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EDUCATION

Ph.D. Candidate, ABD
University of Georgia - Athens, GA
Dissertation: "The Blessings of Business: Corporate America and Conservative Evangelicalism in the Sunbelt Age, 1945-2000"
Committee: James C. Cobb (chair), John C. Inscoe, Laura Mason, Bethany E. Moreton

Research/teaching interests: twentieth century U.S. religion, politics, and culture, business history, transnational history, South/Sunbelt, popular music

Comprehensive exam fields: post-1865 American history, pre-1865 American history, cultural studies, world history

M.A., December, 2004
University of Georgia - Athens, GA

B.A., June, 2001
Furman University - Greenville, SC
Majors: History and Communication Studies

REFEREED ARTICLES

"Marketplace Missionaries: S. Truett Cathy, Chick-fil-A, and the Sunbelt South" in Michelle Nickerson and Darren Dochuk, eds., Sunbelt Rising: The Politics of Space, Place and Region in the American South and Southwest (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, forthcoming).

"Selling a 'Disneyland for the Devout': Religious Marketing at Jim Bakker's Heritage USA" in Dominic Janes, ed. Shopping for Jesus: Faith in Marketing in the USA (Washington, D.C.: New Academia Publishing, 2008).

"'The South Got Something to Say': Atlanta's Dirty South and the Southernization of Hip-Hop America" in Southern Cultures, vol. 12, no. 4 (Winter 2006).

"All in Good Fun: Alcohol Culture and Recreational Space in Post-War Upstate South Carolina" in Southern Historian, vol. 27 (Spring 2006).

"Sam Jones, Sam Hose, and the Theology of Racial Violence" in Georgia Historical Quarterly, vol. 90, no. 1 (Spring 2006).

REVIEWS AND ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES

Review of Steven P. Miller, Billy Graham and the Rise of the Republican South (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009) for H-NC Discussion Network (forthcoming).

"Rap Music," in Larry Griffin and Peggy Hargis, eds., The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Volume 21: Social Class (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, forthcoming).

"Suburbanization" in Wanda Rushing, ed., The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Volume 17: Urbanization (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, forthcoming).

"Evangelicalism" and "Religious Fundamentalism" in Roger Chapman, ed. Encyclopedia of the Culture Wars: Issues, Voices, and Viewpoints (Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 2009).

Review of Charles Reagan Wilson and Mark Silk, eds., Religion and Public Life in the South: In the Evangelical Mode (Lanham: Rowan and Littlefield, 2005) in The Journal of Southern Religion, vol. 9 (2006).

"Megachurches," "Church of God," "African Methodist Episcopal Church," "Assemblies of God," "Lutheran Church," "Southern Baptists," and "Henry W. Grady" in John C. Inscoe, ed. The New Georgia Encyclopedia (2004-2007).

COURSES TAUGHT

University of Georgia -- Athens, GA

HIST2112 -- American History Since 1865
(Fall 2006, Fall 2007, Summer 2008, Spring 2009, Summer 2009)

HIST2702 -- World Civilizations II, Since 1500
(Spring 2009)

HIST3073 -- Modern America, 1945-Present
(Fall 2008)

HIST3150 -- Religion in American History
(Spring 2007, Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2008)

CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION

"Marketplace Missionaries: S. Truett Cathy, Chick-fil-A, and the Sunbelt South." Public presentation for Part II of II of "Sunbelt Rising: The Politics of Space, Place and Region in the American South and Southwest," Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, April 24-25, 2009. Panel: "Beyond Borders."

"South Toward Heaven: America's Southern Rim and the Transnational Missions of Christian Entrepreneurs." Paper presented at the 123rd Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, New York City, New York, January 2-5, 2009. Panel organizer: "Missions to the World: Transnational Perspectives on Modern American Religions."

"Evangelical Businesses, Suburban Development, and Cultural Politics in America's Southern Rim." Paper presented at the Fourth Biennial Conference of the Urban History Association, Houston, Texas, November 5-9, 2008. Panel: "Sunbelt Boom and the Politics of the Right."

"Postmodern Blues: Alt-Country, Southern Rap, and Life in the Un-Sunbelt." Invited paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the St. George Tucker Society, Augusta, Georgia, August 7-10, 2008. Panel: "The Neo-New South?"

"The Political Economy of a Chicken Sandwich: S. Truett Cathy, Chick-fil-A, and the Sunbelt South." Public presentation for Part I of II of "Sunbelt Rising: The Politics of Space, Place and Region in the American South and Southwest," Huntington Library, San Marino, California, July 18-19, 2008. Panel: "Contingent Places."

"From Christ-Haunted to God Blessed: Thinking About Post-War Prosperity and the Evangelical Upstate." Invited paper presented at the Clemson-Furman University Conference on "Our Past Before Us: The Search for the South Carolina Upcountry," Greenville, South Carolina, March 8-10, 2007. Panel: "Religion and Cultural Shifts in the Upcountry."

"Long as I Got My Plastic Jesus: Church Culture, Business Culture, and the Remaking of America's Bible Belt." Paper presented at the Boston College Conference on the History of Religion, Boston, Massachusetts, March 24-25, 2006. Panel organizer with John Hayes: "Rethinking the Bible Belt: Modernization, Culture, and Religious Transformation in Twentieth Century America."

"'The South Got Something to Say': Race, Region, and the Rise of Atlanta's Rap Industry." Paper presented at the Fiftieth Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Atlanta, Georgia, November 16-20, 2005. Panel: "Atlanta, Georgia, the South."

"Sam Jones and Sam Hose: An Evangelist's Public Debate with Lynching in Georgia." Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Georgia Association of Historians, Kennesaw, Georgia, April 2-3, 2004. Panel: "The New South."

AWARDS

Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Graduate School, University of Georgia, Fall 2009-Spring 2010. $13,000 award for funding the final year of dissertation writing.

Numan V. Bartley Award, Department of History, University of Georgia, 2008. $400 award for funding dissertation research.

Warner-Fite Award, Department of History, University of Georgia, 2008. $250 award for an outstanding graduate student in American/U.S. history.

American History Dissertation Award, Colonial Dames of America, 2007. $2,000 award for funding dissertation research.

Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, Office of Instructional Support and Development, University of Georgia, 2004-2005.

Phi Beta Kappa, Furman University, 2001.

Phi Alpha Theta, Furman University, 2000.

Phi Eta Sigma, Furman University, 1997.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Contributing editor, Religion and American History Blog, 2007-present.
Organization of American Historians, 2004-present.
American Historical Association, 2003-present.
Southern Historical Association, 2003-present.

SERVICE

Graduate Student Representative, Policy Committee, Department of History, University of Georgia, 2008-2009.

Teacher, Institute of Reading Development Summer Program, 2003-2006.

ESL Instructor, 2003-2004.

Updated: 06/24/09