About Me
I grew up in Southern Oregon's Rogue Valley and spent much of my youth exploring the state's mountains and wilderness areas. As a descendant of the Klamath peoples, my sense of the past arose from watching how forces such as water, agriculture, politics, and race contributed to the region's landscape, language, and identity. During my undergraduate work in history at Southern Oregon University, I met and married my best friend, Rosanna, who came from Hawaii to study writing at SOU. Her keen editorial insights (she is an author and editor) and kind spirit strengthened my academic thinking and increased my passion for teaching.
We moved to Logan, Utah in 2004. I began a graduate degree in history at Utah State University and Rosanna served as editorial assistant for Human-Wildlife Interactions (a peer-reviewed science journal published by Utah State's Jack H. Berryman Institute). My thesis work (M.A. degree completed in 2006) on a water conservation district in the region highlighted the richness of exploring the intersections between agriculture, technologies, and the environment.
We left Utah for Manhattan, Kansas in 2006 where I began working on a doctoral degree in history (PhD completed in May 2012) at Kansas State University. My dissertation focused on similar relationships between pesticides, aerial sprayers, agricultural scientists, and food production in the North American Grasslands. A central part of my graduate and early professional career as a public services archivist for the Morse Department of Special Collections included numerous public history activities such as oral histories, local historical society lectures, curatorial and editorial work, and directing a memoirs project for former university president Jon Wefald.
I am an associate professor of history at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. I specialize in environmental and agricultural history as well as the history of science, medicine, and public health. I'm thrilled to study and teach on the rich history of Nebraska and the Great Plains region. Also, as a public historian, I welcome the opportunity to support the department’s public, digital, and community history efforts.
I grew up in Southern Oregon's Rogue Valley and spent much of my youth exploring the state's mountains and wilderness areas. As a descendant of the Klamath peoples, my sense of the past arose from watching how forces such as water, agriculture, politics, and race contributed to the region's landscape, language, and identity. During my undergraduate work in history at Southern Oregon University, I met and married my best friend, Rosanna, who came from Hawaii to study writing at SOU. Her keen editorial insights (she is an author and editor) and kind spirit strengthened my academic thinking and increased my passion for teaching.
We moved to Logan, Utah in 2004. I began a graduate degree in history at Utah State University and Rosanna served as editorial assistant for Human-Wildlife Interactions (a peer-reviewed science journal published by Utah State's Jack H. Berryman Institute). My thesis work (M.A. degree completed in 2006) on a water conservation district in the region highlighted the richness of exploring the intersections between agriculture, technologies, and the environment.
We left Utah for Manhattan, Kansas in 2006 where I began working on a doctoral degree in history (PhD completed in May 2012) at Kansas State University. My dissertation focused on similar relationships between pesticides, aerial sprayers, agricultural scientists, and food production in the North American Grasslands. A central part of my graduate and early professional career as a public services archivist for the Morse Department of Special Collections included numerous public history activities such as oral histories, local historical society lectures, curatorial and editorial work, and directing a memoirs project for former university president Jon Wefald.
I am an associate professor of history at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. I specialize in environmental and agricultural history as well as the history of science, medicine, and public health. I'm thrilled to study and teach on the rich history of Nebraska and the Great Plains region. Also, as a public historian, I welcome the opportunity to support the department’s public, digital, and community history efforts.
