ASMS Student Presents at Regional Conference

ASMS Senior Parker James recently traveled to Gulfport, Mississippi, to present a paper at the 40th Annual Gulf South History & Humanities Conference. He began his research into New Orleans radio station WWOZ as a Research Fellow at ASMS and participated in our Spring Research Forum.

Under the guidance of mentor Dr. John Hoyle, Parker researched and developed a paper and poster entitled “WWOZ New Orleans 90.7 FM: The Global Voice, Archive, and Emissary of New Orleans Music and Culture.”

“Parker’s paper is excellent, and he held his own as the only high school student who presented,” says Hoyle. “All the other presenters were college professors and graduate students. The conference organizer contacted me to compliment Parker and mentioned that she wants ASMS to participate in the future.”

Presenting alongside scholars and professors many years older and further into their academic careers than him, Parker participated in a session entitled “Popular Culture in the Twentieth-Century Gulf South,” which, in addition to his own presentation, discussed papers on the Florida Chautauqua and Southern Wrestling.

The ASMS Research Fellows program, while still new, is already emerging as a unique way for our students to distinguish themselves, not just among their peers on our campus but in larger academic communities. As our Research Fellows program grows, so does its reach into the wider world that it opens up for ASMS students.