ABOUT ME
I am an assistant professor at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. I am originally from West Virginia, and I have a Ph.D. from the University of Florida. As a women's historian who studies the American South, I am primarily interested in the ways in which gendered expectations vary by region in ways that shape our lives and our identities. My book, Marriage on the Border: Love, Mutuality, and Divorce in the Upper South during the Civil War, comes out in April 2020. The book analyzes the development of gender roles in the nineteenth-century border South household, through a study of divorce records and personal manuscripts. My next project is a study of the 1866 murder of Laura Foster in Wilkesboro, NC.
As an educator, I am also interested in how we teach the past through the purposeful selection of certain narratives over others. I am passionate about creating a more inclusive history in our classrooms.
As an educator, I am also interested in how we teach the past through the purposeful selection of certain narratives over others. I am passionate about creating a more inclusive history in our classrooms.
RESEARCHAs a women's historian, I work to uncover the ways in which gender structures the lives of people in the past. My work focuses on the border South, a fluid area located around the Ohio River. There, residents crafted a unique identity reflective of their home on this "middle ground." Their homes reflected this blended and conflicted perspective. |
TEACHINGSince joining Appalachian State, I have taught a variety of courses in both American and world history. I teach general education courses on the history of marriage and gender, American history survey courses for history majors, and upper-level courses including American women's history and Teaching Controversy in History, a course I designed myself. |
SERVICEI am an active member of my department and the field of women's history. Currently, I serve as the chair of the membership committee for the Southern Association for Women Historians. I also serve on the Committee on Women, Gender, and Sexuality for the Southern Historical Association. |
