In His Own Words

For me, studying the past is a key toward understanding the human condition. So whether I'm reading or teaching, all history — be it the study of ancient Persia, medieval Europe or the U.S. Civil Rights Movement — is relevant.

My own experience studying the past has been diverse: after finishing my doctorate I taught in Fort Worth for several years before moving overseas. For a decade I lived in places like Moscow, Yerevan and Kuwait City.

Living and traveling outside the US provided the opportunity to study the history of different places up close and provided me with a sense of "history of place." That is, whether I'm hiking the mountains outside of Bishkek, Kygryzstan, visiting the Basilica of Francis of Assisi in Italy, falconing in the Arabian Desert or traveling down the old Route 66, I have a desire to know how the history of those places tells us something about ourselves and the world today.

Education

• Ph.D. Humanities, University of Texas at Arlington
• M.A. History, University of Texas at Arlington 
• B.A. History, Texas Wesleyan University
• B.A. Mexican American Studies, Concordia Lutheran College

Research Interests

Until 2014, I was an academic nomad and my wanderings informed my research interests. I lived in Kuwait for 8 years, teaching at the American University of Kuwait. Before that I was a Senior Fulbright Fellow at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations where I spent nearly three years gathering life histories which focused on the end of the Soviet period.

My most recent publication is a chapter entitled ‘You are simple and stupid:’ Francis of Assisi and the rise of merchant capitalism, in The World of St. Francis: Essays in Honor of William R. Cook, ed. Bradley Franco and Beth Mulvaney (Brill, 2015). My articles have been published in Franciscan Studies, Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, History and Anthropology and Journal of Educational and Social Research.

In Fall 2026, I will be on sabbatical working with the Mansfield Historical Museum & Heritage Center researching and preparing a permanent exhibition chronicling the history of Mansfield ISD’s school desegregation in 1956. This project will draw on multiple archival resources: the Portal to Texas History at the University of North Texas (including local TV news coverage), the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Photographic Archives at the University of Texas at Arlington, and the National Archives and Records Administration in Fort Worth, which houses related court documents and additional photographic material. This research will enhance my teaching as I will be able to better connect national narratives to the local environment that my students recognize. It will also allow me to present the Mansfield story with greater depth, nuance, and immediacy.