I'm a doctoral student in the Modern World History
department at STJ. My research interests include Atlantic World
History, Military History, Public History, and History
Education/Pedagogy. I earned a Master's degree in History &
Social Science Education from Christopher Newport University in
2010 and a BA with double majors in History and Philosophy
from the University of Northern Colorado in 2003. In my very
diverse professional life, I've served in the Marine Corps Reserve,
been a district manager at a newspaper, taught martial arts, spent
several years as a teacher in various public school districts in
Virginia, supervised park rangers on Staten Island, and served as a
US Coast Guard Historian. I feel very blessed to be the first
historian selected as a doctoral fellow for the IWS!
When working with students, I try to begin by getting a sense of
what their needs and abilities are and then offer insights that
would be helpful to them. I hope to empower people to become more
accomplished writers because effective written communication is
critical both in class and in life. I also hope that
my contributions as an educator and a scholar will benefit the
University Writing Center. Finally, I always bear in mind my
father's advice to me that "the best way to learn is to teach,"
which reminds me that teaching and learning are collaborative
processes.