Here at Arizona State
University, I am in the Doctoral program in Public History
in the History Department. My primary focus areas include the American
West, urban history and 20th century history. Within those focus areas, I have particular
interest in environmental history themes as well as the roles of gender, race
and class.
As a Public Historian,
I have interest in how history is presented and preserved in a variety of
settings. For more information on exactly what kinds of work and research that Public
Historians do, please click here.
I have also taught history as an Adjunct faculty member
for Pima Community College in Tucson and at Chandler-Gilbert Community College and Mesa Community College up here in the
Valley of the Sun. In recent semesters I have been able to also teach for ASU
at the Polytechnic
Campus. The new program in
Humanities and Arts and in History
and Culture is exciting to be taking part in and watching it grow!
During summer and breaks I read and score the Graduate
Readiness Exam (GRE) for Educational Testing
Service (ETS) and serve as a Reader for the
annual Advanced Placement United States History exams for the College Board.
History Dept Tempe:
480-965-5778
History & Culture at Poly: 480-727-1526
My Office Phone: Bell Hall, Room M1 - Phone: 480-727-1526
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Dissertation (working title): "Preservation
Wars in 'America's Finest City': Conflict and Compromise between Historical and
Modern Identity in San Diego, 1945-2006”
Past Projects
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“Finding Common Ground on Sacred Soil: Historians
and Disney’s America in 1994”
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“Nursing the Empire: The Role of Women in European
Colonies in the 19th Century”
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“Women as City Builders in San Diego, 1890-1917”
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“A War of Position for Leadership in the Environmental
Movement: The Environmental Protection Agency and the American Library
Association”
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“Changing the Image of the National Park Service:
The NPS Plan to Create Cultural Landscapes”
Ø Urban History Association: “Preservation Wars in ‘America’s Finest City:’ How African Americans Fought to Keep their History in San Diego’s Historical Memory”
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Phi Alpha Theta: “Preservation Wars in ‘America’s
Finest City:’ How African Americans Fought to Keep their History in San Diego’s
Historical Memory”
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Arizona History Convention: “Still Aiming High: The
Transformation of Williams AFB into the Living/Learning Community of the
Williams/ASU East Campus”
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Arizona History Convention: “’My Children, first I liked
the whites, I Gave them Fruits:’ The Unpublished Photographs of Marion Palfi”
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Phi Alpha Theta: “Lifelong Tombstone Residents:
Nellie and Manny Manriquez: An Oral and Video History”
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Phi Alpha Theta: “The Monona Lake Encampment of
Madison Wisconsin”
I was born and raised in Libertyville Illinois where I attended St Joseph’s School and
then Libertyville High School.
I have family heritage roots and history in the city of Chicago, IL as well
as in Niles and Morton Grove IL and from the “Hungry Hill” area of
Chicago Heights, IL.
Additional family roots exist in Mauston and West Bend, WI, as well as Ballyhaunis County Mayo Ireland
and Caccamo Sicily and
the Calabria
province of Italy.
We just recently discovered that an ancestor of ours,
Jedediah Lane, helped to found the towns of Jericho, VT
in the 1700’s and also a town named Lachute, St.
Andrews, Quebec in the early 1800’s… so some further “historical digging” will
keep me busy a while learning more about that.
My hometowns since Libertyville have included: Simi Valley, Los Angeles and San Diego CA and most recently in Tucson and now Mesa AZ, although technically I am
actually within the limits of Gilbert.
I graduated from nursing school in 1980 and worked in
that field through 1995 when I returned to college at San Diego City College,
majoring in Video/Film. I went on to the University of Arizona where I earned a BA in Media Arts, an MA in History and an MA in Information Resources and Library
Science.
I have five children and six grandchildren. My two
youngest children, both sons, recently graduated from ASU!
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Family and community history
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Music
and piano
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Photography and video/film production
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Creating and painting ceramics
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Building 1-inch scale dollhouses
Last revised: January 2008