Associate Professor
Georgia State University
Education
PhD, Folklore and Folklife, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 1996
Dissertation: “Fashioning Difference: Women’s dress in nineteenth-century Philadelphia”
MA, Folklore and Folklife, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 1991
BA, History, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, 1986
Continuing education:
Mastering Online Teaching: Fundamentals of Course Design and Delivery, Georgia State University, 2020
Writing Across the Curriculum faculty workshop, Georgia State University, 2015
THAT Camp, Museum Computer Network, 2011
Planning Your Digitization Project, American Association for State and Local History, 2010
Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative: Leadership, Planning, Financial Management, 2003-06
School for Scanning, Northeast Document Conservation Center, 2001
Strategic Planning, Non-Profit Center, LaSalle University, 2001
Refugee Law and Policy, University of Pennsylvania Law School, 2001
Refugee Resettlement Consultation, Lutheran Children and Family Services, 2000
Wharton Cultural Management Project, 1998-99
Fund Raising Certificate Program University of Pennsylvania, 1997-99
Publications and Scholarship
Book
Articles and book chapters
Encyclopedia entries
“Chinatown,” Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia (peer-reviewed), 2015.
“Robert Purvis,” The Early Republic and Antebellum America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History, ed. Christopher Bates (ME Sharpe, 2010), 856-858.
“Ethnicity,” in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures: The Mid-Atlantic Region, ed. Robert Marzec (Greenwood Press, 2004), 97-132.
“Costume.” In Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art, ed. Thomas Green (ABC-CLIO, 1997/Reprinted in second edition, 2010), 314-319.
“Folk Costume.” In American Folklore: An Encyclopedia, ed. Jan Harold Brunvand (Garland Publishing, 1996), 341-346.
Scholarly Conference Proceedings
Book Reviews
Book Review, The Power of Objects in Eighteenth-Century British America, Jennifer Van Horn, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017), Journal of American History 106:3 (December 2019), 735-736
Review Essay, “Complicating Chinatowns” Journal of Urban History 45:5 (September 2019), 1089-1092.
Book Review, The Chesapeake House: Architectural Investigation by Colonial Williamsburg, ed. by Cary Carson and Carl. Lounsbury (University of North Carolina Press, 2013), Buildings and Landscapes: Journal of the Vernacular Architecture Forum 23:2 (Fall 2016), 129-30.
Book Review, Global Philadelphia: Immigrant Communities Old and New, ed. Ayumi Takenaka and Mary Johnson Osirim (Temple, 2010), Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, April 2011 (Vol. 135, No. 2), 218-219.
Public History writing
“‘The black side of town’: Revising Avondale’s white-only narrative,” decaturish, February 21, 2021
“Atlanta: Immigrant Gateway to the Globalized South,” History@Work (NCPH blog), February 19, 2020
“From bachelor enclave to urban village: The evolution of early Chinatown,” Pennsylvania Legacies 12:1 (May 2012), 12-17.
“Images of Latino Philadelphia: An Essay in Photographs,” with Maria Möller, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 138:4 (October 2004), 385-398.
“Building El Barrio: Latinos Transform Post-War Philadelphia,” Pennsylvania Legacies 3:2 (November 2003), 17-21.
“Ethnic Artists, Public Culture,” in A Collage of Cultures V, (Dover Art League, Dover, DE, 1999).
“Engendering A Sense of Self,” Electronic Magazine of Multicultural Education (EMME) 1:3 (Summer 1999).
As editor:
Filadelfia Latina: Nuestros Caminos, Nuestras Comunidades / Latino Philadelphia: Our Journeys, Our Communities, A Community Profile, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2004.
Extended Lives: The African Immigrant Experience in Philadelphia, A Community Profile, The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 2001.
