Professor, Interim Dean of Academic Affairs, History & Political Science
Ph.D., Boston College, 2008
M.A., Boston College, 2002
B.A., University of Oregon, 1999
U.S. History since 1877
Disease and American Society
Robber Barons, Radicals, and Reformers
American Immigration & Ethnicity
U.S. History in Global Context
Border Crossings: History of the American Border(s)
My teaching and research interests are in American immigration and ethnicity, the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, transatlantic history, and American social reform. In both my research and teaching I situate the United States in a transnational context. Ideas, people, and materials from outside its borders have shaped the United States from the colonial period to the present. By encouraging students to consider American history in this broader context, I feel they can both better understand the past and engage constructively with a modern world shaped by the forces of globalization.
I am currently working on a digital humanities project, "Displaying Ireland," with other faculty in the United States and Ireland, which explores Irish and Irish-American exhibitions in World's Fairs and other international expositions from 1853-2000.
I also currently serve as Book Review Editor for the Journal of American Ethnic History.
"A Greater Ireland: The Land League and Transatlantic Nationalism in Gilded Age America” (University of Wisconsin Press, 2015)
“Building an Irish Village: Ireland, Irish America, and the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair,” Annual Meeting of Organization of American Historians,” St. Louis, MO, April 2015.
“‘Heart and Soul for Henry George’: Irish Americans, the 1886 New York Mayoral Race and the Decline of Irish American Radicalism,” Annual General Conference of the American Conference for Irish Studies, Chicago, IL, April 11, 2013