Education

• International exchange Student at the University of Barcelona , Barcelona Spain, 1995-1996, with instruction in the foreign language. Completion of the Curso de Estudios Hispánicos in Spring 1996. (Sponsoring Institution: State University of New York at Oswego). Read about the university and the program by following these links: Estudios Hispánicos, Barcelona , PlanetEdu, Universitat de Barcelona

• Bachelor of Arts in Language and Cultural Studies, Spring 2006, from The State University of New York Empire State College.

• Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies: Cross-Cultural Arts and Literature, Fall 2007, from San Diego State University. Courses drawn from the departments of English and Comparative Literature, Women's Studies and Art History. Master's thesis:The Woman Suit: The Politics and Performativity of Dress,1930-1950.Committee members: Michael Borgstrom, William A. Nericcio, and Nancy Deffebach.
              

To see Sarah's Bio on the San Diego State Dept. of English and Comparative Literature Graduate Student Site click here: http://literature.sdsu.edu/gradBIOS/index.html

•  C-Best Certification for California Visiting Teacher's Program-Jan. 2007.

Conferences and Symposiums

4th Annual Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference,University of Hawai'i at Mānoa
Cycles of Transformations and Transformations of Cycles: Creation, Evolution, and Performance
March 2-3, 2012 Located at the Kamakakūokalani Building
(Hawaiian Studies Building 2645 Dole Street)

Panel Speaker: Fact and Fiction in the Final Frontier

Topic: Ghost in the Celluloid: The Invisible Hand of the Social Imaginary in the Technological landscapes of the American Future-film.

An examination of the last century's rapid technological advancement and the often fraught relationship in the American social imaginary.

See Site here: http://gsoconference.com/pages/documents

•  American Studies Association Annual Meeting
  "Crisis, Chains, and Change: American Studies for the 21st Century,” November 18-21, 2010, San Antonio, TX. I will present on the "Critical Regionalisms" panel. Topic: "American Imperial Economics in Elvis's Blue Hawaii"

        Abstract:

The shift from plantation to tourist economies in Hawaii is represented in the film Blue Hawaii as a progressive move away from white settlers’ more colonial historical roles and towards an imaginary “bright future” wherein Hawaiian people play a significant role in the creation  and rewards of the then burgeoning travel/tour economy. This presentation will exhibit  ways the filmic representation in Blue Hawaii is fallacious and illustrate how the economic shift has been lateral and not progressive, contributing to continued disenfranchisement of Native Hawaiian people and remains an impediment to equity and justice in present day Hawaii.

• Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association 63rd Annual Conference 2009- Snowbird, Utah On October 8th, 2009 I presented a paper on the Patricia Rozema film When Night is Falling. The central focus of this paper is on the intersections of patriarchy, Christianity and hetero-normativity.

• Capstone Presentation for the Women's Studies Advanced Graduate Certificate at the University of Hawaii at Manoa- April 24th, 2009.

"Mapping Convergence: Feminism, Indigenism and Native Women Writers". This project explored the scholarship and creative writing of Indigenous women writers, accounting for both pro and con assesments of feminism from within Indigenous movements.

• Public Conference at the University of Hawaii at Manoa: The Political Theatre and Aesthetics of Bertolt Brecht- May 11,2009Presented  "Epic Feminism: Brechtian Techniques and the Work of U.S. Women Directors

• Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association 62nd Annual Conference 2008

The Rocky Mountain chapter of the Modern Language Association (RMMLA) hosted its 2008 annual conference in Reno, Nevada from October 8th to October 11th.  I read a chapter from my Master's Thesis "The Woman Suit: The Politics and Performativity of Dress Among Women Artists" on Saturday the 11th. Click here for a conference schedule.

• California State University Northridge, English Speaker on George Sand at The Associated Graduate Students in English (AGSE) at CSUN's annual graduate student conference titled ‘Red Light Literature: Confronting Taboos.’ April 28, 2007. Read the flyer here, Flyer Or, See number XV in the table of contents here: Red Light Literature

• San Diego State University, Art History Speaker at the San Diego State University Art History Student Symposium, March 17, 2007. Spoke on Traditional Navajo Arts and Artists.

 

• San Diego State University, Graduate Student Board Speaker at San Diego State University Graduate Student Board Conference: Bridging Disciplines, April 16 2007. Speaking on the "Politics of Clothing." To learn about the conference and its origins click here: First Annual Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference

Organizations and Participation

• Fall 2011 PASSIONISTA Project!!!!!
• http://wvws808.blogspot.com/2011/11/passionistas-resisting-sistahs-and.html
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• Fall 2010: Member and Graduate Student Liaison for the Hawaiian American Studies Association (HASA), a Regional Chapter of the American Studies Association

• May 2010: Voted into position of Committee Chair on the Executive Council of the Graduate Student Organization (GSO) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa

•       Vice President, National Organization for Women (NOW) affiliate at UH Manoa.  2010-2011.

