Connor S. Kenaston
Ph.D. Candidate
Editor, Essays in History
Field & Specialties
United States History since 1865
American Religious History
US Cultural History
Digital Pedagogy
Education
Ph.D. University of Virginia, Corcoran Department of History (expected May 2022)
- Graduate Certificate in American Studies, 2019
- Passed Exam Fields with Distinction, 2018
M.A. University of Virginia, Corcoran Department of History, 2018
B.A. Yale University, Distinction in History, cum laude, 2014
Publications
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
“Step by Step: American Interracialism and the Origins of Talk-First Activism,” Modern American History (Accepted for publication, expected 2022).
“With Care and Context: Presenting Potentially Harmful Images in College Classrooms,” Hybrid Pedagogy, June 17, 2021.
“Methodists and Lynching: Racial Violence and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1880-1930,” Methodist Review: A Journal of Wesleyan and Methodist Studies 7 (2015): 21-43.
“From Rib to Robe: Women’s Ordination in The United Methodist Church,” Methodist History Journal 53, no. 3 (April 2015): 162-172.
Peer-Reviewed Digital Projects
Land and Legacy, with Janet S. Dunkelbarger, Natasha Roth-Rowland, Lauren Van Nest, and Chloe Downe Wells, Praxis Program, University of Virginia Library, Scholars’ Lab, https://landandlegacy.scholarslab.org. Reviewed by Claire A. Tratnyek, Reviews in Digital Humanities 2, no. 5 (May 2021).
Book Reviews
Review of Anointed with Oil: How Christianity and Crude Made Modern America, by Darren Dochuk, Christian Century 136, no. 22 (October 23, 2019): 46-47.
Other Publications
“Reds, Rosaries, and Revolutionary Governments: Church-State Relations in Cuba and Nicaragua in the Aftermath of Revolution,” Yale Historical Review 2 (Spring 2013): 58-71.
Current Research
My dissertation, "Faith Networks: National Broadcasting and the Making of American Religion," explores religion and mass culture during the so-called “Golden Age” of radio. I argue that a partnership between national radio networks and well-connected religious leaders led to the formation of a national religious identity that tacitly blessed the modern media industry and the new practices and collectivities it helped create.
Awards & Honors
2021: PhD Plus Fellowship, Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs, University of Virginia
2021: Arts and Sciences Society of Fellows Dissertation Completion Fellowship, University of Virginia
2020: Renate Voris Fellowship, Renate Voris Fellowship Foundation
2020: Jewish Studies Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship, University of Virginia
2020: Research Fellowship, Presbyterian Historical Society
2020: Albert J. Beveridge Grant, American Historical Association
2020: Dorothy Rosenberg Phi Beta Kappa Annual Meeting Travel Grant, American Historical Association
2019: Annette K. Baxter Travel Grant, American Studies Association
2019: Jewish Studies Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship, University of Virginia
2019: Conference Travel Grant, Corcoran Department of History, University of Virginia
2019: Sid and Ruth Lapidus Fellowship, American Jewish Historical Society
2019: Hagley Exploratory Research Grant, Hagley Center
2019: American Jewish Archive Fellowship, Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archive
2019: John F. Wilson Research Fellowship, American Society of Church History
2019: Praxis Program in Digital Humanities Fellowship, The University of Virginia Scholars Lab
2019: Friends of the UW-Madison Libraries Grants to Scholars Program
2019: Research Stipend Award, Rockefeller Archive Center
2019: Americas Center / Centro de las Américas Fellowship, University of Virginia
2018 Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Summer Research Fellowship, University of Virginia
2017: Filson Fellowship, The Filson Historical Society
2017: Summer Research Funding, University of Virginia History Department
2017: Travel-To-Collections Grant, Smith College
2016: Elmer L. Anderson Research Scholarship Award, University of Minnesota
2015: Women in United Methodist History Writing Award, Commission on Archives and History of the United Methodist Church
2014: Andrew D. White Senior Essay Prize, Yale History Department
2014: Barbara Wertheimer Prize, New York Labor History Association
2013: Richter Summer Fellowship, Davenport College of Yale University
Courses Taught
Instructor of Record:
American History Since 1865 (Summer 2021)
Teaching Assistant:
America and War since 1914 (Fall 2018)
American History Since 1865 (Spring 2018)
Introduction to American Studies (Fall 2017)
Grading Assistant:
Black Fire: The Struggle for Social Justice and Racial Equality at the University of Virginia (Spring 2019)
Guest Lecturer:
“Religion and Nationalism,” Religion and American Popular Culture (March 8, 2021)
Graduate Assistant, UVA Summer Transition Program:
Graduate Assistant Hour (Summer 2019)
Content Tutor, UVA Athletics Department:
Introduction to American Studies (Summer 2018)
Co-Instructor, Central Methodist University Fayette, MO
History of American Methodism (Spring 2015)
Internet and Popular Press Publications
Contributing Author, Scholars' Lab Blog, University of Virginia Library (2019-2020)