Personal Statement:

I am a PhD Candidate in the History Department. 

I am devoted to interdisciplinary scholarship that prioritizes including the perspectives of marginalized communities in US History. During my PhD, I have conducted oral history interviews with LGBTQ+ authors and booksellers, and have researched advertising and reader engagement with OutWeek magazine between 1989 and 1991.

In addition to years of TAing experience, I have served as the instructor for the capstone course for UCSB’s Minor in Poverty, Inequality and Social Justice. I am passionate about mentoring students in their research, creation, and promotion of research projects (in the form of policy proposals, TED Talks, websites, podcast episodes, and pamphlets) that engage with important issues ranging from food security, to homelessness, to period poverty, to environmental racism. 

I am thrilled to once again be a member of the UCSB History Department, as I studied abroad here as an undergraduate during the 2013-2014 school year. In my spare time, I enjoy reading queer fiction, walking on Santa Barbara\’s many beautiful beaches, and gluten free baking. 

Dissertation Title:

The Migrating Queer Bookshelf: Queer Bookstores and the Making of Queer Communities in the United States and Canada, 1945-Present.

Selected Publications:

Book Review: Queer Between the Covers: Histories of Queer Publishing and Queer Voices, Edited by Leila Kassir and Richard Espley. London: University of London Press, 2021. Journal of the History of Sexuality. (2023)

Courses Taught:

As the Instructor: 

HIST 17C: The American People – World War I to the Present (Summer B 2024)

HIST 174Q/ GLOBAL 194: Capstone Seminar in Poverty, Inequality, and Social Justice (Spring 2021, Summer B 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022)

As a TA:

AS AM 5: Introduction to Asian American Literature (Summer B 2020, Summer B 2021, Fall 2022, Winter 2023, Fall 2024) 

HIST 5: The History of the Present (Fall 2018)

HIST 17A: The American People – Colonial to Jacksonian Era (Fall 2021)

HIST 17B: The American People – 1820 to 1920 (Winter 2019, Winter 2020)

HIST 17C: The American People – World War I to the Present (Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Summer A 2018, Spring 2020, Summer B 2023)

HIST 74: Poverty, Inequality and Social Justice in Historical and Global Context (Fall 2019, Fall 2020)

As a Reader:

HIST 166C: The Sixties (Winter 2021)

HIST 166LB: American Legal History (Spring 2019)

Awards & Professional Activities:

Academic Service and Memberships: 

Member of the UCSB Gender and Sexualities Research Cluster

Awards Committee Member, GSA Excellence in Teaching Award (Spring 2022)

History Department Lead TA (2020-2021 Academic Year) 

Awards: 

UCSB Graduate Division Graduate Humanities Research Fellowship (2023-2024 academic year) 

Steve and Barbara Mendell Graduate Fellowship in Cultural Literacy (2023-2024 academic year) 

Dr. U.S. Awasthi Initiative in Cooperative Economics Fellowship (2023-2024 academic year)

History Department Racial, Social and/or Environmental Justice Fellowship (Spring 2022) 

GSA Excellence in Teaching Award Winner (Spring 2021)

Patricia Cohen Endowed Graduate Fellowship (Spring 2021)

UCSB History Associates Fellowship (Spring 2022, Spring 2021, Spring 2019) 

Academic Senate Outstanding Teaching Assistant Nominee (Winter 2021, Winter 2022)

J. Bruce Anderson Memorial Fellowship (Awarded to Best TA in the UCSB History Department) (Spring 2020) 

Lectures Given:

“Poverty During the Great Hunger in Ireland, 1845-1849”. Guest lecture for History 74. November 6th 2019. Harold Franke Hall, UCSB. 25 minutes. 

“Gender, Class, and Culture in the Progressive Era”. Guest lecture for History 17B. March 5th 2019. IV Theater 1, UCSB. 75 minutes.

Conference Presentations:

“Books and Backlash: The Publication and Censorship of Queer Young Adult Fiction in the 1980s and 1990s.” Conference Presentation at the American Historical Association Annual Meeting 2022. Online February 2022.

“Books and Backlash: The Publication and Censorship of Queer Young Adult Fiction in the 1980s and 1990s\”. Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association (PCB-AHA) Annual Conference. September 20th 2021

“Read All AbOUT It: Activism, Consumerism, and Community Building in OutWeek Magazine, 1989-1991.\” Envisioning LGBTQIA+ Wellbeing Graduate Conference. November 16 2018. Loma Pelona Center, UCSB. 25 minutes.

Panels Organized:

“Queering Consumer Spaces: Bookstores and Theme Parks as Sites of Queer History.” Queer History Conference 2022, San Francisco State University.

Online Articles: 

“The Queer Authors Who Created Disney Classics\”, The Enchanted Archives, October 2019. URL: https://enchantedarchives.com/queerauthors