Ariel Schnee is a fourth-year PhD candidate at the University of Oklahoma. She recently transitioned from the managing editorial fellowship with the Journal of Women’s History to the position of Assistant Book Review Editor. During this one-year fellowship, she will coordinate the journal’s book review section and host its podcast with the New Books Network. In Spring 2026, Ariel advanced to candidacy after passing her comprehensive exams with distinction and successfully defending her dissertation prospectus. She was also nominated to the American Society for Environmental History's Early Career Caucus and currently serves as its fundraising coordinator.
With the support of research funds awarded by the Dodge College of Fine Arts, the OU Graduate Student Senate, the OU History Department, and the American Society for Environmental History, Ariel spent substantial time in Detroit this summer conducting the first phase of archival research for her forthcoming dissertation, titled “The Urban Empty.” The dissertation will explore the ways a broad and varied cast of people, including industrialists, architects, politicians, law enforcement, community leaders, and everyday citizens created, contested, and transformed so-called “empty” places in Detroit during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
