I joined A&M-San Antonio in August 2008. My academic training includes a B.A. in History from the University of New Orleans (1995), an M.A. in History from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (1997), and a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin (2004).

I teach classes on U.S. History, social and cultural history, and research methods. My scholarly research has focused on the history of children and youth and particularly on the history of juvenile justice. I have published two book-length studies: Who Gets a Childhood?: Race and Juvenile Justice in Twentieth-Century Texas (University of Georgia Press, 2010); and, Circuit Riders for Mental Health: The Hogg Foundation in Twentieth-Century Texas (Texas A&M University Press, 2016). In addition to numerous short articles, I also have co-edited a volume entitled Ages of Anxiety: Historical and Transnational Perspectives on Juvenile Justice (NYU Press, 2018). Last year, my digital history project, "Juvenile Delinquency in San Antonio," was published as part of the Seed of Texas project documenting the history of Bexar County and San Antonio.

My current scholarly projects include a history of age and capital punishment with the working title "Unprotected Childhoods: Age and the American Death Penalty;" and, a coedited volume on the history of mass incarceration in Texas with the working title "Deep in the Heart of the Carceral State: Essays on Texas Punishment," under contract with the University of Texas Press.

Im also involved in public-facing projects, most notably a multi-faceted initiative focusing on the states system of hospitals for people with mental illness, which includes an ongoing project on the history of the San Antonio State Hospital, opened in 1892 near our campus in south San Antonio. Ive supervised student research into the hospitals history in classes as well as in research internships. 

Since 2022, I have served as the inaugural director of the University Honors Program. The program is starting its fourth year supporting 132 students from academic majors across the university.