After completing a Regents Honors Diploma at Peru Central School, I attended Plattsburgh State University as a Presidential Scholar. While at Plattsburgh, I studied History and Literature and served on various committees within the Honors Center. I graduated from Plattsburgh in 1998 with BA in History (summa cum laude). In 1998 I started graduate school as a Rackham Regents Fellow at the University of Michigan in the Program in American Culture. I received my MA in 2002 and my Ph.D. in 2007. While a student in the Program in American Culture I spent a year in France, studying at the Centre de Linguistique Appliqué (Besançon), and also attended several conferences.
During my time at Michigan, I focused on material and visual culture studies, writing a dissertation, “Home: A 20th Century American Construction,” that probed the manner in which 20th century Americans defined their homes through words, images, and buildings. Since then, I have focused on various Public History projects, including five books and essays for various journals, magazines, and books.
My Public History work is furthered by my appointment as Historian for Clinton County, NY, and my role as coordinator of the Advanced Certificates in Public History and Heritage Preservation, which are part of our MALS program.