I am originally from a town called Evans, GA, it is just outside of Augusta, GA. For the past seven years I have been living in Villa Rica, GA, just outside of Atlanta, GA.

I started school at the University of Georgia but switched to Georgia Southern University because it offered a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management. I graduate from Georgia Southern in 2011 and worked in the restaurant industry for several years before coming back to school. I then went to Georgia State University for an undergraduate in history and religious studies. After I graduated with my BA in history I continued at Georgia State and earned my MA in Early Modern European History in December of 2018.

I love almost all early modern history but I specifically study early modern Irish, English and Scottish history, especially in the colonial context. I am interested in identity development and how cultures remain unified or how their development differs depending on location, i.e. Irish communities in Ireland, the Caribbean and North American colonies.

I am currently still doing course work but I hoping to continue my previous work on identity development into the next 150 years following the period I focused on in my master’s thesis. I am looking at 1650-1800 Ireland, Caribbean and North American Irish communities and their similarities and differences. I am especially interested in how they react to major events during that time period.

I believe community identity development is very interesting and important to study especially considering current events. With immigrant communities being spread throughout the globe, I believe it is important to examine how these communities remain connected to each other and how they differ so that we can help and support in meaningful ways.

6. What scholarly intervention will your project be making, and why should it be a presence in research today?

I think it will help with the current climate in the US and throughout the world because we interact with refugee and immigrant communities on a daily basis and it is important to understand that these communities have global connections and develop in very unique ways because of these connections.

7. What are your other interests? (As a scholar or otherwise—everyday preoccupations, hobbies, grand ambitions, etc.?) Do these other interests inform your research in some way and, if so, how?

I love to study new languages, although I am terrible at speaking them. I do well reading new languages so this is very helpful to my work and it has helped me expand my horizons. I am constantly reading and normally have multiple books, all of different styles and genres, going at once. I love teaching and have been teaching in some capacity for about ten years. This is probably the most influential interest I have because it is what led me down this path towards my doctorate. I love watching my students learn and I feel like I constantly learn from my students. This give in take between teaching and learning influences my work in multiple ways, most importantly it helps me broaden my views.