American Studies is thrilled to host Prof. Karen Tongson as a 2024-25 Presidential Visiting Fellow. A professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies, English, and American Studies and Ethnicity at University of Southern California, Tongson is one of the world’s leading experts in queer of color studies, popular culture studies, and sound studies. She has written numerous books and essays for academic presses as well as for public-facing venues, including her most recent monograph Normporn: Queer Viewers and the TV That Soothes Us. We are excited to have her share her expertise with our students. This fall Tongson will teach two seminars cross-listed with Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies: Queer Repertoires and the “Great American Songbook” as well as Pop Sapphism. Known for their cutting-edge pedagogy, these courses promise to respectively introduce students to the queerness of the U.S. music industry and “contemporary iterations of sapphic pop culture” as they extend our Program’s ongoing conversations about sexuality and gender. Welcome, Karen!