Biography

I teach US history at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah with an emphasis on the post-1945 era. My primary research interest is Cold War propaganda, defined here as the selling of an idea. My upcoming book "The Face of NASA: Diversity in the American Space Program, 1957-1978" examines the overlap of two of the most seminal events in modern US history that began in the late 1950s – the civil rights movement and the American space program. While American politicians expected the race to the moon to demonstrate American technological superiority, Black activists used the program as another means of gaining access to educational opportunities and inclusion in American society.

Current publications include:
"The Gates of Opportunity: NASA, Black Activism, and Educational Access” in NASA and the “Long” Civil Rights Movement, Brian Odom and Stephen P. Waring, eds. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, November 2019.

"Détente and Dissent: Apollo-Soyuz, Ruth Bates Harris, and NASA’s Rhetoric of Cooperation,” Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly, 22:1 (2015): 4-15.

In addition, I recently served as a Historical Advisor for the PBS series "Chasing the Moon."

Previously, I taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara in both the History and Engineering departments while also acting as a research assistant to Dr. Jane de Hart as she completed her biography on Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( "Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Pursuing Equality," (Knopf Publishing, 2018) and now as she prepares an article on votings rights since 2000.

Teaching