EDUCATION

Ph.D. with honors, American Studies, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

• Dissertation: Literary Destinations: Mark Twain’s Houses and Literary Tourism
• Committee: Cheryl Lester (Chair), Susan K. Harris, Ann Schofield, John Pultz, and Susan Earle
• Exam Fields: Cultural landscape studies, Cultural geography, Western American history, Houses in Literature

M.A., in English, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska

B.A., in English University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Co-Editor with Jennifer Harris of American Literary Tourism, an interdisciplinary collection on literary tourism in the U.S., currently reviewing chapter submissions. See call here.

Mark Twain’s Homes and Literary Tourism. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, Mark Twain and His Circle Series, 2012.

“Mark Twain and a Tale of Two Birthplaces,” in Born in the USA: Birth and Commemoration in American Public Memory. Ed. Seth C. Bruggeman, University of Massachusetts Press, Public History in Historical Perspective, 2012.

“Humble Beginnings: Mark Twain and His Boyhood Home,” in Destination Dixie: Tourism and Southern History. Ed. Karen L. Cox, University Press of Florida, 2012.

Review: “Flannery Burke: From Greenwich Village to Taos: Primitivism and Place at Mabel Dodge Luhan’s,” Southwest Journal of Cultures. Vol. 1, no. 3, December 2008.

“Thomas Hart Benton in his Studio: The House in his Art and as Museum,” The Public Historian. Vol. 27, no. 4, Winter 2005.

EMPLOYMENT

Assistant Professor, Temple University, History and American Studies, July 2013-present

Assistant Professor, Temple University, Intellectual Heritage, August 2012-June 2013

Associate Director, Drexel University, Corporate and Foundation Relations, Institutional Advancement, July 2012— August 2012

Assistant Director, Drexel University, Corporate and Foundation Relations, Institutional Advancement, July 2010— July 2012

INVITED PRESENTATIONS AND PAPERS

“Poe’s Rose Covered Cottage and Philadelphia’s Haunted Palaces,” as part of Hidden City Philadelphia Festival, at The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, June 6, 2013.

“Inventing Mark Twain through Preservation: Hannibal, Hartford, and Elmira,” Forthcoming, June 12, 2013, Mark Twain House & Museum, Hartford, CT.

“Mark Twain’s Homes and Haunts: Mark Twain Museums and Public History,” October 3, 2012, Elmira College, Elmira, NY.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

“Mark Twain’s Birthplace Cabins: ‘Authentic’ Literary Shrines and Shams” Northeast Modern Language Association Annual Convention, April 8, 2011, Rutgers University.

“W/Righting History: The Problem of Literary Historic Sites, American Studies Association Annual Meeting,” October 14, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2007. Organized the panel included Karen Sanchez-Eppler (Amherst) to Chair; Lawrence Buell (Harvard) to Moderate, and Anne Trubek (Oberlin); and Mary Jenkins (National Park Service); see the CFP: http://cfp.english.upenn.edu/archive/Travel/0257.html

“Literary Houses & Historical Literacy: The Case of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home,” American Studies Association Annual Meeting, October 14, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2007

“Literary Scholars as Tourists: Looking Back at the Writer and the Writer’s World,” Mid- American American Studies Association, Annual Meeting, April 13, Kansas City, Missouri, 2007

“Langston Hughes, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and the Truman House: Teaching Students to See Regional History,” National Council on Public History Conference: Kansas City, Missouri, April 16, 2005

“Documenting Houses: Public History and the Truman House,” Mid-American American Studies Association Conference: University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, April 7, 2004.

“Rephotography and the Altered Landscape,” Mid-American American Studies Association Conference: University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, April 12, 2003.

HONORS, GRANTS, GRANT WRITING, FELLOWSHIPS, AND CONSULTING

Lead writer on Drexel University’s Legacy Center Archives and Special Collections’ successful application to the Heritage Philadelphia Program of the The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, fully funded at $200,000 for historical interpretation implementation, 2012.

Assistant writer on Drexel University / Professor Glen Muschio partnership with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s Digital Historic Tours application to the Heritage Philadelphia Program of the The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage for historical interpretation planning, 2011.

Lead writer on Drexel University’s Legacy Center Archives and Special Collections’ successful application to the Heritage Philadelphia Program of the The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, fully funded at $75,000 for historical interpretation planning, 2010.

Ambassador for Philanthropy, Faith, and Volunteerism at Vision 2020: An American Conversation on Women and Leadership, Philadelphia, PA: October 21-22, 2010

2010 University-wide nomination for the Ralph Henry Gabriel Dissertation Prize from the American Studies Association and the Lewis E. Atherton Prize for outstanding Doctoral Dissertation on Missouri history or biography.

Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Project Stream Grant Review Board (Coordinated through the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 2009

First Person Arts, First Person Museum (http://museum.firstpersonarts.org/), Cultural History, Research, and Programming Consultant (Discovery Grant from Pew Center for Arts and Heritage), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Spring 2009

University of Kansas Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship,2008

2008 Elmira College Center for Mark Twain Studies, Quarry Farm Research Fellowship, Jan.—Feb. 2008

TEACHING

Intellectual Heritage (Temple University)

Intellectual Heritage 851,  Mosaic I

Intellectual Heritage 951, Honors Mosaic I

Composition and Literature

English 101 Composition (Kansas)

English 102 Composition and Literature (Kansas)

English 203 topics courses (Kansas)

• The Self Divided
• Midwestern Literature and Film
• Houses in American Culture
• Regional Literature

English 495 Willa Cather

American Studies

AMS 100 Understanding America (Introduction to American Studies-Kansas)

AMS 110 The Frontier AMS (Kansas)

AMS 1001 – American Lives—American Materials (Temple)

SERVICE

Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, Grant Reviewer for Project Stream 2009

University of Kansas American Studies Program Steering Committee 2006—2007

University of Kansas American Studies Graduate Program Committee 2005—2007

Graduate Ambassador for the University of Kansas Center for Teaching Excellence. 2004—2006

VOLUNTEER AND MUSEUM WORK

Docent, Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 2008—Present

Literary & Historical Tourism Blog: http://www.losthouses.blogspot.com