Biography

Michael Ondaatje is Senior Lecturer, Head of History and Co-Director of International Operations in the School of Humanities and Social Science at the University of Newcastle.

Born in Perth, Western Australia, Michael was awarded his PhD, with Distinction, from the University of Western Australia (UWA) in 2008. That year his thesis on black conservatism was recognised with the Robert Street Prize for the most outstanding PhD across all of the University's disciplines. In 2010, Michael's first book, Black Conservative Intellectuals in Modern America, was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press and became a Top 20 International Bestseller in U.S. history. In 2011, the book was recognised with the University of Newcastle Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Research Excellence, and in 2012 was shortlisted for the Australian Historical Association's W.K. Hancock Prize (receiving a High Commendation).

Michael's research has been supported by grants and fellowships from the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the United States Studies Centre (at the University of Sydney) and the Rothermere American Institute in Oxford. In 2011/12, he was a Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford, a Researcher-in-Residence at the United States Studies Centre in Sydney, and a member of the Emerging Research Leaders Program at the University of Newcastle.

Michael is also the winner of several major teaching awards at the national, university and faculty level, including an ALTC Award for Teaching Excellence (2011); an ALTC Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (2010); the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence (Newcastle, 2010); and a Faculty of Education and Arts Award for Teaching Excellence (Newcastle, 2009). He has supervised 15 Honours theses to completion and is currently involved in the supervision of 7 PhDs.

Beyond the walls of the University, Michael is a regular media commentator on American history and politics, having been interviewed on hundreds of occasions on the ABC (television and radio), Channel Ten, Sky News and SBS, as well as in the United States. Since 2009, he has also been invited to deliver a number of keynote addresses, most notably the Annual Human Rights Day Address at the United Nations Association of Australia in 2011. Michael is currently co-editor of the Australasian Journal of American Studies and a member of the Executive of the Australian Historical Association.

In 2012 the Australian Academy of the Humanities awarded Michael the Max Crawford Medal, ‘Australia’s most prestigious award for achievement and promise in the humanities’. The Crawford Medal is ‘granted to early career Australian researchers for outstanding scholarly achievement in the humanities in Australia, and to those whose publications make an exceptional contribution to the understanding of humanities disciplines by the general public’.

Michael has also recently been selected by the U.S. Embassy in Australia for the International Visitor Leadership Program, the flagship exchange program of the U.S. State Department (details: http://osce.usmission.gov/archive/misc/press_ivp.html). In June 2013, he will be part of a program in Washington DC called “Decision-Making in US Foreign Policy.”

Michael is currently working on a number of projects in two broad research fields: African American political history and the history of American foreign policy (with special emphasis on US-Australia relations). Two new books in these areas are due to be completed in 2013/14.

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Western Australia, 2008
• Bachelor of Arts (Honours), University of Western Australia, 2001

Research

Research keywords

• African American History
• American Foreign Policy
• American-Australian Relations
• History of Ideas
• Transnational History

Research expertise

My research up to now has focused on nineteenth and twentieth century African American history, with a particular emphasis on the history of black conservatism. However, I also have developing research interests in American foreign policy and transnational history.

Languages

• English

Fields of Research

Centres and Groups

Centre

• Humanities Research Institute

Memberships

Body relevant to professional practice.

• Member - Australia New Zealand American Studies Association (ANZASA)
• Member - American Historical Association (AHA)
• Member - Organization of American Historians (OAH)

Committee/Associations (relevant to research).

• Member - Executive Committee, Australia New Zealand American Studies Association (ANZASA)

Editorial Board.

• Member - Australasian Journal of American Studies (AJAS)

Appointments

Awards

Recognition.

Research Award.

Invitations

Teaching

Teaching keywords

• African American History 1776-Present
• American History 1776-Present

Courses

• HIST3010 - The United States from Civil War to Superpower
• HIST3151 - The African American Experience from Martin Luther King to Barack Obama