Background

John recieved his BA in history from Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia in 2002. He finished the coursework for his MA in Contemporary History at the college in May 2004. Beginning in the summer of 2004, he served for one year as an AmeriCorps member with Habitat for Humanity of Wake County, NC, where he worked in construction and volunteer supervision. He completed his MA thesis on the 1924 Leopold-Loeb case and its role in creating a distinct American criminal narrative during his year off.   He became ABD in the spring of 2007 and has since taught the first half of the US survey course.  He is currently at work on further researching the Leopold-Loeb case for his dissertation.