Employment

2010-Freelance writer and reviewer, Boston, MA.
Working in print, sound, and multimedia formats.
2018-2019Instructor, Emerson College, Boston, MA.
Taught undergraduates a one-semester history of the United States.
2018-2019Co-Leader, Southern Jews: Race, Class, and Religion below the Mason-Dixon Line, Temple Israel of Boston, Lifelong Learning Initiative.
Co-taught a six-session course on the history and experiences of Jews in the American South.
2018-2019Art History Teacher, Beacon Academy, Boston, MA.
Using a Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) approach, introduced concepts of modernism and abstraction at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston to students preparing to enter private high schools.
2018-2019Tutor, Greater Boston Area.
Supported students in need of academic support and educational counseling. Focused on subjects in the humanities and writing across the curriculum. Provided guidance to students with a range of specific learning disabilities, including dyslexia, executive function difficulties, ADD, and slow processing speeds.
2016-2019Secondary-School Mentor, Beacon Academy, Boston, MA.
Mentored students participating in a 14-month-long school between 8th and 9th grades to prepare them for success in selective, competitive private high schools.
2018History Teacher, Beacon Academy, Boston, MA.
Taught a Facing History and Ourselves-inspired two-month-long course on genocide and the Holocaust to eighth-grade students preparing to enter private high schools.
2012-2018Visiting Researcher, Center for Global Christianity and Mission, Boston University School of Theology, Boston, MA.
2011-2018Lecturer, American Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA.
Taught courses in: Early American Social and Cultural History, History of Boston, and Food + Culture in America. Directed independent readings on the Black Power Movement.
2009-2010Freelancer, WGBH radio, Boston, MA.
Reported and produced investigative series, spot news, features, and micro-stories.
2009Reporter, WCAI radio, Woods Hole, MA.
Reported breaking news and human interest features for NPR-affiliate on the Outer Cape. Wrote blog, The Outer Space.
2009Intern, On Point, WBUR radio, Boston, MA.
Worked on team to produce daily, two-hour, nationally syndicated call-in talk show exploring politics, culture, and current events.
2008Audio Producer, The Memoir Project, Grub Street, Boston, MA.
Recorded elderly writers reading their essays for pilot website.
2007-2010Group Writing Coach, The Posse Foundation, Boston, MA.
Supported college-bound high school seniors to write academic essays.
2005-2007Teacher, Vocal Vacation, New England Conservatory, Boston, MA.
Worked with elementary and middle school singers participating in NEC’s summer Kodály Institute to make connections between visual art and music. Explored collections at Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
2003-2006Non-Resident Fellow, The Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
2004Visiting Professor, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, MA.
Taught seminar on the history of the book in America, 1750-1840, to honors students from five-college consortium.
2000-2009Editorial Board, Columnist, Common-place: The Journal of Early American Life.
Collaborated to produce and write for quarterly e-journal focusing on early American history. Edited “Pastimes” column about children, public history, and travel.
1998-2003Assistant Professor of History, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Taught undergraduate and graduate courses in early American history, history of the American West, nineteenth-century American historiography, comparative colonialism, Native American history, history of the book, history of Boston, historiography, and American social and cultural history.
1998-2003Assistant Professor of History, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Taught undergraduate and graduate courses in early American history, history of the American West, nineteenth-century American historiography, comparative colonialism, Native American history, history of the book, history of Boston, historiography, and American social and cultural history.
1988-1992Freelance Reporter.
The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and Connecticut Magazine.
1986-1988Staff Reporter, The Brownsville (Texas) Herald.
Award-winning coverage of Brownsville Independent School District, the largest employer in the Rio Grande Valley, for daily newspaper in South Texas city bordering Mexico.
1985-1986Editorial Intern, The Dallas (Texas) Observer.
2001-2008WGBH-TV, Allston, MA.
Advised writers and web designers developing a National Endowment for the Humanities-sponsored, animated children’s television series based on author Jon Sciezska’s YA series, Time Warp Trio. Occasional historical content advisor for animated children’s show Arthur.

