Biography

Born in Toronto and raised in Montreal, I completed a BA in History at Concordia University. After graduating in 1993, I set off for central New Jersey where I entered the Ph.D. program in History at Rutgers University. From 1996-1999, I spent three glorious years roaming the streets of Paris. I joined the faculty at SFU in 2001 and completed my doctoral dissertation in 2002.

Over the past several years, my research has focused on the culture and politics of the "French" bomb after 1945, including the history and legacies of France's nuclear weapons detonations in Algeria and Mā'ohi Nui (French Polynesia) from the early 1960s through the mid-1990s. In 2013, I launched New Books in French Studies, a podcast channel on the New Books Network that I hosted solo for over a decade. In 2022, I became a coeditor of the Journal of the Western Society for French History.

Books

Areas of Graduate Supervision:

Modern Europe, France, Cultural History, Colonial and Postcolonial History

Accepting new graduate students: yes

Teaching Interests

I teach a range of subjects at the undergraduate and graduate levels including courses on modern Europe, modern  France, and historical methods. I also regularly teach in the Honours program in History. In 2012, I was awarded a Teaching Learning Development Grant from SFU's Institute for the Study of Teaching and Learning in the Disciplines as the Principle Investigator of "Excavating the Present in the History Classroom," a research study focused on History student engagement with current events.

Awards