By Communications staff, College of Arts and Sciences
The David G. Pollart Center for Arts and Humanities is pleased to announce the Faculty Fellows for 2026-27. Each year, the Pollart Center selects applications from WSU faculty members for projects that advance knowledge and public awareness of the arts and humanities. This year, five faculty members have been awarded with significant support to bring their projects to life.
“This is such an important program at WSU and a wonderful cohort of faculty,” said Joe Hedges, interim director of the Pollart Center for Arts and Humanities. “These projects are each so unique but are connected by genuine curiosity and a spirit of discovery. Each fellow is working to unearth objects, perspectives and stories that otherwise may go unseen or untold. I’m thrilled to help support these projects through the Pollart Center.”
Samantha Fladd, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, will be archiving and itemizing a vinyl record collection donated to the University Libraries in 2025. She and collaborators GIS librarian Joshua Conver and associate professor of history Shawna Herzog plan to disseminate the contents of the project “Vinyl Records as an Archaeological Assemblage: Curating Physical Media as an Archival, Educational, and Research Tool”, through the creation of a publicly available and searchable database, development of educational social media content to promote the collection, and design of a public exhibit.
Jolie Kaytes, professor in the School of Design and Construction, will be developing a book proposal and draft manuscript for “Covered with Daisies”, an essay collection that combines memoir, history, and original illustrations to explore how embracing invasive vegetation can deepen our connections to the planet.
Hillary Mellinger, assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, is planning an interdisciplinary study on Spanish-English language barriers during police encounters. She will conduct a qualitative data analysis using information previously gathered in 47 interviews with law enforcement personnel, seven focus groups with Spanish-speaking community members, field notes from over 60 hours of police ride-alongs, and 84 videos of traffic stops from body-worn cameras.
Jesse Sponholz, professor in the Department of History, will travel to Germany to continue his research in support of a book exploring a European colonial project within sixteenth-century Germany. His work will explore the colony as an act of state building, utopianism, colonial expansion, and refugee settlement.
Clif Stratton, associate professor in the Department of History, will be developing “Race, Recreation, and Urban Mythmaking on Atlanta’s Baseball Diamonds.” The project supports archival research towards the completion of a full manuscript exploring how, through participation in baseball, Atlanta’s civic leaders, business titans, amateur and professional ballplayers, and ordinary denizens struggled to conjure, defend, and challenge competing visions of the city from Reconstruction to the present.