I teach because I want students to see the world around them in a new way. 
I am an associate professor of History at Villanova University, located 10 miles northwest of Center City Philadelphia. Some of my courses focus on the history of place, such as my undergraduate course on the global history of Philadelphia or my graduate courses based at The Woodlands of Philadelphia. Other courses teach historical thinking as a critical skill of sustainable thinking. I address repatriation, gentrification, and environmental history through the lens of sustainability in my public history courses. With support of a CLAS dean's grant, I have developed an undergraduate course focused solely on histories for sustainability. It covers topics such as food history, climate change threats to heritage sites, histories of consumption, maintenance studies, and historians as environmental justice activists.
Courses
HIS 1165: Philadelphia: A Global City?
​HIS 2276: American Environmental History
​HIS 4998: Histories for Sustainability

HIS 8702: Introduction to Public History
​HIS 8703: Old House, New Histories (2014)

I encourage engaged scholarship.

To me, there is nothing better than losing myself in research... whether that means sifting through manuscript archives, reading digitized newspapers, doing close looking at a museum object, sketching a building from the sidewalk, or thinking carefully about what is not represented in these historical records. I love teaching research methods and strive to empower students to do historical research that informs their questions, interests, and needs of their communities.

​But research becomes scholarship when done in community, in conversation with people as well as existing scholarship. I encourage my students to think about their scholarship in the world. That means presenting at conferences, publishing in scholarly journals, contributing to curatorial files, pitching editors, working with stakeholders, and mobilizing history to serve public interest. Always, good writing is key--whether it is a scholarly essay, a podcast script, or a blog post.

Courses
HIS 2171: Building a New Nation
​HIS 2309: Artifacts in History
​HIS 2998: Junior Research Seminar
​HIS 8021: Early American Republic
HIS 8703: Podcasting History (2018)
HIS 8703: Historians and Preservation (2020)
​HIS 8703: Dox Thrash: An Exhibit (2022)
HIS 8703: Abstract Activism: Sam Maitin's Philadelphia (2024)
HIS 8704: Material Culture Methods

I mentor students to reach their individual goals.

I see mentorship as helping students to reach their intellectual and professional goals while expanding their perspective of what is possible. At the beginning and end of every course, I ask students to engage in self-reflection and goal setting. This gives students the opportunity to set specific intentions for the semester, and it helps me to guide individual student learning. In 2019, I was honored to receive Villanova University's Honors Thesis Mentor Award.

Below are some of the research projects, internships, and publications that I have mentored. 
​Jubilee Marshall (BA 2019)
Philadelphia’s Black Cemeteries: History and Commemoration
Won VURF summer grant 2018
​Presented at AHA Undergraduate Poster Session
Won the 2019 Pencak Paper Prize from the Pennsylvania Historical Association
Published "Race, Death, and Public Health in Early Philadelphia, 1750-1793," in Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies (Spring 2020).
Won the 2020 Raymond J. Cunningham Prize from the American Historical Association
​
​Erin Keaveny (BA 2019)
Female Finance: The Politics and Investments of Elizabeth Willing Powel
Won VURF summer grant 2018
Presented at McNeil Center Undergraduate Research Workshop
Published "Powerful Women Claiming Authority in the Early Republic: A Case Study Of Elizabeth Powel," in the Vanderbilt Historical Review (Fall 2019).
​
Student Publications in Hidden City Philadelphia
Moyra Schauffler, “The Rise and Decline of African-American Hospitals in Philadelphia”
Lori Wysong, “Cemeteries, Segregation, and the Funerals of Henry Jones”
Chris Mengel, “Taking it to the Streets: Open-Air Meetings of the 1911 Suffrage Movement in Philadelphia”
Mary Manfredi, “Moderne Landmark Deserves a ‘New Deal’ with Historic Protections”
Lena Lannutti (MA 2023)
The Lincoln Institute: A Hidden History of Philadelphia, Philanthropy, and Cultural Assimilation
Won Graduate Summer Research Fellowship, 2022
​
Christopher Del Santo (MA 2022)
Conspiring to Power: The Political Technology of Conspiracy
Theory in Antebellum America
Won Graduate Summer Research Fellowship, 2021
​
​Katarina Anderson (MA 2020)
Pennhurst: A Case Study in Race, Eugenics, and Public History
Won Graduate Summer Research Fellowship, 2019
​
​Vicrim Chima (MA 2018)
California Historical Landmarks Registration nomination for Sikh
Temple, Yuba City, Ca.
Won Graduate Summer Research Fellowship, 2017
​
​Leo Vaccaro (MA 2016)
​History and Preservation of North Philadelphia’s Church of the
Gesu
Master's Thesis, 2014-2016
​

I am accepting prospective graduate students.

Working with graduate students in Villanova's M.A. program in History is one of the highlights of my job. Our department awards tuition remission and a stipend to top applicants who apply by February 1 each year. Villanova also offers a unique degree program for students to earn a combined MA in History with a certificate in non-profit management. I teach several graduate courses that focus on the history of the early United States, material culture, and public history, and I direct the public history program in the department. I encourage all prospective students interested in working with me to be in touch before submitting your application.