Mallory Szymanski

Education

• PhD, history, University of Florida, 2017
• MA, women's studies, University of Florida, 2008
• BA, English and history, University of Florida, 2006

Specialties / Areas of Interest

• Gender History
• History of Medicine
• History of Sexuality
• Black History
• Cultural History
• Modern United States History

Biography

Dr. Szymanski is a cultural and gender historian of the 19th- and 20th- century United States. She writes about gendered experiences of police violence. She is a founding member of the Upstate New York Policing Research Consortium (UNY-PRC) which unites scholars across the region whose research addresses policy and community implications of police use of force. She is co-authoring a book with Ted Forsyth focused on Black women killed by Rochester Police Department since 1975, their legacy, and the promise and limits of reform. Her previous work focused on neurasthenia and men's mental and sexual health in the Gilded Age.

In the classroom, Dr. Szymanski promotes learning that lives outside the classroom. Her courses include field trips, public engagement, campus presentations, digital history, and opportunities for publication and conference attendance. She cultivates students' skillsets--primary source research, reading comprehension, written and verbal communication, critical thinking, podcasting--so that students can build their confidence (and their resumes) during their time at Alfred. Partnerships with local institutions such as the Allegany Historical Society, Chemung County Historical Society, and Susan B. Anthony link students to research and internship opportunities off campus. Recently, Dr. Szymanski's students have won Best Paper at the regional Phi Alpha Theta conference and published original research in the Kanakadea Review.

Dr. Szymanski directs the Africana Studies program. She advises the Phi Alpha Theta chapter at Alfred and the African Studies Student Association.

Dr. Szymanski is co-editor at Clio and the Contemporary.

Courses Taught

• Modern US History
• History of Mental Health
• Sex, Power, and Politics
• Women's History
• The Civil War Era: 1830-1877
• U.S. History Through Film
• Popular Culture in US History
• African American History in the U.S. since 1863
• Historian's Craft
• Africa to 1800
• Writing History

Research, Publications, & Presentations

Research & Publications

• “Family Trouble”: The 1975 Killing of Denise Hawkins and the Legacy of Deadly Force in the Rochester, NY Police Department Ted Forsyth Genealogy February 3, 2024
• “Not His Own Boss”: Marital Dispute and the Neurasthenia Defense in the West, 1893-96 Pacific Northwest Quarterly vol. 114 no. 1 Winter 2023
• ‘For Men Only:’ Sexual Health Education, Neurasthenia and the Modern YMCA in the Gilded Age
• "Will Rituals of Spring Cleaning Survive the Coronavirus Pandemic?"
• "How to Prepare for a Job Interview at a SLAC"
• "Teaching Writing Efficiently: Strategies for the early-career historian"
• “From an R1 to a SLAC: Notes from the First Year on the Tenure Track"