I am a Ph.D. candidate in early American history at the University of Tennessee specializing in the American Revolution, especially in the Southern backcountry and frontier.  I am also the director of the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum and an instructor of history at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, TN.

My initial plan in pursuing a graduate education was to work in public history, and I have quite a bit of experience in the museum field.  I worked in collections and exhibits at ALLM for a number of years, and ran a historic house museum in Kentucky.  I’ve also served as president of the board of directors for Marble Springs State Historic Site, worked as a volunteer researcher for the East Tennessee Historical Society, and was a graduate assistant for academic programs at the McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture.

After teaching college-level history courses as an adjunct, I decided to go back to grad school for my doctorate.  I’m currently working on my dissertation under the direction of Dr. Christopher Magra.  My work employs eighteenth-century ideas about gender and manliness to make sense of frontiersmen’s involvement in the Revolution.  (Click here to learn more about my dissertation project.)

While at UT, I’ve been fortunate to receive the Milton M. Klein Fellowship, the Susan Becker Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Gender Studies Award, along with research fellowships from the David Library of the American Revolution, the North Caroliniana Society, and the Center for the Study of War and Society.