Glasscock Center Staff
Troy Bickham, Interim Director
310C Glasscock Building
(979) 845-8328
tbickham@tamu.edu
Troy Bickham is a Professor of History. Having joined Texas A&M in 2003, he served in various roles at the university’s campus in Qatar from 2009-19, before returning to the Department of History. He teaches broadly in the histories of Britain and its empire, the Atlantic world, and British colonial North America during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early-nineteenth centuries. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Bickham has written on a variety of topics and published in multiple leading journals, including Past & Past Present, Journal of British Studies, and the William and Mary Quarterly. He is the author of four monographs: Savages within the Empire (2005), which explores how encounters with Native Americans affected British culture in the eighteenth century; Making Headlines (2008), which examines British engagement with the American Revolution via the British newspaper press; and The Weight of Vengeance (2012), which is a transatlantic study of the Anglo-American War of 1812. His most recent book, Eating the Empire (2020), investigates how food from around the world shaped British culture in the eighteenth century. He is currently working on a project that maps the movement of news in early modern Britain and its empire.
Jessica Ray Herzogenrath, Associate Director
310D Glasscock Building
(979) 845-8328
jrayherzogenrath@tamu.edu
Jessica Ray Herzogenrath, an Instructional Assistant Professor of History, joined Texas A&M University in 2020. She teaches about and researches US cultural history, specifically popular culture and dance. Drawing on her experience performing, choreographing, and teaching dance, she explores how dance simultaneously reveals long-established cultural traditions and holds the potential for immediate change. Her recently published article, “Voice from the Wings: Ann Barzel and Twentieth-Century Dance Writing,” appears in one of two special issues on dance for Feminist Modernist Studies, which she also co-edited and co-authored their introductions. Forthcoming publications include an essay on dance at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago for the compilation Dancing on the Third Coast: Chicago Dance Histories (University of Illinois Press) and a chapter in Dance in US Popular Culture (Routledge).
Herzogenrath also pursues interests in curriculum innovation. Following work as the course designer on an Enhancing the Design of Gateway Experiences (EDGE) grant from the Office of Student Success, she served as the faculty lead for the US history survey on the Digital Design for Student Success (D2S2) project, a collaboration with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). Beyond Texas A&M, Herzogenrath acts as an artistic advisor to Houston-based Social Movement Contemporary Dance Theater and writes for Dance Source Houston’s the dance dish.
Amanda N. Dusek, Assistant Director
305C Glasscock Building
(979) 862-1780
amanda.dusek@tamu.edu
Amanda Dusek joined the Glasscock Center in 2015, having graduated magna cum laude from Texas A&M earlier that year with a Bachelor of Arts in Telecommunication Media Studies. As the Assistant Director, Amanda coordinates the various programming, events, and grant opportunities presented by the Glasscock Center, as well as our communication and design efforts.
AJ Baginski, Postdoctoral Research Associate
310E Glasscock Building
(979) 845-8328
abaginski@tamu.edu
Dr. Baginski holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Irvine and previously taught in the Bi-Co Department of Environmental Studies at Bryn Mawr College as Visiting Assistant Professor. Baginski’s research focuses on the contemporary literature and environment of the U.S.-Mexico border, drawing on critical theory and philosophy from Latin America and the U.S. Their work has been published in Chasquí: Revista de literatura latinoamericana, H-Net, Humanística: Revista de estudios críticos y literarios, FIELD: A Journal of Socially Engaged Art Criticism, Yearbook of Comparative Literature and Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies. Their manuscript in progress is tentatively titled Exposure, Accident and Violence: Environmental Conditions in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. This project argues that twentieth and twenty-first century writers from Northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States have worked to disarticulate the border’s consolidation of gender difference, the concept of race, and ideas of environmental uninhabitability inherited from different colonial traditions.
Leigh Goyco, Program Assistant
305 Glasscock Building
979-845-8328
leighgoyco@tamu.edu
Leigh graduated from Texas State University in 1994 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. She has since worked in various office settings and spent a number of years homeschooling her 4 children.
Leigh serves as the Center's first point of contact, and works closely with our Program Coordinator to provide support to the Glasscock Center's various programs, Fellows, and community.
Angela C. Mayorga, Business Administrator
438 Academic Building
(979) 862-1540
amayorga@tamu.edu
Angela Mayorga earned a Master of Business Administration from Western Governors University in 2021 and a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Texas A&M University in 2013. She has provided business support for the College of Liberal Arts since November 2014 and the university since May 2013.
As the Center’s Business Administrator, Angie manages a wide range of business activities including the Center’s budget, expense tracking, and providing guidance with financial matters.
Jennifer Wells, Graduate Research Assistant
305 Glasscock Building
jwells10@tamu.edu
Jennifer Wells graduated from Texas A&M in 2010 with a BS in interdisciplinary studies and a minor in geography. She earned an MA in history from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2019. She is currently a third-year Ph.D. student in the Department of History. Her research studies how foodways and printed texts (cookbooks, in particular) helped to forge a sense of national identity for American women in the early republic.
Megan Bodily, Graduate Research Assistant
305 Glasscock Building
megan_bodily@tamu.edu
Megan Bodily is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology. Her areas of interest are race and ethnicity and spatial demography. Megan is a first-generation college student who received her Bachelor's degree in sociology from Utah State University in 2014; she is proud to be both a USU Aggie and a Texas A&M Aggie. Megan oversees the sociology department's Mentorship and Academic Development Peer Mentor program and is currently a researcher for the Building Bridges Collaborative Program. Megan enjoys spending time with her dog, Piper Ann, and her foster cat, Mimi.
Kate Girvin, Undergraduate Student Coordinator
305 Glasscock Building
kgirvin@tamu.edu
Kate Girvin is a senior philosophy major. She is recognized for her campus involvement in various philanthropic student organizations and editorial contributions for Aletheia, Texas A&M’s undergraduate journal of philosophy. As a former Glasscock Summer Scholar and LAUNCH Undergraduate Research Scholar, Kate’s research combines the dialogues of decolonial feminist, Maria Lugones, with feminist autonomist, Silvia Federici, to explore how Western attitudes towards gender and race reinforce motherhood reproductive imperatives for women of the U.S./Mexico Borderlands. Her research recognizes that families of the borderlands model resistance to European centered feminism and refute Western social determinations that impose corresponding social relations upon them. Kate will graduate with University and Departmental Philosophy Honors and pursue a dual degree program in law and philosophy thereafter.
As Student Coordinator, Kate assists with the Center's media and communication for Glasscock initiatives and supported events. She also collaborates on projects that further the Center’s outreach to the wider Texas A&M community. Kate will mentor the incoming Undergraduate Apprentices and involve them in the workings of the Center.
Sudiksha Pai, Undergraduate Student Assistant
305 Glasscock Building
sudikshapai@tamu.edu
Sudiksha Pai is a Sophomore Honors BA Communications major with a minor in Business, pursuing a Social Media Certificate. She participates in several on-campus student organizations such as being a staff member of FLARE, a Freshman leadership organization for the Arts and Sciences. As well as being part of the Social Media team on The A-Line Magazine, a fashion and lifestyle magazine. Additionally, Sudiksha plans to graduate in the Fall of 2024 to pursue a Master's in Marketing/Brand Management.