What is your job/position?
Stirling Professor of Constitutional Studies at Utah Valley University. I research, write, and teach about American political thought, institutions, and development.
Describe the path that took you from your American Studies degree to your current career or life situation.
Having wonderful professors in the American Studies program at BYU inspired me to become a professor, too. My favorite American Studies classes as an undergraduate focused on American political and intellectual history. As a result, after graduating, I pursued a master's degree in intellectual history and a doctoral degree in political science. After receiving my PhD in 2015, I did postdoctoral work at Stanford University before becoming a professor in Colorado and now in Utah.
What are the specific competencies you cultivated as an American Studies student that you now use in your professional life and that set you apart from your colleagues?
As an American Studies major, I learned how to synthesize scholarship from a diversity of disciplines, including history, literature, and political science. This skill has proved valuable for me as a professor where my job is to create new knowledge—mostly by bringing together the insights of disparate disciplines.
What are some of the surprising ways in which your American Studies degree has helped you in your professional or personal life?
I still stay in touch with fellow students from my American Studies cohort.