The Ernest J. Gaines Center is delighted to welcome Katharine Henry as a graduate student research assistant this summer. Katharine is a recent alumna of the English M.A. program at California State University, Los Angeles; she completed undergraduate degrees in English and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. With Dr. Matthew Teutsch as her faculty sponsor, Katharine looks forward to exploring Mr. Gaines’s literature and the Center’s wealth of resources with the aim of working towards a conference panel and publication studying his novels in intimate conversation with fellow Louisiana authors. Her current interests revolve around how masculinity and spirituality are taught in Mr. Gaines’s novels, and she envisions developing new curiosities and modes of inquiry while navigating the Center’s rich archives. While Katharine undertakes her research, she is excited to serve the success of the Center’s projects, including the Second Annual Summer Teaching Institute and various archival work. In August, she will begin the English Ph.D. program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.