History professor involved in PBS documentary airing Feb. 20
Phil Tiemeyer, associate professor of history and author of award-winning book Plane Queer: Labor, Sexuality, and AIDS in the History of Male Flight Attendants, was interviewed and served as historical advisor for the PBS documentary, “Fly with Me,” airing at 8 p.m. (CST) Feb. 20 on PBS.
“Fly with me” tells the story of the pioneering women who became flight attendants at a time when single women couldn’t order a drink, eat alone in a restaurant, own a credit card or get a birth control prescription. The job offered unheard-of opportunities for travel and independence. These women were on the frontlines of the battle for gender equality in the workplace.
“[Flight attendants were] being marketed, basically, as a Barbie doll, and yet doing more and more complex work,” Tiemeyer said. “There’s a fundamental incompatibility between these two things.”
Watch PBS’s “Fly with Me” trailer.
Modern languages and political science alumna recognized
Modern languages and political science graduate Jill Applegate ’16 is one of two 2024 Distinguished Young Alumni named by the K-State Alumni Association. Applegate is currently a Skadden Fellow at the Neighborhood Defender Service. After studying at K-State, she earned a juris doctor from the University of Texas at Austin.
Of the things she learned at K-State, she had this to say:
“I even had the privilege of learning about migration from immigrant farm workers themselves while working as a research assistant for Alisa Garni in the sociology department, which was an invaluable opportunity to put names and faces to what I was learning in the classroom.”
Read her full interview with the Alumni Association.
Spanish professor recognized for promoting diversity
Maria Teresa DePaoli, professor of Spanish, has received the university’s Commerce Bank Presidential Faculty/Staff Award for Distinguished Services to Historically Under-Represented Students.
Her nominator said, “She includes service-learning experiences so that students have hands-on intercultural/bilingual interactions and opportunities to serve their communities while they learn. These service-learning activities not only benefit students by working and learning directly from historically underrepresented groups but also benefit non-profit organizations.”
See announcement from the Division of Student Belonging and Inclusion.