Stacy Takacs, an associate professor of English and director of American studies at OSU, recently received two College of Arts and Sciences grants and a Vice President of Research grant to conduct research on the American Forces Network. The United States military-run global network consists of radio and television stations serving the troops, foreign-service personnel and their families stationed overseas. Takacs seeks to rectify the omission of research on the TV services and its influence on “shadow audiences” during the Cold War. Through her grants, she has visited the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, and conducted interviews at the worldwide AFN Broadcast Center in Riverside, California. The grants will also allow her to travel around the world to various overseas AFN stations in Germany, Italy, Guam, the Philippines and South Korea.
Takacs participates in the undergraduate digital humanities initiatives in the College of Arts and Sciences along with directing the American studies program. The American studies undergraduate major is an interdisciplinary program focused on the study of U.S. history, society and culture from a transnational and multicultural perspective. The program grants undergraduate research assistantships to advanced students for project-based research collaborations. For more information, contact Stacy Takacs at stacy.takacs@okstate.edu.