I am a PhD Candidate from Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. I am interested in Southern U.S. history, specifically the New Right, political realignment, and labor. Currently, my research focuses on the Walt Disney Company and political economy. My dissertation project is titled, “‘There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow’: A Labor History of the Disney Parks and Edutainment from 1950-2005”.

Education:

Ph.D. History, Mississippi State University, 2018 – Current
M.A. History, Iowa State University, 2016 – 2018
B.A. History, Iowa State University, 2009 – 2014

Academic Career:

Lecturer at Mississippi State University, Fall 2023-Ongoing

Lecturer, Early U.S. History to 1877, Mississippi State University, Summer 2023

Instructor of Record, Modern U.S. History from 1877, Mississippi State University, Spring 2023

Inaugural Co-Director, MSU History Resource Center 2022.

Lecturer, Modern U.S. History from 1877, Mississippi State University, Summer 2022

Teaching Assistant, Modern U.S. History, Mississippi State University, Fall 2021

Editorial Assistant, Environmental History, Aug. 2020-Aug. 2021

Lecturer, Early U.S. History, Mississippi State University, Summer 2020

Teaching Assistant, Modern U.S. History, Mississippi State University, Spring 2020

Teaching Assistant, Early U.S. History, Mississippi State University, Fall 2019

Teaching Assistant, Mississippi History, Mississippi State University, Spring 2019

Teaching Assistant, Early U.S. History, Mississippi State University, Fall 2018

Teaching Assistant, Iowa History, Iowa State University, Spring 2018

Teaching Assistant, U.S. History I, Iowa State University, Fall 2017

Publication & Presentations:

Review of Dawn at Mineral King Valley: The Sierra Club, The Disney Company, and the Rise of Environmental Law by Daniel P. Selmi for Environmental History 28, No. 4.

Review of The Swamp Peddlers: How Lot Sellers, Land Scammers, and Retirees Built Modern Florida and Transformed the American Dream by Jason Vuic for Environmental History 27, No. 3 (July 2022): 576-577.

Steen-Adams, M., Anderson, S. Bissonette, L., Hersey, M., Himel, M., Cook, S., Meares, L. Cagle, N.,  Mindlin, L, Livingston, F. McCourt, P. Smith, N. Thomas, K.S., Lehman, E. and MacCleery, D. User Guide: Educational Resource Catalogue on the History of Land Conservation, Washington D.C.: The Land Trust Alliance, in press.    

Steen-Adams, M., Hersey, M., Himel, M., Bissonette, L., Cook, S., Meares, L., Mindlin, L., Livingston, F., McCourt, P., Smith, N., Thomas, K.S.,  Anderson, S., Lehman, E., and Cagle, N. 2021. Educational Resource Catalogue on the History of Land Conservation. Washington D.C.: The Land Trust Alliance, forthcoming.

Panelist on the Cleanth Brooks Dissertation Forum, at the St. George Tucker Society Annual Conference, Charleston, SC, July 2023.

“Laboring from Sea Castle to Brava Centauri: Work on Display at Disney’s Future City in the 1980s,” paper delivered at Labor and Working-Class History Association Conference, New Brunswick, NJ, May 2023.

“‘The Third Battle of Manassas’: The Blue, the Grey, and the Mouse,” at the St. George Tucker Society Annual Conference, Milledgeville, GA, July 2019.

“‘The Third Battle of Manassas’: The Blue, the Grey, and the Mouse,” paper delivered at the “Examining the American Experience”: A Cultural Studies Conference, Tuscaloosa, AL, October 2019.

Honors and Awards:

CHASES Fellowship, Mississippi State University , 2023-2024

Roy V. Scott Graduate Assistantship, Mississippi State University, 2018-2023

Graduate Assistantship, Iowa State University, 2017-2018

Professional Associations:

Member, Southern Historical Association