I am a historian, author, and educator born in New York and raised in Rome, Singapore, and São Paulo. I earned an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Michigan prior to embarking on a post-graduate year of study and work in Taiwan and Mainland China. A few years after earning an M.A. in Chinese Studies, also at Michigan, I found my way to teaching public high school social studies. I taught over ten different courses, including AP World History and IB 20thc History, developing secondary-school level simulations, trials, and debates. But how else could I encourage students to venture back in time? I decided to write a young adult historical fiction series. This in turn prompted me to pursue a Ph.D. in History and embark on new adventures–into the archives.

As an AP World History teacher, I began writing for practical purposes: my Jackie Tempo historical fiction series is meant as enrichment for secondary-school world history courses. Just prior to my return to doctoral studies, I outlined and researched the next book in the series. I will return to this novel upon completion of current works-in-progress. My work on pedagogy includes “A Low-Tech Approach to Teaching World History” in Teaching World History in the Twenty-First Century (M.E. Sharpe, 2009) and this recent article on Brazil in world history.

My scholarly publications and works-in-progress include Ten Notable Women of Colonial Latin America with co-authors Jim and Linda Henderson (forthcoming, Rowman & Littlefield) and Negotiating Dutch Brazil: Portuguese Atlantic Resistance and Renewal (1580-1654), under advance publishing contract with the University of New Mexico Press. I also have a chapter in an exciting anthology on Ibero-Dutch entanglements, due out at the end of 2022 (Palgrave-MacMillan). I’m contributing author to Candice Goucher, ed.’s four-volume Women Who Changed the World (ABC-CLIO, available January 2022).

I draw on my experience as an educator and as a researcher with an active agenda to help connect teachers and historians. In this piece, I marry historical research with teaching strategies for high school and college-level learning. I’m a long-time member of the American Historical Association and the World History Association, where I serve on the Council and am a co-editor of the World History Connected, all of which foster engagement and collaboration between teachers and historians. The journey continues … thank you for joining me!