EDUCATION

 

The George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

Ph.D. degree conferred, January 2002, History.

M.Phil. degree conferred, January 1998, History.

B.A. degree conferred, May 1992, International Affairs/Soviet Studies with History Minor.                      

 

Dissertation: "The Best Education Provided:" A Social History of School Integration in Polk County, Florida, 1963-1994."

 

In 1963, NAACP activist Althea Mills and other black parents organized to have their children admitted to Polk County, Florida's all-white schools.  Their transfer applications were denied by the school board, leading to a lawsuit and a ruling that ordered Polk County to desegregate and equalize all facilities and programs.  The lawsuit unleashed profound social turmoil in Polk County. Whites in Polk County employed standard arguments against "forced" busing, "federal interference," and elimination of "neighborhood schools." Resistance was not based solely on race, but on deep-seated social and political anxieties. African Americans in Polk County saw integration as an extension of the national civil rights movement.  They were critical of the school board's means of integrating, which placed burdens on black parents, students, and teachers.  A more favorable climate for integration surfaced in Polk County by the mid-1980s. After a few false starts, the school board approved a comprehensive effort to address some of the key African American critiques of integration in 1991.  By 1994, after extensive public dialog, those reforms were enacted and Polk County schools became substantially integrated.

 

1.   Major fields in United States History and Nineteenth Century United States History
2.   Minor fields in African American History and Early American History.
3.   Emphasis on Social History, Cultural History, African American History, and Nineteenth Century United States History.
4.  Completed research methodology requirement in Folklore Theory. 
5.  Passed language competency requirement in German.

 

 

EDITORIAL SERVICE

 

Editor, Polk County Historical Quarterly.

Solicit and review articles, select photographs and plan special issues for local history journal that serves members of the Polk County Historical Association, county educators, and members of the public.  Changes instituted attracted a wider range of Florida history contributors, including professional historians. (2002 - Present)                                          

 

Faculty Advisor, The Vox.

Helped students to inaugurate a Warner Southern College student newspaper in 2003, and continue to advise students who organize and manage the newspaper. (2003 - Present)                                                                           

 

 

ADDITIONAL SERVICE

                                               

General Education Review Committee. Warner Southern College.  (2004 - Present)

 

Curriculum Committee. Warner Southern College. (2003 - 2005)

 

  

Tournament Director. Created and host Warner Southern Academic Invitational, an annual "knowledge bowl" tournament for high school academic teams in rural areas who otherwise get little practice before regional events that lead to state and national titles.  (2003 - Present)

 

Judge, Commissioner's Academic Challenge. Judged social studies/history questions for statewide high school academic tournament.   (2002 - 2004)

 

ABC-CLIO Abstracter. Abstracted articles from historical journals for Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life reference serials. (1999 - 2001)

 

Co-founder and steering committee member. History Graduate Student Forum.  Led student advocacy and support group at The George Washington University. (1997 - 1998)

 

Community volunteer.  Class leader and history and computer skills tutor, weekly class at Neighborhood Learning Center, a non-profit academic program for inner-city junior high and high school students in the District of Columbia. (1995 - 1997)   

 

Co-founder, section leader and teacher.  For weekly Duke University Fuqua School of Business conversational English program. (1994 - 1995)

 

Group leader. For weekly George Washington University conversational English program for international students.  (1989 - 1991)

 

Church board member and deacon.  Bethany Christian Church. (2001 - 2003)                                      

 

 

TEACHING

 

• Florida History
• Early/Modern American History
• American Ethnic History
• European History/Western Civilization
• World History/Civilization
• American Religious History
• World Wars I & II
• U.S. Foreign Policy
• Civil War & Reconstruction

 

Pedagogy highlights

 

·         Hurricane oral history project

·         Florida history field trips

·         Judicious use of guest speakers including

Professor of History Dr. Gary Mormino (University of South Florida)

Florida Studies Center Director Dr. Mark Greenberg (University of South Florida)

U.S. Congressman Adam Putnam

Former State Senator Rick Dantzler

Seminole Tribal Historian Patricia Wickman

Newspaper publisher S.L. Frisbie