Education:
Ph.D., University of Iowa
M.A., University of Iowa
B.A., Carleton College

Research Interests:
My first book, Beyond the Gibson Girl:  Reimagining the American New Woman, 1895-1915 (University of Illinois Press, 2005), explores how a diverse group of American women writers wrote about the New Woman, an icon used in the middle-brow press generally to describe women committed to the suffrage, temperance, and literary club movements. All of the writers I include responded to the the New Woman either in her middle-brow incarnation or in her popular one, the bloomer-wearing bicyclist or the Gibson Girl. In The American New Woman Revisited: A Reader, 1894-1930 (Rutgers University Press, 2008), I edited a wide-range of essays from the periodical press that shaped the many different versions of the American New Woman. What fascinates me is the vibrancy and niche appeal of American magazines and newspapers which, by the late nineteenth century, had grown tremendously. My next book project builds on research I did for the Reader. I am currently examining key themes in Harlem Renaissance literature through the lens of five black newspapers circulating in New York during the 1920s.


Teaching Interests: 
I enjoy teaching American literature and culture, African-American literature, women's studies, and social justice issues within composition.

I am currently working on a project with Dr. Ann Collins to document the history and culture of East St. Louis in the twentieth century.  After being awarded a grant from the American Studies Association, we developed a course entitled Illinoistown: A Cultural History of East St. Louis in the 20th Century for use both at McKendree and East St. Louis Senior High School.  Currently, we are developing a website including the syllabus, photographs, course bibliography, a timeline, and oral history interviews to serve as a learning tool for future generations.

Professional Interests:
I am a member of the Modern Language Association and the American Studies Association.