Public History Projects
Digital projects
“Planning Atlanta: A New City in the Making,” (digital mapping project) Georgia State University, 2013-2015, Co-Investigator/Oral history coordinator
“From Slavery to Freedom” (digitization of Pennsylvania Abolition Society papers with K-12 education resources), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2005-2008, project director
“Exploring Diversity through Pennsylvania’s Ethnic History” (K-12 lesson plans and digital sources), The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies/Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2000-2008, project director
Exhibitions and Programming
“Filadelfia Latina: Nuestros Caminos, Nuestras Comunidades / Latino Philadelphia: Our Journeys, Our Communities” (Exhibit, programs, education), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2002-2004, project director
“Extended Lives: The African Immigrant Experience in Philadelphia” (Exhibit, programs, education), The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 2001-2002, project director
“Ethnic and Immigrant Stereotypes from The Balch Institute Collection” (Exhibit), The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 2001, curator
“Ahlan wa-Sahlan! Welcome to Our Home! Philadelphia’s Arab Americans” (Exhibit and programs), The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 1999-2000, project director and program coordinator
“A Sense of Self: Contemporary Ethnic Women Artists” (Exhibit and programs), The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 1998, curator and program coordinator
“Live Like the Banyan Tree: Images of the Indian American Experience” (Exhibit and programs), The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 1998-1999, program coordinator
“The Heart Mountain Story” / “An American Diary: The Paintings of Roger Shimomura” (Exhibit and program series), The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 1998, program coordinator
“Building the Gold Mountain: Philadelphia’s Chinatown” (Exhibit and programs), The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 1998, co-curator and program coordinator
“Common Ground: Philadelphia’s Neighborhoods” (Exhibit), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1992, co-curator
“Extreme Makeovers: Histories of Self-Fashioning in the Mid-Atlantic,” The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2006, symposium organizer
“Pennsylvanians Behaving Badly: Violence, Disorder, Transgression,” The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2005, symposium organizer
“Pan-American Philadelphia,” The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2003, symposium organizer
“Pennsylvania Frontiers,” The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2003, symposium organizer
Conference and Lecture Presentations
Panels
Moderator, Roundtable, “Threading Immigrant Stories: Reweaving the Fabric of Southern Heritage,” National Council on Public History Annual Meeting, 2020
Panelist, Roundtable, “Weaving Community Projects in Georgia,” National Council on Public History Annual Meeting, 2020
Panelist, Roundtable, “Past Exclusion/Present Inclusion: Preserving, Sharing, and Interpreting the Chinese American Experience,” National Council on Public History Annual Meeting, 2016
Panelist, “Public History and Asian Pacific American Studies,” Association for Asian American Studies, 1999
Papers
“’We can’t afford history’: Dilemmas of public history, heritage preservation, and community development in immigrant Philadelphia,” Immigration, Migration, and Memory in Public History, National Council on Public History MiniConference, Texas State University, 2015.
“‘Being part of progress, not the sacrificial lamb’: Developing Philadelphia’s Chinatown 1960-1990,” Urban History Association, 2012
“Rebuilding Philadelphia’s Gold Mountain: Themed Space and Living Community in Transition,” Pioneer America Society: Association for the Preservation of Artifacts and Landscapes (PAS: APAL) Annual Meeting, 2011
“Ethnic Renewal: Place, space and struggle in Philadelphia’s Chinatown,” Public History and Gentrification Working Group, National Council on Public History Annual Meeting, 2011
“Space, struggle, and memory in Philadelphia’s Chinatown,” Oral History Association Annual Meeting, 2010
“Ethnic Renewal: Production and Representation in Philadelphia’s Chinatown,” Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association Annual Conference, 2010
“Informed Engagement: Museums and Immigrant Communities,” American Association of Museums, 2009
