RC Room 100
4601 Central Avenue
Columbus, Indiana 47203
4601 Central Avenue
Columbus, Indiana 47203
Biographical Statement
I am an historian of the United States whose teaching falls primarily in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. I identify myself as a cultural historian, and am trained as an historian of the American South, African Americans, and the Civil War era. And at IUPUC, we all have to be generalists.
Education
- Ph.D. in History from Miami University of Ohio
- A.M. in History from Duke University
- B.A. (cum laude) with a major in History and minor in Economics from The Ohio State University
Professional Activities
- Center for Civil War Photography
- Civil War Study Group
- Indiana Association of Historians
- Indiana Historical Society
- Society for Historians of the Early American Republic
- Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
- Society for Military History
- Society of Civil War Historians
Courses Taught
- H113 Western Civilization I
- H114 Western Civilization II
- H105 American History I
- H106 American History II
- A313 Origins of Modern America, 1865-1917
- A314 United States History, 1917-1945
- A315 United States History since World War II
- A317 American Social History, 1865 to Present
- A348 Civil War and Reconstruction
- K495 Readings in History
- HON H399 Independent Study for Honors Credit
Administrative & Service Responsibilities
I am the coordinator of the History Program at IUPUC, and serve on a variety of campus and divisional committees.
Research Activities
I am working on a monograph, tentatively entitled “Andersonville and American Memory,” that explores the understandings and memories attached to Civil War prisoners of war in narratives produced by and about them. I have related interests in exploring food and drink in the lives of Civil War prisoners and in representations of prisoners of war in American music, film, and television, and am beginning work on the history of Camp Morton, a Civil War POW camp in Indianapolis.
Awards & Activities
Grants
- Participant, "Interpreting Historical Images for Teaching and Research," Summer Seminar, Center for Historic American Visual Culture, American Antiquarian Society (2010)
- Organizer, "Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, and Indiana," program funded in part by a Humanities Initiative Grant from the Indiana Humanities Council, through the cooperation of the National Endowment for the Humanities; program recognized as an official event of both the Federal and Indiana Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commissions (2009)
- Organizer, "Civic Discussion Forum on Immigrants and Immigration in Columbus and Bartholomew County," partial funding by a Humanities Initiative Grant from the Indiana Humanities Council, through the cooperation of the National Endowment for the Humanities (2008)
- Participant, "African-American History as Public History: South Carolina as a Test Case," National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute, University of South Carolina, Columbia (2007)
- Prisoner of War Research Fellow, Andersonville National Historic Site (2002)
- Participant, "Popular Cartography and Society," National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute, Newberry Library, Chicago (2001)
- Participant, "Roots: The African Dimension of Early American History and Culture," National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the University of Virginia, Charlottesville (2001)
- Participant (selected), "Using Graphic Arts as Primary Sources," Summer Seminar, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts (2001; declined due to conflict with other opportunities)
- Student, "West Point Summer Seminar in Military History," United States Military Academy (2000)
Civic Engagement
I have served repeatedly as a judge for History Day in Indiana, and have been active in organizing and promoting presentations to public audiences on the campus and in the community.
