Education

M.A., History, The College of William and Mary, 2011

Fields of interest

Early American history, Native American history, Pacific World

Courses taught

History of Technology in America; US Diplomatic History; North American First Peoples; US History to 1877; US History after 1877

Academic Presentations, Panels, and Talks

• "Protect Your Spirit: Native Resistance to Settler Violence" panel for The Department of History at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, April 2021
• "All Roads Lead to Memphis: Excavating the City's Multicultural Roots" panel discussion for the Southern Historical Association 86th Annual Meeting, Memphis, TN, November 2020
• "We Never Stopped: Women and Political Participation in Tennessee" invited lecture for the Tennessee State Museum, November 2020
• "The Lessons and Limitations of Indigenous Land Acknowledgements" faculty workshop for Rhodes College, Memphis TN, September 2020 and delivered again upon request for the Rhodes College Latin American Studies Student Association in October 2020
• "Decolonization through Art," Clough-Hanson Gallery, Rhodes College, Memphis TN, September 2020
• "Native Voices," Café Conversation series, The Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN, July 2020
• "Community Activism" Rhodes Summer Scholar panel, Rhodes College, Memphis TN, July 2020
• "Bridging History: African American and Indigenous Perspectives" panel for the Graduate African American History Association Black History Month Celebration, Memphis, TN, February 2020
• "But What Are We Thankful For? Decolonizing Thanksgiving During Native American Heritage Month" Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, TN, Nov 2018
• "Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears," closing ceremony for the Hermitage's pop up exhibit celebrating Andrew Jackson's 250th birthday, Pink Palace Museum Discovery Theater, Memphis TN, May 2018

Teaching and Advising Presentations, Panels, and Talks

• “Creating An Inclusive Campus through Social Justice” workshop for the Diversity Ambassador Program (DAP), University of Memphis, Memphis TN, April 2021
• Invited speaker to St. Georges Independent School, Teaching Indigenous Histories workshop, Memphis, TN, Feb 2021
• Co-presenter at the Midsouth Integrated Behavioral Health Training Initiative (MIBH-TI) Cultural Competency/Humility Workshop, Jan 2021 and July 2021
• "Teaching Through Native Voices," The Brooks Museum of Art, February 2020
• "Breaking Though Burnout," Academic Advising Network Fall 2019 Annual Kickoff, Sept 2019
• "Decolonizing Your Syllabus" Tennessee Meeting for the National Association for Multicultural Education, Cookeville, TN, July 2019
• "Grassroots Leadership: Creating Professional Communities from the Bottom Up," with K. Thurmond, MIMSAC, Memphis, TN, May 2018
• "The Impact of the Executive Order on Immigration" panel with R. Laumann, C. Nunez. Critical Conversations, Memphis, TN, Feb 2017
• "Designing Accessible Learning" panel with Murchison, J., Parris, M., Schaffer, S. Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, Memphis TN, November 2015

Community Engagement

• Invited speaker for Future Presidents of America youth leadership camp, The Hermitage, Nashville TN June 2021
• "Decolonization and Non-Profits" panel for The Department of Anthropology at the University of Memphis, Memphis TN April 2021
• Invited panelist for Religious and Religious Diversity discussion, School of Education and Development, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, Mar 2021
• Invited speaker for University of Tennessee Health Science College Diversity and Equity programming, November 2020
• Volunteer consultant for Midsouth Gifted Academy to Decolonize their Humanities Curriculum, Summer 2020
• Invited speaker for the Fight for $15, UCW, Nashville, TN, March 2020
• Cultural Humility Task Force Lunch and Learn for Church Health Center, November 2019 and November 2020
• Territorial Acknowledgement for the City of Memphis, co-authored with the Chickasaw Nation
• "Lessons on Land Acknowledgement" invited guest speaker for Memphis Performing Arts Summit: Cultivating Equity, hosted by the Memphis Performing Arts Coalition, April 2019
• "But What Are We Thankful For? A History of Thanksgiving from an Indigenous Perspective" with Zyanya Cruz, Community Speaker Series at Calvary Episcopal Church, Memphis, TN, Nov 2018
• "Exploring Native American History" Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Native American Heritage Month Celebration, Memphis District Office, Nov 2017
• "The Myth of Columbus and the History of Thanksgiving," Honors College, Memphis TN, Nov 2017

University Administration/Service

University: Eradicating Racism and Promoting Social Justice, co-lead for subcommittee Inclusion and Belonging for All. SafeZone Trainer; Academic Advising Network Executive Committee; co-founder of Tiger Pantry;  Food Insecurities Committee; Tiger Learning Community Committee; Accessibility Committee (advisory committee regarding accessibility on campus)

Department: Student History Society (and MACH) faculty advisor, History Online Degree Program coordinator; Undergraduate Studies Committee; Teaching and Mentoring Committee; department webmaster; social media coordinator 

Honors and Awards

College of Arts and Sciences Dean's Award for Advising Excellence, 2021
Women's History Month Outstanding Faculty Member, 2018
College of Arts and Sciences Dean's Award for Advising Excellence, 2017

Professional Service

National Humanities Center Teacher Advisory Council 2021-22

Current Projects

My next project is an attempt to understand and use the digital humanities to create decolonized narrative about the history of Memphis, TN. A "decolonized narrative" is not one that simply adds diversity to already existing accounts (aka an "indigenous spin" on the "conventional story") but rather centers indigenous and immigrant histories instead of settler-colonist versions of the past to displace that convention. It incorporates indigenous epistemologies, recognizes the legitimacy of sources often excluded from the (colonized) archive, and takes form in a way that is useful and productive for indigenous--and immigrant--communities. Decolonizing Memphis: The Intersections of Indigeneity and Immigration is the first of several projects intended for a large, indigenous-led initiate tentatively titled Native RITES (Reclaiming Indigenous Truths, Education, and Sovereignty) that aims to bring together indigenous peoples across the MidSouth for the purposes of fellowship, advocacy, outreach, and education. As part of it's mission, Native RITES will host meetings, create educational programming, and organize cultural events to bring members together, and to create materials that they can share with other indigenous peoples, scholars, activists, and organizers to use for their own decolonizing work. More information can be found here.