About Me

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• Professor of History at the University of Central Missouri from 2004 to the Present.
• I am the author of four books about the life, political career, and legacy of Harry S. Truman and currently working on a book about Harry Truman's Senate career.
• Since 2021 I have served as the Founding Project Director for Historic Missouri, which is a free mobile app and website that provides users easy access to information about the important places, people, and stories that are unique to Missouri.  The site features 16 tours that were written by UCM faculty, students, and partners.

Warrensburg Historical Highlights Tour

Harry Truman Returns to Jackson County Missouri for the First Time as President, June 1945

Knob Noster State Park History Camp Bobwhite and Camp Shawnee

Blind Boone in Warrensburg

Sedalia Missouri Historical Highlights Tour

Missouri's Little Dixie African American Historical Highlights Tour

Marble Hill Missouri Tour

Concordia and Emma Missouri Historical Tour

Sweet Springs Missouri Tour

Lamar Missouri Historical Tour

Missouri and Kansas National Cemeteries Tour

Kansas City Missouri's 18th and Vine Tour

Pleasant Hill Missouri Historical Highlights Tour

Bolivar Missouri Historical Tour

• From 2023 to 2024 I served as the Lead Co-PI on the Veteran Voices from the Heartland Veterans Administration funded grant project that uncovered the stories of Civil War veterans who are interred at Fort Scott National Cemetery in Fort Scott, Kansas, and World War II veterans who are interred at the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Higginsville, Missouri.  Working with our partners, which included the Greater Kansas City Writing Project and the Midwest Genealogy Center, our team delivered professional development sessions to primarily 7th to 12th grade secondary teachers on how to teach their students to research the lives of veterans who are interred in both cemeteries.