Bio | Projects | Teaching | Honors | Speaking | Contact
Biography
I am an assistant professor of history at the University of Texas at Tyler, specializing in colonial Texas with an emphasis on Spanish and Native histories. You may have read about my research on the Karankawas in Texas Monthly, the Texas Tribune, and Texas Highways. I have also just published a monograph about life in Spanish Texas entitled Wrangling Pelicans. After I spend my day sufficiently clanking on the computer, I go about clanking on rock. My current goal is multi-pitching Enchanted Rock, a nasty, Elvis-leg-inducing slab jutting out of the Texas Hill Country. Other hobbies of mine include gardening and, when free time presents itself, a massively multiplayer online game called World of Warcraft.
Notable Projects
Wrangling Pelicans: Military Life in Texas Presidios (UT Press, 2025), Author
This monograph offers a detailed account of daily life in eighteenth-century Spanish Texas. It examines a wide range of topics ranging from education to illicit entertainment. Written in an accessible style, it provides an engaging read for the general public and holds great value for professional historians as every primary source utilized in the book is made available online at TexasDocuments.com
TexasDocuments.com, Founder
On this site, Ph.D. holders and other history professionals outline the five best primary and secondary sources in their field of study. These guides also highlight the most useful archives for research and include the author’s perspective on how the field can evolve in the future. In short, Texas Documents aims to be the starting point for anyone writing histories related to the Lone Star State.
Museum Exhibit, Karankawa: An Enduring Culture, Co-Curator with Cian Hardin
Debuting at the Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park in 2024, this is the first museum exhibit about the Karankawa peoples made in collaboration with the present-day Karankawa Tribe of Texas. The exhibit debunks common myths and also provides accurate recreations of Karankawa artifacts. A traveling version of the installation is currently in the works!
The Karankawa-Spanish War (1778 to 1789), Author
In this article, I bring light to the little-known Karankawa-Spanish War and the war leader, Joseph María, who united various bands of the Karankawa culture to successfully fend off a genocidal campaign led by the Spanish. Ultimately, war with the Karankawas was a major detriment to the European colonization of Texas and demonstrated who the true rulers of the region were: Native peoples.
Volatile Feelings: A Guide to History Graduate School Applications, Author
Volatile Feelings is a collaborative graduate school application guide I created to make life easier for those pursuing an advanced degree in History. I named it as such over the conflicting emotions of excitement and anxiety I experienced when producing my application materials for history departments across the United States in 2018.
Conceptions Review: Experts Who Bring Receipts, Associate Editor
Conceptions Review published twelve public-facing, original works of scholarship during its run throughout 2021 and 2022—Dr. Andrew Pegoda and I edited every single piece. These essays came from scholars with a variety of backgrounds and often focused on common misconceptions in their field.
Karankawas.com Archive, Creator
Now the tribal homepage of the Karankawa peoples of Texas, I created Karankawas.com nearly a decade ago at the University of Houston to debunk common myths about these Natives and to host an online archive with sources that reference the Karankawas.
For more about my work, take a look at my curriculum vitae.
Teaching
For a good understanding of my teaching style, check out my latest syllabus: HIST 4376, Indigenous History of North America, UT Tyler, syllabus
I specialize in teaching Texas history, colonial history, and early American history. In my classes, I emphasize creative freedom, and that’s highlighted best in the “special projects” that my 1301 students have to complete by the end of the semester. These special projects have to, in some way, connect to our course, and I always find myself impressed with what my students think up!
Yumi Hastings performed Connor Chee’s “Hero Twins,” which is inspired by various Navajo creation stories for our Native American History course.
Aspen Lee wrote a phenomenal essay on the The Gabrielino-Tongva tribe of California. In her words, “This essay examines the impact of Spanish invasion on the Tongva people during the Mission Era and reveals an important cultural narrative of cultural assimilation, resistance, and the challenges of first encounters that Natives faced.”
Haley Schwenn created realistic replicas of Karankawa pottery that were featured in a museum exhibit on the Karankawas and also wrote a phenomenal essay on how the Karankawas crafted their well-known Rockport pottery entitled “From Mud to Magic.” Haley is planning on submitting her essay to a local historical journal.
Honors
Institutional Selection for the ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award, SMU, 2025
Inaugural Board Member, the Alliance for Texas History’s Journal of Texas History, 2025
Outstanding Graduate Student Instruction Award, SMU, 2024
President of the History Graduate Student Association, SMU, 2024
Clements Center for Southwest Studies Manuscript Workshop, 2023
Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute Graduate Student in Residence,2023
Greater Gulf Symposium Fellowship, Lamar University, 2023
Moody Travel Grant, SMU, 2023
Lamar Center for History and Culture of Southeast Texas, Fellow, 2022
Huntington Library, Emerging Studies of the Spanish Borderlands, Workshop Participant, 2021
Caldwell Memorial Writing Contest: Graduate Division, 2nd Place, 2020
Outstanding Honors Thesis Award, University of Houston, 2019
Mellon Research Scholars Program, University of Houston, 2019
Del Barto Scholarship, University of Houston, 2018
Provost Research Scholarship, University of Houston, 2018
Summer Research Fellowship, University of Houston, 2017
Graduation Speaker, Alvin Community College, 2016
ACC President’s Award, the highest accolade for academic excellence and leadership, 2016
ACC President’s Council, served as one of two student representatives, 2016
Student Government President, Alvin Community College, 2015
Speaking Engagements
Due to the popularity of my work on Texas, I frequently give talks for a variety of institutions around the Gulf South. Last year, for example, I gave around a dozen presentations. If you’re interested in having me speak for your community’s historical organization or association, send me an email.
Some of my previous talks include:
“The Karankawas and Tonkawas: A History of Power and Perseverance,” Mammen Family Public Library, 2025
“Discussion of the Past and Present of the Karankawa Tribe,” Corpus Christi Historical Forum and Panel, 2025
“Everyday Military Life in Eighteenth-Century Texas,” East Texas Historical Museum Association Forum, 2025
“The Persistence of the Native Peoples of Texas,” Moore Memorial Public Library, 2025
Contact Me
You can find my email and my office phone number on UT Tyler’s faculty page.
