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Staff Profile

Dr Michael Ondaatje

Lecturer – History

Faculty/Division: Education and Arts

School: Humanities and Social Science

Phone: + 61 2 4921 5219

Facsimile: + 61 2 4921 6940

Email: Michael.Ondaatje@newcastle.edu.au

Location: McMullin Building, Room MCLG26a

Campus: Callaghan Campus, Newcastle

Brief biography

Michael Ondaatje was born in Perth, Western Australia and was awarded his PhD (with Distinction) from the University of Western Australia (UWA). His thesis on the black conservative phenomenon in modern America was recognised at UWA with the Robert Street Prize for the best PhD across all disciplines in 2007. Also the winner of that university’s Excellence in Teaching Award (Early Career) in 2006 (when he taught courses on United States history and the history of racial ideology), Michael has published work in the field of African American history and is currently writing a biography of the 1960s civil rights leader James Farmer. His forthcoming book Black Conservative Intellectuals in Modern America will be published by Penn Press in early 2009.

Qualifications

2007 PhD (with Distinction), History Discipline Group, University of Western Australia
2001 Bachelor of Arts (Honours), University of Western Australia, Double Major in History and Political Science, First Class Honours in History

Academic Appointments

2008–current Lecturer (Tenure-Track, Level B) in American History, The University of Newcastle, Australia
2007 Whitfeld Research Fellow (UWA)
2004–2006 Tutor/Lecturer (Level A) in American and Global History, University of Western Australia
2003 Teaching Intern, History, University of Western Australia

Teaching Interests

United States history
Race and ethnicity
Historiography

Awards, Prizes & Fellowships

2008 Humanities Travelling Fellowship ($4,000), Australian Academy of the Humanities.
2008 New Staff Grant ($11,000), University of Newcastle
2008 School of Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant ($5,000), University of Newcastle
2008 Nominated as Lecturer of High Regard (University of Newcastle).
2007 Robert Street Prize (for the best PhD across all disciplines at UWA in 2007). ‘The prize is awarded to the student whose PhD thesis, of all those PhD theses passed with distinction in a designated 12-month period, has, in the opinion of the Board of the Graduate Research School, made the most outstanding contribution to its field.’
2007 Whitfeld Research Fellowship ($12,500), History Discipline Group, School of Humanities, University of Western Australia
2006 UWA Excellence in Teaching Award (Early Career)
2006 Peter Coleman Award (best article published by a postgraduate student in the Australian Journal of American Studies over a two year period – ‘Counterfeit Heroes or Colour-Blind Visionaries’ (see publications).
2006 UWA PhD Completion Scholarship ($7,500)
2003 UWA Teaching Internship
2002 Australian Postgraduate Award (for 3.5 years)
2002 Jean Rogerson Scholarship ($15,000)

Research interests

African American history, especially the civil rights movement and contemporary black conservatism.

Research Publications (selected)

Books

Forthcoming 2009 Black Conservative Intellectuals in Modern America will be published by Penn Press.

Refereed Journal Articles

2006 ‘Francis Fukuyama’s After the Neocons: America at the Crossroads’, New Critic, Issue 3, 2006.
2004 ‘Counterfeit Heroes or Colour Blind Visionaries? : The Black Conservative Challenge to Affirmative Action in Modern America’ , The Australasian Journal of American Studies, Volume 23, No. 2, December 2004, pp. 31-50. Peter Coleman Prize.