“Thinking History, Teaching History: Engaging Students and Teachers with the Historiographic Process,” Pennsylvania Historical Association, 2005
“Demystifying Difference: Dialogism and Mediation in Immigrant Oral Histories,” American Folklore Society, 2004
“Process and Politics: Reciprocity and Action in Applied Ethnography,” American Folklore Society, 2002
“No More Huddled Masses: Representing Recent Immigration as a Usable Past,” Social Science History Association, 2002
“’What about the dot?’ Engendering Ethnic Embodiments in Public Folklore Practice,” American Folklore Society, 2000
“Salsa, Sex and Spectacle: Performing Gender in Latino Social Dance,” Crossroads of Cultural Studies, Third International Conference, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK, 2000
“‘…And I’m still a man’: Hybrid Masculine Embodiments in Latino Social Dance,” American Anthropological Association, 1998
“Salsa, Sex and Spectacle: Expressions of Machismo in Latino Dance,” American Folklore Society, 1997
“Sewing Circles: Femininity, Fashion, and Vernacular Dress in Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia,” American Folklore Society, 1996
“‘To be respected as a body’: Adornment and Uplift in African-American Philadelphia,” American Folklore Society, 1994
“Crimes of Fashion: Gender, Class, and Clothing Theft in Antebellum Philadelphia,” American Folklore Society, 1993
“Tightlacing and Transgression in Victorian America,” American Folklore Society, 1990
“The Housewife Unbound: Dress Reform and Home Wear, 1830-1890,” Graduate Women’s Studies Conference, University of Pennsylvania, 1990
“Mother Hubbard Takes it to the Street: Gender, Dress and Domesticity,” American Folklore Society, 1989
Invited Presentations
Panelist, Roundtable: “Bodies in Space,” The Place of History: A Graduate Student Conference, Georgia State University, 2013
Moderator, “Chinatown Past and Present,” Historical Society of Pennsylvania, November 2012
“Philadelphia’s Chinatown,” Preservation Studio, University of Pennsylvania School of Design, November 2012
“Philadelphia and the Fugitive Slave Act,” Philadelphia Civil War Consortium Summer Teacher Institute, 2010
“Immigration and Ethnicity,” Planning Workshop, The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, April 2009
Panelist, “Practicing History in the Town Square,” Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, 2008
Panelist, “Planning for the Civil War Sesquicentennial in Pennsylvania: Statewide Perspectives,” Pennsylvania Historical Association, 2007
Moderator, “Collaboration for Sustainability,” Tri-State Coalition of Historic Places, Philadelphia, 2006
“Virtual History: A Sample of Historians’ Websites,” An Embarrassment of Riches: Evaluating the Quality of Historical Information on the Web, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2002
“Anti-Immigrant Sentiment: Then and Now” and “Housework as History: Ethnic Women’s Perspectives on the Past,” Commonwealth Speaker, Pennsylvania Council for the Humanities, 2002-2003.
“Making History: Collections and Communities at the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies,” Tri-State Coalition of Historic Places, Philadelphia, 2001
“Chameleon Culture(s): Essence and Hybridity in Contemporary American Public Culture,” The Politics of Culture Conference, Delaware State University, Dover, DE, 2000
“The Dance of Self and Other in Ethnographic Writing,” Harvard University, 1998
“Salsa, Sex, and Spectacle: Hybrid Embodiments in Latino Social Dance,” Latin American Studies Program and Women’s Studies Program, Colby College, 1998
Conference Comments
Commenter, “Generative Scholarship, Libraries, and Atlanta Spatial Histories,” Organization of American Historians, 2014
Commenter, “Religion and Citizenship in the American Colonies and Early Republic,” Atlanta Graduate Student Conference in US History, Emory University, 2013
Commenter, “Deconstructing Public Space,” The Place of History: A Graduate Student Conference, Georgia State University, 2013
Commenter, “Public Space,” Graduate Student conference, Georgia State University, 2012
Commentator, “Hearing Landscape Critically: Interdisciplinary Investigations in U.S. Cultural History,” Atlanta Graduate Student Conference in U.S. History, Emory University, 2012
Discussant, “Searching for Common Ground: Bringing Immigrant Arts to American Communities,” Eastern Sociological Society, 1998
Discussant, “Cooking American, Eating Korean: Food in the Lives of Korean Military Brides,” Balch Institute Faculty Forum, 1998
