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Upcoming Presentations

There are no upcoming engagements at this time.

Recent Presentations

Southern Historical Association Conference, November 2009.

Lonestar College Presentation: "Resistance: African-American Style,"
Greenspoint, Carver, and North Harris locations February 3, 11, and 18, 2009.

Race and Place in the American South - April 10-12, 2008
Another Way Out: The Black Town Movement, 1870-1920
CSWGS Graduate Symposium "Bodies of Work/Agents of Change: Interdisciplinary Interventions in the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality," - April 19, 2008
Sex is Work: Scholarship and Historiography in a Moralized Industry.

Contact Me

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Contact Information

Rhonda Ragsdale
Rice University Department of History - P.O Box 1892 MS 42
Houston, TX 77251
rhonda.ragsdale@rice.edu

EDUCATION

Rice University, Houston, TX
Ph.D. Candidate in Southern History 2007
Major Professor: Dr. John Boles
Fields: Southern History, African American History, Sociology
Also pursuing certificate in Study of Women, Gender, and Sexualities

Rice University, Houston, TX
M.A. in Southern History 2007
Completed Fall, 2007; Conferred December 2007

University of North Texas, Denton, TX
M.S. in American History 2005
Areas of Concentration: Southern History, African-American History
Thesis: "A Place To Call Home: A Study of the Self-Segregated
Community of Tatums, Oklahoma, 1894-1970."

Texas Woman's University, Denton, TX
B.A. in History w/Honors 2001
Major: History
Minors: Sociology and Government

ACADEMIC HONORS AND AWARDS



PROFESSIONAL AND TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Rice University, Houston, TX
Teaching Fellow - Fall 2010
American Protest: U.S Social Movements of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Rice University, Houston, TX
Teaching Fellow - Spring 2011
U.S. History: 1900 - 1940

Lone Star College, Houston, TX
Adjunct Instructor of History Fall, 2008 - Present
Teaching both U.S. History to 1877 and since 1877

University of St. Thomas, Houston, TX
Adjunct Instructory of History, Spring, 2009
Teaching U.S. History since 1877

Rice University, Houston, TX
Grad Barrell Coordinator, 2008-2009
Elected graduated representative position coordinating all activities for a series of professional development workshops.

Rice University, Houston, TX
Graduate Assistant Center for Study of Women, Gender, and Sexualities 2008
Provide general office assistance.

Intercultural Training Seminars, Houston, TX
Resource Consultant 2008
Training individuals and groups from foreign nations residing in the United States on various aspects of American cultural and political history

Rice University, Houston, TX
Research Assistant - Dr. John B. Boles 2007-2008
Fact checking collection of essays on Thomas Jefferson.

Editing Assistant - Journal of Southern History 2005-2007
Fact check submissions to the Journal, submit Book Notes for publication

Editorial Intern - Southern Historical Association 2006

University of North Texas, Denton, TX
Teaching and Research Assistant 2004-2005
Worked in various related capacities for Department of History, History Center, and History Library. Served as tutor and proctor for department. Held Teaching Assistant positions for both Texas and U.S. history survey courses.

Gainesville Independent School District, Gainesville, TX
Special Education Teacher & TOT (Trainer of Teachers) 2003-2004
Taught K-5th grade children with emotional and behavior disabilities in self-contained classroom; Assisted in education of Texas State Behavior Initiative

Denton High School, Denton, TX
Content Mastery Center Aug. 2002 - May 2003
Assist high school students with learning and emotional disabilities in their successful completion of high school.

PREVIOUS PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Pre-Paid Legal; Albq, NM; Ventura, CA
• Group Training Manager 1997 - 99, Regional Vice President 1998 - 99
• Created and implemented training programs and assessments
• Designed targeted marketing programs and leadership systems
• Held one-on-one and large, group training sessions in several cities across
the United States

Harris Publishing, Corporate Training Manager, Albq, NM, 1995 - 96
• Responsible for hiring and training 10-15 new employees each week,
monitoring their progress through training program
• Oversee ongoing trainings and new employee recruitment

Computer Options, Ada, OK, 1992 - 94
• Office and Sales Manager, supervise all employees, handle accounts
payable and receivable, oversee advertising, implement marketing
programs, inventory control, public training

Los Angeles Times, Ventura County Edition, 1990 - 91
• Consumer marketing, direct client sales

PRESENTATIONS AND CONFERENCES

  • "In the Classroom: Easy Tech Resources" Lonestar College, Houston, TX 2009
  • "Another Way Out: The Black Town Movement, 1870s-1920s" 75th Annual Meeting, Southern Historical Association, Louisville, Kentucky 2009
  • "Making Your Graduate School Experience Successful" Eighth Southern Conference on Women's History, Colombia, South Carolina 2009
  • "Resistance: African-American Style," Lonestar College: Greenspoint, February 3, 2009; Carver, February 11, 2009; North Harris, February 18, 2009.
  • "Sex is Work: Scholarship and Historiography in a Moralized Industry" presented at Rice University, CSWGS Graduate Symposium "Bodies of Work/Agents of Change: Interdisciplinary Interventions in the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality," April 19, 2008
  • "Another Way Out: The Black Town Movement, 1870-1920" presented at University of Alabama, Race and Place in the American SouthConference, April 10-12, 2008.
  • "From Chains to Change: African-American Women's Roles in Building Community in Cooke County, Texas, 1860-1880" presented at the Texas State Historical Association 110th Annual Meeting, March 4, 2006.
  • "Strange Bedfellows: The Oklahoma Black Towns and the Klan in the 1920s," presented at the North Texas Regional Conference of Phi Alpha Theta, April 17, 2004. Awarded Outstanding Presentation in U.S. History.
  • "The History of the Mouth Harp," presented as the keynote speaker for the Harmonica Organization of Texas, September 14, 2000.
  • "Sex and Sacrifice: A Tri-Cultural Glance into Ancient Life," presented at Texas Woman's University Third Annual Student Research and Creative Arts Symposium, April 5-6, 2000.

PUBLICATIONS

Online Publications
"Preparing for Comprehensive Exams" Online Mentoring Toolkit
Southern Association for Women Historians, ed., Antionette G. Van Zelm,
www.h-net.org/~sawh/Toolkit

Book Notes:
Journal of Southern History, Vol. LXXIV, No. 2
"Trumpet Records: Diamonds on Farish Street" by Mare W. Ryan

"Community Memories: A Glimpse of African American Life in Frankfort,
Kentucky," Winona Floetcher and Sheila Mason Burton, eds.

Journal of Southern History, Vol. LXXII, No. 4
"Race Work: The Rise of the Civil Rights in the Urban West" by Matthew
Whitaker

"South of Main," edited and compiled by Beatrice Hill and Brenda Lee

Journal of Southern History, Vol. LXIII, No. 2
"Fleeing for Freedom: Stones of the Underground Railroad as Told by Levi
Coffin and William Still," edited by George Hendrick and Willene
Hendrick

Contributing Writer for Southwest Blues Magazine, since 2000
(Selected Titles)
• "The Mother and the Empress: The Story of Ma Rainey and Bessie
Smith."
• "The Devil and the Blues"
• "The History of the Harmonica"
• "Black Towns and the Blues"

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

• Southern Historical Association
• Southern Association for Women Historians
• Phi Alpha Theta
• Texas State Historical Association
• Oklahoma Historical Society
• Urban History Association
• Western Historical Association
• Society for Utopian Studies