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Maria Bastos-Stanek, an undergraduate Art History student in the graduating class of 2017, recently presented a paper at the UMass Amherst Graduate History Conference on March 5, 2016. Her paper, "Queering Prohibition: Gender and Sexual Nonconformity in Paul Cadmus's Greenwich Village Cafeteria," analyzes Paul Cadmus's 1934 oil painting, Greenwich Village Cafeteria, which he painted while employed by the New Deal Public Works of Art Project. She specifically challenges the way in which art critics and historians have, by and large, written off Cadmus's work as satirical, arguing instead that Cadmus presents a scene of post-World War II gay subculture in New York City that actually occurred by connecting the painting to a social history of gay subculture at the time. She won an honorable mention for the Outstanding Paper Prize during the conference. You can find photos of the conference on the History department's Flickr page.

In order to give her presentation, Ms. Bastos-Stanek had to condense a seventeen page paper into a fifteen minute talk. "I worked closely with Professor Nancy Noble who graciously listened to my presentation several times and provided helpful feedback," she said about her process. She also met with Professor Julio Capó, with whom she took a class with last semester, for advide on presenting at an academic conference. On his advice, she "decided to spend a substantial amount of time on visual analysis, as I spoke to a largely non-art historian audience. At the end of my presentation, I also took the time to relate my paper to the conference theme, Putting History to Work, which I did not originally address in the paper."

In addition, Ms. Bastos-Stanek won a Field Award this year. The William F. Field Alumni Scholar Award was established in 1976 to recognize and honor third-year students for their academic achievements at UMass Amherst. The program was named in honor of William F. Field, the university’s first Dean of Students, for his outstanding support of academic excellence and his personal commitment to bringing out the best in every student. The scholarship is awarded to fifty-six students each year.