Comment, “Embodying” panel. Possible Pasts: Critical Encounters in Early America, Philadelphia Center for Early American Studies/Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1994
Awards and Fellowships
Penn Humanities Forum Mellon Regional Cultural Research Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania
“Consuming Culture: Exploring word, image, and embodiment in 19th century fashion culture,” 2005-2006
“‘I was never black the way I am here’: Nomadic racial identities in immigrant experience,” 2006-2007 (declined)
Nomination for Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, 1995, 199
Chimicles Fellow in the Teaching of Writing, University of Pennsylvania, 1994-1996
Dissertation Fellow in Women’s Studies, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, 1992-1993
Teaching
University teaching
Associate Professor, Department of History/Heritage Preservation Program, Georgia State University, 2008-present
- HIST 2110 Survey of U.S. History
- HIST 3210 U.S. in the Nineteenth Century
- HIST 4225 Immigrants in America
- HIST 4325 Introduction to Public History and Historic Preservation
- HIST 4330/6920 Oral History
- HIST 7040 Issues and Interpretations in Public History
- HIST 8740 Material Culture
- HIST 8750 Public History Education Planning and Practice
- HIST 8800 Directed Study in Public History (Masters of Heritage Preservation Capstone)
- HIST 8900 Independent Study, “Readings in Gender and Material Culture,” (Summer 2013)
- HIST 8900 Independent Study, “Material Culture and Art Education” (Summer 2013)
- HIST 8900 Independent Study, “Advanced readings in public history” (Spring 2013)
- HIST 8900 Independent Study, “Memory, History, Commemoration” (Summer 2016)
- HIST 8900 Independent Study, “Memory, History, Commemoration” (Summer 2017)
- HIST 8900 Independent Study, “Chinese American Histories” (Summer 2017)
- HIST 8900 Independent Study, “Indigenous Foodways” (Summer 2017)
- HIST 8900 Independent Study, “Civil War Memory and Commemoration” (Summer 2018)
- HIST 8900 Independent Study, “Southern Foodways History” (Summer 2018)
- HIST 8900 Independent Study, “Atlanta Women in the New South” (Summer 2018)
Adjunct, Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA, 2000
- Gender Roles in American Society
Lecturer, Master of Liberal Arts Program, University of Pennsylvania, 1996
- Qualitative Research Methods and Design
Lecturer, College of General Studies, University of Pennsylvania, 1991-1996
- Making the Modern Body: Feminist Perspectives
- U.S. History: Early America to the Civil War
- American Popular Culture
- Women and Folklore
- Introduction to Folklore
- Introduction to Folklore and Literature
Writing Across the University, University of Pennsylvania
- Writing Advisor, Women’s Studies Senior Seminar, 1995-1996
- Instructor, Writing About Gender and Culture, 1994-1996
Department of Folklore and Folklife, University of Pennsylvania
- Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Folklore, 1990
Workshops and Trainings
Teacher Workshop, “Worldviews in Contact, Cooperation, Conflict,” Revolution to Republic: Philadelphia’s Place in Early America, SHEAR-NEH Landmarks Workshop for Community College Faculty, 2010
Oral History training, Asian Arts Initiative Oral History Project, Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia, PA, 2000, 2008
Teacher Workshop, “Teaching National History Day 2008: Conflict and Compromise in History,” Pennsylvania History Day, 2007
Guest Lecturer, Introduction to Public History, Rutgers University-Camden, 2006-2008
Teacher workshops (topics included Irish immigration, abolition movement and Underground Railroad, Native American/European colonial contact, nineteenth-century nativism, Japanese American internment/redress), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 2002-2008
Instructor, Summer Teacher’s Seminar, “Immigration and Ethnicity,” Rutgers University – Camden/Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities (MARCH), 2004
“Understanding and Teaching with Objects,” Rosenbach Museum and Library Docent Training, Philadelphia, PA 2003, 2005, 2007
Service
Teaching Public History Online Working Group, National Council on Public History, 2020
Mentor, Humanities Inclusivity Program, 2020
Acting Interim Director, Heritage Preservation Program, 2018
Chair, Director of Heritage Preservation Program Search Committee, Department of History, 2017-2018
Academic Program Review Committee, Department of History, 2017-2018
