I am a PhD candidate in American History at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) and a writing fellow at the New York City College of Technology. My undergraduate education was at Shepherd University (Political Science & History) and I received an MA in History from George Mason University in 2010. I am presently a Social Studies teacher at YESPhilly, an alternative school in Philadelphia.

My primary interest is the early American republic (c. 1783-1828), with a focus on disestablishment (the separation of church and state) and the role of politics in denominational formation and religious competition. My dissertation focuses on a comparative study of the impact of politics and law upon denominational competition in the early national Chesapeake. I have related interests in the intersections of politics and religion in early America, early American intellectual history, Virginia history, and gender history.

I have previous research experience in the military history of the American Revolution (focusing on the role of African-Americans in the patriot cause), the 1967 Newark Riot, and Virginian political and religious culture between 1750 and 1850. I am currently revising for possible publication a project on the impact of politics upon parish life in the Virginia Episcopal Church between disestablishment and the first decade of the nineteenth century.

I am also a co-founder and former co-chair (2012-2013) of the CUNY Early American Republic Seminar (EARS). EARS is a graduate student-run seminar that promotes the study of the early republic in the Greater New York area by hosting bi-weekly meetings where graduate students read and critique each other’s work, along with hosting regular seminars with New York area faculty (previous participants include Saul Cornell, Francois Furstenberg, and Nicole Eustace).

I live in Philadelphia with a dog, a cat, and a fiancee.

Curriculum Vitae