• Sarah is the co-founder and Director of the campus organization ASGSA, American Studies Graduate Student Association at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She also worked as conference coordinator for the organization's interdisciplinary graduate student conference on April 4, 2009. Conference Website 

Also under her direction, a second annual conference was held on April 3, 2010 http://sites.google.com/site/facetofaceatuhm/

• Volunteer Committee for the University of Hawaii Brecht in/and Asia Conference, May 19-23, 2010. This conference was developed by the UHM Theatre and Dance Department. My duties included diplomacy and assistance to international guest and conference presenter Ong Keng Sen.

"Ong Keng Sen is an internationally celebrated director of intercultural performances and theatre productions. He is the artistic director of TheatreWorks in Singapore and an active contributor to the evolution of an Asian identity and aesthetic within the context of 21st century performance"- from the conference website available here: http://manoa.hawaii.edu/brecht2010/

• Sarah is also a member of the student organization CEJE: Coalition for Equality, Justice and Empowerment since  Spring, 2009
  
  
• In 2008 Sarah became a lifetime member of the Golden Key International Honor Society. Her present chapter is at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Recent community service includes volunteer for Ubited Cerebral Palsy of Hawaii fundraiser, :Dessert fantasy", contributing to donations drive for Fiji schools and  HUGS (toys for children), as well as working at Theatre Operations for the 30th Annual Hawaii International Film Festival, HIFF
  
  
• Sarah is currently a member of the scholarly organizations American Studies Association and Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association and the Modern Language Association.
  
  
• Next Generations Artists, San Diego State University Student Organization member, 2005-2006. 
  
  
• MAPP, Music, Art, Poetry and Prose Exhibition. A San Diego  State University Honors Program event, Spring 2007.  MAPP 

Work Experience

• American Studies 202: Culture and the Arts. The University of Hawaii at Manoa, spring 2012

• Women's Studies/Sociology 318: Women and Social Policy. The University of Hawaii at Manoa, fall 2011

• American Studies 211: Contemporary American Domestic Issues. The University of Hawaii at Manoa, fall 2011

• American Studies 350: Culture and the Arts. The University of Hawaii at Manoa, summer 2011

• American Studies 201: Institutions and Movements. The University of Hawaii at Manoa, spring 2011 

• Instructor for American Studies 211: Contemporary American Domestic Issues. The University of Hawaii at Manoa, fall 2010. 

   Instructor for American Studies 201: Institutions and Movements. The University of Hawaii at Manoa, spring 2010. 

  Graduate Assistant for American Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. AMST150,August-December 2009.America and the World

• Graduate Assistant in American Studies for the course Screening Asians at the University of Hawaii at Manoa,(AMST 352-2 and 352-4)  January to May 2009.  

• Substitute Teacher for San Diego Unified School District 2007.

• Internship with San Diego Women’s History Museum and Educational Center, for the Spring 2007 Women’s Oral History Project, and 2007 Women’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony. I worked with graduate students to interview inductees and create oral history videos for use during the ceremony and to be kept in the museum's archives. In the next phase I worked with museum President Ashley Gardner to edit the interviews into short clips to be played at the Women's Hall of Fame induction ceremony preceding each recipient's stage entrance.

• Visit sarah's profile on LinkedIn

 For references, contact Sarah at smorol@hawaii.edu 

Publications

• "Women Actors and Male Performativity in Early Hollywood." Queers in American Pop Culture. Vol. 1, Film and Television. USA: Praeger, 2010.
  

  Essay Title: Women Actors and Male Performativity in Early Hollywood

  Abstract: This essay discusses the cross-dressing and sexual play ranging from ambiguity to  transgression by three female actors in Hollywood films: Marlene Dietrich, Morocco, 1930, Greta Garbo, Queen Christina (1933) and Katharine Hepburn, Pat and Mike (1952).Central themes include the use of male-coded clothing to break into spheres of male privilege and creating lesbian visibility, or a lesbian aesthetic, as well as providing opportunity for a coded lesbian gaze through dress and representation. This study relies on the works of Judith Butler and Stuart Hall to argue that clothing is not merely a cover for the body but a powerful signifier of social status, class positioning, gender and sexuality. In this case the issues of gender and sexuality are highlighted through dress, and its use in  the disruption of this type of social codification. 

   

• Book review in the Spring 2009 Rocky Mountain Review: Kalenda Eaton's Womanism, Literature and the Transformation of the Black Community, 1965-1980. (Routledge, 2008). Review Listing

• Master's thesis:The Woman Suit: The Politics and Performativity of Dress Among Women Artists,1930-1950. San Diego State University Press, 2007. ( For full text email smorol@hawaii.edu )

• Haiku publication in Parnassus Literary Journal under editor Denver Stull, 1994.Read about the journal on page 422 of The American Directory of Writer's Guidelines. A similar version of that poem is reproduced here:

  
  
  A large pine needle floats by,
  
  
  disturbs the reflection
  
  
  of the tree it fell down from