Advisor: Jessica Elfenbein

Education: B.A. in History with minors in Public History and Marketing, Louisiana Tech University, May 2021

Bio: Tom is native of Ruston, Louisiana. He is pursuing an M.A. in Public History. His research interests include the effects of the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1920, political history, and intersection of public health and politics. He has completed historic interpretation internships with two living history museums: Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts and George Washington’s Mount Vernon in Virginia. He also wrote a paper, “Who Needs Enemies: Democratic Infighting and McGovern’s Defeat” which won the Louisiana Historical Association’s Kimberly S. Hanger Prize for the Best Undergraduate-Level Paper in 2020 and was scheduled to present a paper, “The Lost Church: The Strange History of a Deconsecrated Church in North Louisiana” at the Louisiana Historical Association’s Regional Conference in Baton Rouge in 2020 before the conference was cancelled.

As an undergraduate, he was recognized as the College of Liberal Arts’ Outstanding Student in History and was awarded the Garnie W. McGinty Undergraduate Scholarship in History.