Teaching Public History Online Working Group, National Council on Public History, 2020
Panel reviewer, Landmarks of American History and Culture, Division of Education Programs, National Endowment for the Humanities, 2020
Advisor, We Love BuHi Oral History Project, Atlanta, GA, 2019
Panel reviewer, Series and Podcasts, Public Programs Division, National Endowment for the Humanities, 2018
Local Arrangements Committee, National Council on Public History 2020 Annual meeting, 2018-2020
Student Project and Travel Awards Committee, National Council on Public History, 2017-2020
Peer reviewer, Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 2018, 2019
Peer reviewer, Journal of Georgia Association of Historians, 2018
Peer reviewer, Planning Perspectives, 2018
Peer reviewer, Urban Geography, 2017, 2018
Peer reviewer, The Public Historian, 2017, 2021
Peer reviewer, University of Georgia Press, 2106, 2017
Peer reviewer, Urban Studies, 2015, 2017
Peer reviewer, Princeton University Press 2014, 2016
Guest editor, Special issue on Immigration and Ethnicity, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 2013-2016
Panel reviewer, Museums, Libraries and Cultural Organizations, Public Programs Division, National Endowment for the Humanities, 2015
Humanities Advisor, “Chester County: A Place in History,” Chester County Historical Society, West Chester, PA, 2015-2017
Local Arrangements Committee, American Historical Association Annual Meeting, 2015
Associate editor, The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, 2010-2016
College of Arts and Sciences Strategic Planning Cities Group, 2017
Chair, Events Committee, Department of History, 2016- present
Heritage Preservation Program Committee, Department of History, 2008-present
Program presenter, National Welcoming Week, GSU Multicultural Center, 2015
Panelist, Cities Strategic Initiative Internal Grants Review Panel, 2013
Panelist, Cities Strategic Initiative Internal Grants Review Panel, 2012
Ad Hoc P&T Manual Committee, Department of History, member, 2012
Visiting Lecturer Search Committee, Department of History, chair, 2012
Cities Strategic Initiative, Council of Cities, member of Human Capital Development Working Group, 2011-2014
Library Media and Technology Committee, Department of History, member, 2009-present
Advisement Committee, Department of History, member, 2009-2015
Graduate Studies Committee, Department of History, member, 2008-2009
Strategic planning facilitator, Stone Mountain Historical Society, 2014
Peer reviewer, “Global America,” (history textbook), Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013
Panel Reviewer, Humanities Collections and Reference Resources, National Endowment for the Humanities, 2011
Community history consultant, “Uncovering Historic Chinatown: A Film Project,” Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation, Philadelphia, PA, 2010-2011
Local Arrangements Committee, Oral History Association Annual Meeting, 2010
Advisory Committee, 1968 Project, Minnesota Historical Society, 2009
Panel reviewer, Advancing Knowledge: The IMLS/NEH Digital Partnership, National Endowment for the Humanities, 2008
Philadelphia Civil War History Consortium, Steering Committee (2007-2008) and Program Committee, 2006
Civil War Pennsylvania 150 Planning Committee, 2007-2008
Oral History consultant, Mural Corps, Mural Arts Program, Philadelphia, PA, 2007
Assistant Regional Coordinator and Judging Coordinator, National History Day Philadelphia, 2005-2007
Co-Chair, Local Arrangements Committee, American Historical Association Annual Meeting 2006
Advisor, Greater Philadelphia LGBT History project, 2005-2008
Consultant, Chinatown Oral History Project, Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia, PA, 2000-2002, 2004
Testimony before U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources, “Historic Preservation of the Peopling of America,” May 20, 2004
Advisory Committee, “African Art African Voices,” Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2003-2004
Peer Review Panelist, Arts Services and Education, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, 2003-2006
Exhibit Consultant, Refugee Women’s Story Project, Institute for Cultural Partnerships, Harrisburg, PA, 2003
Consulting Editor, “Colonial Philadelphia,” October 2004 issue of Cobblestones, 2003
Commonwealth Speakers Program, Pennsylvania Humanities Council, 2002-2003
Board Member, Reel Voices, 2002-2007
Advisor, National Arab American Museum, Detroit, MI, 2001
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