Summary
My journey to the University of Nevada, Reno is a product of wanderlust and curiosity. Before arriving at the University in 2025, I spent ten years teaching in public schools in Colorado, California, and Oregon while taking every opportunity to wander the backroads, trails, and hidden spaces of the West. I wanted to understand why we depend so heavily on irrigation water, what draws so many people to mountain landscapes, why it is that there are so many feedlots, and why I can travel 100 miles without a decent cup of coffee even as cities like Portland have local roasters on every block. I am fortunate enough to turn those questions into an academic career at a university where all of my questions are relevant.
In 2022, I published my first book, "Cattle Beet Capital" (University of Nebraska Press). It is the story of how a planned, agricultural community in the nineteenth century became the hub for the world’s largest concentration of commercial cattle feedlots in the twentieth century. I have published articles on irrigation history, the complex relationship between land grant colleges and capitalism, and the consequences of using outdoor recreation on public lands to revitalize extractive economies. At the time of writing, I am revising articles on the impact of mountain bikes on public lands and communities, as well as writing an article on rural water pollution during the first half of the twentieth century.
In addition to teaching, I oversee the history department’s concurrent enrollment offerings as part of the Collegiate Academy. This enables Nevada high school students to take general education college courses in their local high schools. In addition to obtaining college credits, students who succeed in these courses gain college-level skills and a greater vision for success at a university.
I look forward to working with the diverse and talented array of students at the university and welcome opportunities to work with graduate students studying environmental history in the American West.
Research interests
- Environmental history
- American West
- Industrial agriculture
- Public lands and recreation
- Water and irrigation
- Capitalism and the State
Courses taught
- Core Humanities: Ancient and Medieval Cultures
- Modern American West
- Environmental History of North America
- U.S. History since 1877
- Industrial Plant, Industrial Animal
- Historiography
- Historical Research and Writing
- Social Studies Methods
Selected publications
- “Mountain Bikes and the Remaking of Public Lands: A Case Study in Fruita, Colorado,” in Outdoor Recreation in the North American West (University of Washington Press—forthcoming).
- "The Making and Sustaining of a Mountain Bike Mecca," in Mountain Bike Capital: Essays on Cycling, Tourism, and Economic Development in the Arkansas Ozarks (University of Oklahoma Press - forthcoming).
- “Colorado’s Forgotten Diversion Dilemma,” The Colorado Magazine (Spring/Summer 2023): 27-36.
- Cattle Beet Capital: Making Industrial Agriculture in Northern Colorado. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2022).
- “Measuring Expertise: Ralph Parshall and Watershed Management, 1920-1940,” in The Greater Plains: Rethinking a Region’s Environmental Histories (University of Nebraska Press, 2021).
- “COVID-19 and Concentrated Animal Feeding in Historical Perspective,” The Short Rows, August 4, 2020.
- “Sugar State: Industry, Science, and Nation in Colorado’s Sugar Beet Fields,” Western Historical Quarterly 48 (October 2017): 367-391.
- “Ralph Parshall and Watershed Engineering in Northern Colorado,” (2017).
- “Irrigation in Colorado,” Colorado Encyclopedia, (2017).
- “Fences, Conservation, and Tourism: A History of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Park.” University of Wyoming National Park Service Research Center Annual Report: Vol. 35, Article 7 (2012).
- “Winter on the Margins: Promoting Flagstaff as a Winter Playground.” Journal of Arizona History 52 (Spring 2011): 53-72.
Education
- Ph.D., History, University of Colorado, Boulder
- Fields of study: Modern United States, Environmental History, American West, Latin America
- M.A., History, Northern Arizona University
- B.A., San Jose State University
Professional certifications
- Social Science Teaching Credential, San Jose State University