Advisor: Professor Elizabeth Fenn • A PhD candidate intrigued by intellectual, social, cultural, and political history in early America, Kathleen's dissertation explores the intersection of political dissent and educational opportunity. "Forced to Fight: How North Carolina’s Black Exiles Transformed Abolitionism and Tipped the Nation toward Civil War," exhumes the story of the migration of a group of free Black families to Oberlin, Ohio, and their pivotal role in securing the emancipation of four million enslaved people.
As a National Board Certified social studies/history teacher, a James Madison Memorial Foundation Fellow, and self-proclaimed “Conservator of Effective Citizenship,” Kathleen has two decades of experiences in middle & high school and collegiate classrooms in Colorado and Washington. Preparing students to be productive and informed citizens constitutes the foundation of her instructional philosophy, and inspires her daily lesson planning as well as her contributions to longer-term and larger-scale school- and district-wide curriculum development.
Born in Colorado Springs, Kathleen earned a B.A. in history (summa cum laude, honors thesis "Women Healers of the West, 1865-1914" advised by Patricia Nelson Limerick) and a B.S. in journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder in 2001. Two years later, she completed an M.A. in curriculum and instruction from the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. Kathleen returned to the Boulder campus for an M.A. in history, which she finished in 2017 (thesis "Classes for Order: The Origins of Inequality in American Education" advised by Fred Anderson).
Off campus, Kathleen is a fanatic for trail running and often persuades her husband and dogs to accompany her.