I am the Snell Family Dean’s Distinguished Professor of History and Political Science. I earned his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in 1993 where he studied under the tutelage of the distinguished scholar, George Herring.
I am an active scholar and the author of five books and editor and contributor to another including: The Sparrow and the Hawk: Costa Rica and the United States During the Rise of José Figueres, 1942-1957 (1997) [winner of the A.B. Thomas Book Prize from the South Eastern Council on Latin American Studies], In the Eagle’s Shadow: The United States and Latin America (2002, 2nd edition, 2009), Senator Albert Gore, Sr.: Tennessee Maverick (2004), editor of Deconstructing Reagan: Conservative Mythology and America’s Fortieth President (2006), Grunts: The American Combat Soldier in Vietnam (2008), and The Morenci Marines: A Tale of a Small Town and the Vietnam War (2013). I also published articles in a variety of journals including Diplomatic History, Review of Faith and International Affairs, and the Pacific Historical Review. I am currently working on two books, In Harm's Way: A Military History of the United States (co-authored with Gene Smith and David Coffey for Oxford University Press) and The Death of LBJ: Days in the Life.
I also have helped distribute information on U.S. foreign relations and politics in the media including opinion pieces in the Los Angeles Times, the Arizona Republic, and Austin American Statesman. In addition, he has been interviewed and quoted in stories for the Washington Post, Newsweek, Time, Slate, the Boston Globe, the Associated Press, JiJi Press, Shanghai Wenhui Daily, and the Jornal do Brazil as well as ABC News.
Beyond research and writing, I have received recognition for his activities in the classroom. My most popular courses at ASU (both face-to-face and online) have been modern U.S. foreign relations, U.S.-Latin American relations, the American Experience in Vietnam War, U.S. Military History and a twelve-hour multidisciplinary freshmen Learning Community course, “War, Culture, and Memory.” I have also worked extensively with graduate students, teaching seminars on modern America and U.S. foreign relations, and mentoring eight doctoral students and serving on more than thirty-five graduate committees. My work at the undergraduate and graduate levels routinely has received recognition. In 2003, the Associated Students of Arizona State University named me the Centennial Professor as the outstanding teacher of the year. I also have received other awards including the Zebulon Pearce Award for Outstanding Teacher in the Humanities, as well as the ASU Habitat for Humanity “Making the World a Cooler Place to Live” Teaching Award, and the Preparing Future Faculty Program Mentor Appreciation Award.
In his eighteen years at ASU, I have also held a series of administrative roles ranging from the Director of Undergraduate Studies and Director of Graduate Studies in History to the Provost’s Committee on Retention and Graduation and Graduate College Diversity Fellowship Committee. He has led ASU’s participation in a Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate for the 21st Century and been an active leader in the Preparing Future Faculty Program. Beyond being a Head of Faculty of History and an Associate Director of SHPRS, I spent a year as a Dean’s Fellow working as a special assistant to the Executive Vice President and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. I have also collaborated with ASU President Michael Crow’s Office and the ASU Foundation in engaging the community through the President’s Enrichment Program and bringing high profile speakers to campus including Vice President Al Gore and Admiral Jim Stavridis, former SOUTHCOM commander and Supreme Allied Commander, Europe.