Sarah Sussman earned her Ph.D. in English from the University of Texas at Austin in 2017. Her dissertation, Pragmatic Enchantment: William James, Psychical Research, and the Humanities in the American Research University (1880-1910) examines the intertwinement of humanistic inquiry and the sciences in the fin de siècle American research university through the field of psychical research.
Her dissertation argues that William James’s work on psychical research vitally influenced his most prominent works, most notably his philosophy of pragmatism.
Her research was funded by the W. M. Keck Foundation Fellowship at the Huntington Library; the Philadelphia Consortium for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine; and the English Department at the University of Texas at Austin.
Sarah Sussman 