A Kalamazoo-based art historian, will take his shot at trivia fame when he appears on Jeopardy! Friday, March 6, at 7:30 p.m.
A lifelong fan of the show, James Denison, Ph.D., says appearing as a contestant has been a dream since childhood. “I’ve watched Jeopardy! for as long as I can remember,” he said. “To finally be on the stage, under those lights, is surreal.”
Originally from Washington, D.C., Denison earned his doctorate in art history from the University of Michigan in 2023, where he studied American modernists of the Stieglitz Circle and their intersections with race in interwar U.S. culture. He has since published in journals including Word & Image, Panorama and CAA.reviews.
Today, Denison balances teaching and curatorial work in Kalamazoo. He is a postdoctoral fellow at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and a visiting assistant professor at Kalamazoo College, where he brings students directly into galleries to study art firsthand.
Southwest Michigan viewers can cheer him on as he tackles the show’s rapid-fire questions and iconic answer-and-question format. The episode airs Friday, March 6, at 7:30 p.m. on local broadcast, with streaming available the following day on Hulu and Peacock.
It’s a moment of local pride and intellectual curiosity — and a reminder that sometimes, lifelong dreams are worth the wait.