EDUCATION + WORKSHOPS

2018Parent Consultant Training Institute (PCTI), Federation for Children with Special Needs, Charlestown, MA.
Attended intensive training seminar to become familiar with state and federal special education law.
2015Fateful Encounter: Relations between Jews and Muslims in the Medieval and the Modern Islamic World, Hebrew College, Newton, MA.
Studied in a 10-week-long evening seminar at The Boston Synagogue.
2015Telling the Truth: A Memoir and Fiction Workshop with Joan Wickersham, Fine Arts Workshop, Provincetown, MA.
Participated in week-long workshop to explore techniques in writing memoir and fiction.
2013Full Spectrum Storytelling Intensive, UnionDocs Center for Documentary Art, Brooklyn, NY.
Participated in week-long workshop to hone audio documentary skills.
2012Digging In: An Audio Retreat with Big Shed, Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University, Durham, N.C.
Participated in week-long retreat and workshop for intermediate/advanced audio producers. Faculty included Shea Shackelford, Jesse Dukes, and Kara Oehler.
2008Special Student, Advanced Online Journalism–Multimedia Storytelling, Professor Susan Walker, Boston University, Boston, MA.
Created four-part web-ready documentary using Final Cut on S. Sudanese refugees in the Boston area.
2008Center for Digital Storytelling, Berkeley, CA.
Completed workshop to produce a 3-minute multi-media podcast using Final Cut Pro, Adobe Photoshop, and ProTools.
2007Special Student, Advanced Radio Journalism, Professor Anne Donohue, Boston University, Boston, MA.
Achieved proficiency in ProTools to produce audio news and features for radio broadcast.
1998Ph.D. with distinction, Program in American Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT. Dissertation: “Reading, Writing, and Removal: Native American Literacies, 1824-1835.” Exam fields in the American West (William Cronon), comparative colonialism (Howard Lamar), American women and work (Nancy Cott), and the history of the book (Ann Fabian).
1984B.A. in English, cum laude, Pomona College, Claremont, CA.

HONORS AND AWARDS

Grants and fellowships from the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Health Coverage Fellowship, Charles Warren Center at Harvard University, National Endowment for the Humanities, Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation, Yale University, and the Thomas J. Watson Foundation.

PUBLICATIONS

Multimedia

In the Midst. Produced an audio biography of Barbara Beach Alter, a New Englander who spent 35 years in India as a liberal Christian missionary and never converted anyone — on purpose.

Radio

NPR, NHPR, WCAI, and WGBH.

Book

Positively ADD: Real Stories to Inspire Your Dreams. (NY: Walker & Co. Publishers, June 2006). Collaborated with psychiatrist Edward M. Hallowell, M.D., to write a book profiling successful adults with Attention Deficit Disorder.

Articles And Reviews

Numerous articles, essays, and reviews in academic, popular, and trade magazines and newspapers.

Blogs

Deep Dive.
Monthly blog posts exploring social justice issues for National Council of Jewish Women Massachusetts.

Bowl o’ Cherries: Motherhood, Politics, and Cherry Pie.
Occasional blog posts.

The Outer Space.
Wrote and produced news and feature stories for WCAI, the NPR-affiliate on Cape Cod.

Professional and Conference Presentations:

Seminar leader, presenter, invited lecturer, and panelist in a variety of academic and non-academic settings.

Languages

French and Spanish; reading knowledge of liturgical Hebrew

Computer and Technological Skills

Versatile with PC and Mac-based computing software, including Scrivener, Blackboard, Google Classroom, and Canvas
Audio production: Hindenburg, ProTools, and Garage Band
Video Production: Adobe Photoshop, iMovie, and Final Cut Express

Affiliations

Trustee, Beacon Academy, Boston, MA
Temple Israel of Boston, Boston, Massachusetts