RESEARCH & TEACHING INTERESTS
Urban History, Latina/o Studies, Race and Ethnicity, Comparative Borderlands, Community Formation, Public Policy, Social Institutions, 19th and 20th century US, US West.
EDUCATION
Ph.D., History, University
of California at Santa Barbara, Summer 2006
Dissertation: Making Los Angeles: Race, Space, and
Municipal Power, 1822-1890
M.A., History, University of California at Santa Barbara, Fall 2000
B.A., History, University
of California at Berkeley, Spring 1995
Thesis: California's Criminal Justice System: Race and Sentencing
Patterns at Folsom State Prison, 1880-1895
PUBLICATIONS
| Under Contract | Making Los Angeles: Race, Space, and Municipal Power, 1822-1890. New Haven: Yale University Press. (expected release: Fall 2009) |
| In Review | “Becoming Mexican: Immigration and School Segregation in Southern California, 1910-1940.” Manuscript submitted to American Quarterly, September 2007. (refereed) |
| In Press | Review of Barrio Urbanism by David Diaz, Routledge. Pacific Historical Review (November 2007). |
| 2006 | “Water Use, Ethnic Conflict, and Infrastructure in Nineteenth Century Los Angeles,” Pacific Historical Review, 75(1):119-140. (refereed) |
| 2004 | “Americanization Movement,” Poverty in America: An Encyclopedia of History, Policy and Society, Gwendolyn Mink and Alice O’Connor, eds; (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO); 88-90. |
GRANTS & AWARDS
Jackson Fellowship,
Southwest Studies, Colorado College, for research towards book manuscript,
Summer 2007
Regent’s Dissertation Fellowship, UCSB, Fall 2005
UC/MEXUS Dissertation Research Grant (University of California Institute
for Mexico and the United States), Fall 2002-Fall 2004
History Department Travel Grant, UCSB(to present at the Annual Meeting of the
American Society of Environmental History, Victoria, BC, Canada), Spring 2004
Regent’s Dissertation Fellowship, UCSB, Fall 2003
Graduate Student Conference Travel Grant, UCSB Graduate Division (to
present at the International Congress of Americanists, Santiago, Chile), Spring
2003
Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant, UCSB Graduate Division,
Fall 2002
Doctoral Dissertation Proposal Summer Fellowship, UCSB Graduate Division,
Summer 2002
Humanities and Fine Arts Pre-ABD Grant, UCSB Graduate Division, Summer
2001
Graduate Research Fellowship, UCSB Center for Chicano Studies (for
research conducted at the National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C.),
Spring 2001
Outstanding Teaching Assistant, UCSB Office of Residential Life, Spring
2000, 2001
Robert L. Kelly Fellow in Public Policy, UCSB History Department, Spring
2000
Fee Fellowship, UCSB History Department, Fall 1999-Fall 2004
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS (last 5 years)
2007 “Between War and Peace: Negotiating the Space Between Here and Aquí in Nineteenth Century Los Angeles.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Studies Association, Philadelphia, PA. October.
2007 “‘Trouble of the Most Serious Nature’: Race and Violence at the Intersection of Fantasy and Reality in Los Angeles, 1847.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, Honolulu, HI. July.
2004 “Water
Use, Ethnic Conflict, and Infrastructure in Nineteenth Century Los Angeles.”
Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Environmental
History, Victoria, BC, Canada. April.
2003 “A City
Foretold: Travel Literature and the Making of Race, Myth, and Memory in Los
Angeles, 1840-1890.” Paper presented at the 51st International Congress
of Americanists, Santiago, Chile. Myth and Memory: Constructing and Contesting
Peoplehood in the Americas, Symposium. July.
2003 “Not
Quite Angels: Blood and Bloodshed in Los Angeles, 1850-1865.” Borders,
Portals, and Hidden Passageways, Advanced Seminar at the School of American
Research, Santa Fe, NM. March.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
The Colorado College, 2004-Present
Visiting Assistant Professor: American Cultural Studies, History
Introduction to
American Ethnic Studies (American Cultural Studies, twice)
Topics: Race, Ethnicity
and Immigration (American Cultural Studies)
History of the Southwest
under Spain and Mexico (History)
History of the Southwest
since the Mexican War (History)
Industrial America:
The United States 1877-1920 (History, twice)
Topics: Asians in
America (American Cultural Studies)
American Frontiers
(History)
Civil War and Reconstruction
(History)
U.S. History Survey (History)
Topics: Life and
Death in the Old West (History)
Senior Seminar:
Borders, Boundaries, and Identity (History)
Cal Poly State University, San Luis
Obispo, 2003
Adjunct Instructor: History
Freedom and Equality
in American History, Pre-Columbian-Present (4 times)
University of California at Santa
Barbara, 1998-2002
Teaching Assistant: Black Studies, History
Survey of US History
(History, 9 times)
History of Public
Policy (History, twice)
Introduction to
African-American Literature (Black Studies)
Blacks and Western
Civilization (Black Studies)
The Civil Rights
Movement (Black Studies)
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES & SERVICE
Member, Program Committee, 2008 meeting
of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, Pasadena,
CA, Spring 2007-Present.
Anonymous Reviewer, Pacific Historical Review,
2006-Present
Member, American Cultural Studies Faculty Committee, Colorado College, Fall
2004-Present
Member, Southwest Studies Advisory Committee, Colorado College, Fall 2004-Present
Graduate Student Representative, History Graduate Studies Committee, Fall 2002-Spring
2003
Symposium Coordinator, Myth and Memory: Constructing and Contesting Peoplehood
in the Americas, 51st International Congress of Americanists, Santiago, Chile,
July 2003
Secretary, History Graduate Student Association, Fall 2002-Spring 2003
Research Assistant, Dr. Cecilia Méndez, Fall 2002-Spring 2003
Research Assistant, Center for Black Studies, UCSB, Winter-Spring 2001
Elections Committee Chair, Associated Student Employees, Fall 2000-Fall 2001