RESEARCH INTERESTS

German history; Soviet History; the Cold War; the German Democratic Republic (East Germany); cultural exchange; memory; monuments & memorials; cities; empire

BIOGRAPHY

I am a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, and I attended Indiana University for my undergraduate degree and double majored in History and Germanic Studies. While at Indiana University, I  studied abroad in Berlin, Germany; The Hague, The Netherlands; and Freiburg, Germany. I graduated from Indiana University with High Distinction and History Honors and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Delta Phi Alpha.

After graduating from Indiana University, I earned my MA/MSc in International and World History at Columbia University and the London School of Economics, graduating with Distinction. I received the Delta Spirit Award Scholarship, the Alliance Fellowship for Summer Research and Language Training, and the Gold Medal for the ACTR Essay Contest for level A1 Russian. In the summer between the two academic years, I studied Russian in Daugavpils, Latvia, and conducted research in the German Federal Archives in Berlin. For my Master’s Dissertation, I studied East German-Soviet exchange during the 1960s, focusing on how East German governmental discourse about organized excursions to the USSR promoted the GDR within the Soviet Bloc.

Before starting at the University of Chicago, I completed a year’s worth of Russian language training at Indiana University’s Summer Language Workshop and was awarded a Title VIII Fellowship and earned the Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement.

At the University of Chicago, I am interested exploring the relationship between the German Democratic Republic and the Soviet Union and plan to use my German and Russian language skills to conduct research.

I am happy to speak with prospective graduate students or to anyone with similar interests.