Main Currents in American Culture through 1865 (Dr. Shirley Thompson)

Professional Presentations

March 2012 “Making Science Fun: Critical Intersections of Science and

Childhood in 20th-Century American Culture,” University of Texas at Austin History of Science Colloquium, Austin, TX

October 2011 “Reality in the Basement: Science Sets, Home Laboratories, & the

Market for the Modern Mind.” American Studies Association Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD

July 2011 “The Story of a Wonder World: Science, Industry, and the ‘Romance

of Reality’ in American Kids’ Books of the 1920s and 1930s.” Brown-bag talk for the Friends of the Princeton University Library, Princeton, NJ

June 2011 “Science, Childhood, and the ‘Informational’ Book: Knowing the

Modern World in the 1920s and 1930s.” Children’s Literature Association annual meeting, Hollins, VA

November 2010 “Varieties of Scientific Experience: The American Museum of

Natural History, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, and the

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Production of Wonder, 1900-1930.” American Studies Association annual meeting, San Antonio, TX

April 2010 “Melding Childhood Studies, Science Studies, and the History of

Education.” Exploring Childhood Studies Conference, Childhood Studies Graduate Program, Rutgers-Camden, Camden, NJ

March 2010 “Doing history with Team-Based Learning in a large survey U.S.

history course.” With Penne Restad and Michael Sweet. Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Team Based Learning Collaborative, New Orleans, Louisiana

April 2008 “Reclaiming the Machine: Steampunk Practice and the Humanization

of the Technological Object,” Material Culture Symposium for Emerging Scholars, Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, Delaware

November 2007 “Re-articulating the Native, Claiming the Human: Man-Dog

Relationships in the New American North,” Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts, Portland, ME

June 2007 “Colonial Narratives, Written on The Animal Body: The Watercolors

of Walton Ford,” Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment, Spartanburg, SC

March 2007 “Gender and the Frontier in Alaska.” Guest lecture, Intro to

American Studies undergraduate class (for Dr. Elizabeth Engelhardt) November 2006 “Visions of Carnivore Ecology in Children’s Culture: Dinotopia and

Jurassic Park,” Carnivores 2006 (Defenders of Wildlife conference), Tampa, FL

October 2006 “Lead Dogs and Heroic Masculinity in the New Age of Celebrity,”

Western Literature Association, Boise, ID

February 2006 “The Endless Quest for Authenticity: The Lord of the Rings and Teenage Girls,” SW/TX Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, Albuquerque, NM

Service to Department, University, Profession

2011 Gave professional development presentation for fellow graduate students:

“Beyond Citation Management: Using Zotero to Shape Your Graduate Research”

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2011 Blogger for University of Texas Department of American Studies website, AMS :: ATX (http://amstudies.wordpress.com/)

2011 Organized two panels for the American Studies Association annual meeting,

Baltimore, MD • “Objects of Learning: Material Culture, Imaginative

Pedagogy, and the Transformation of American Childhood, 1880-1980” (co-organized with Sarah Carter; sponsored by Material Culture Caucus)

• “From Decay to Deterioration: Questioning the Aesthetics of Abandonment” (sponsored by Visual Culture Caucus)

2011 Wrote column for Society for the History of Childhood and Youth

newsletter (“Songbirds and Satellites: Blogging the History of Childhood”)

2010-present Maintained research blog, Songbirds and Satellites (www.rebeccaonion.com) 2010 Co-edited and wrote column for Paperweight: A Newspaper of Visual and

Material Culture, Summer 2010-present 2009 Organized visit of guest speaker Cindi Katz, Childhood Studies Graduate

Research Cluster, University of Texas at Austin 2008 Mentor, Intellectual Entrepreneurship Program, University of Texas at

Austin • Acted as advisor to undergraduate American Studies major

interested in attending graduate school 2008 Member of committee to organize MEPHISTOS graduate conference in the

history, anthropology, and sociology of science 2007-2008 Maintained orals reading blog, La Biblioteca de Babel

(http://bifurcan.blogspot.com/) 2007 Member of committee to organize UT American Studies Graduate

Conference 2006 Co-organized UT American Studies Graduate Conference 2006 Organizer and facilitator, faculty roundtable, “Pushing ‘Interdisciplinary’ To

The Limit,” UT American Studies Graduate Conference, Austin, TX Additional Work Experience

2002-present Freelance writer, multiple popular publications (including Nylon, Venus, Bitch,

Tribeza, ELLEgirl, Teen People, Austinist, Time Out New York, Slate.com, Budget

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Living, Cosmopolitan, The New Republic’s website, Backpacker, the New Haven Advocate). See www.rebeccaonion.com/publications/freelance for clips.

2001-2003 Staff writer, ym magazine Languages

Fluent in Spanish Intermediate Proficiency in Italian Professional Affiliations

Since 2005 American Studies Association member Since 2007 Society for the History of Childhood and Youth member Since 2010 History of Science Society Member Since 2010 Children’s Literature Association member References

Janet Davis Associate Professor Department of American Studies/Department of History University of Texas at Austin 1 University Station B7100 Austin, TX 78712 Office Phone: 512.232.1848 or 512.471.7277 Email: janetmdavis@austin.utexas.edu Julia Mickenberg Associate Professor Department of American Studies University of Texas at Austin 1 University Station B7100 Austin, TX 78712 Office Phone: 512.232.2650 or 512.471.7277 Email: mickenberg@mail.utexas.edu Jeffrey Meikle Professor Department of American Studies/Department of Art and Art History University of Texas at Austin 1 University Station B7100 Austin, TX 78712 Office Phone: 512.232.2166 or 512.471.7277 Email: meikle@mail.utexas.edu Bruce Hunt Associate Professor

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Department of History University of Texas at Austin 1 University Station B7000 Austin, TX 78712 Office Phone: 512.232.6109 Email: bjhunt@mail.utexas.edu Penne L. Restad (Teaching Reference) Distinguished Senior Lecturer Department of History University of Texas at Austin 1 University Station B7000 Austin, TX 78712 Office Phone: 512.475.7233 Email: restad@mail.utexas.edu