Professor of History
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (323) 343-2046
Office: King Hall C4076A
Office Hours for Spring 2023: Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:00 to 3:30 pm and 5:00 to 5:50pm in office and via Zoom (email me for Zoom link). I can also meet at other times; just ask.
Spring 2023 Classes:
- HIST 3090: History Research and Methods // King Hall B2013// Thursdays 6:00 to 8:45 pm // syllabus coming soon
- HIST 4960: Issues in Teaching History and Social Science // Music 110 // Tues/Thur 1:40 to 2:55 pm // syllabus coming soon
- HIST 5750: Graduate Readings in Recent U.S. History // Fine Arts 320 // Tuesdays 6:00 to 8:45 pm //syllabus coming soon

I joined the History Department at Cal State LA in 2000. As a historian of U.S. international relations, I have written on the rise of international tourism and on U.S. relations with France during the Cold War. My book, Cold War Holidays, won the Bernath Book Prize from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. My current historical research explores controversies surrounding multinational corporations and commerce since the late nineteenth century. In recent years, I have partnered with fellow historians to publish on new methods for teaching history in college, especially the use of peer mentors or learning facilitators in introductory U.S. history courses. Click here for my articles in the History Teacher (2017) and the Journal of American History (2020). I enjoy working with and learning from high school teachers to help bridge the gap between K-12 classrooms and college. For more on my research and teaching activities, see below. Head here for a full c.v. (.pdf).
Resources I've Created for History Teachers and Students
Links! -- a list of favorite web resources for history teachers and students
Glossary of Historiographic Terms -- TALK LIKE A HISTORIAN!
The Bookends Method for Smartly Skimming Books -- READ LIKE A HISTORIAN! (learn more in less time, or your money back)
The Bookends Method -- a longer version of the above reading document
How to Write an Argumentative Essay -- WRITE LIKE A HISTORIAN!
Classes at Cal State LA
Click here for a list of classes I've taught.
Education
Ph.D. in History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2000
MA in History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1996
BA in History and Political Science, Duke University, 1994
My Favorite Things
If you've made it this far in the website, you might enjoy this list of my favorite things.