Welcome to my website! I am Sandra K. Mathews and this site is dedicated to helping readers learn about who I am, what I do, and my upcoming projects and presentations.
I received my Ph.D. in the US West and Latin America in 1998 at the University of New Mexico. My M.A. is in Latin American Studies, also from UNM. I completed a B.A. in History and Spanish many moons ago.
In 1996, I left New Mexico to teach at Nebraska Wesleyan University. Since then I have published five books, numerous chapters and articles, and too many book reviews to mention. I have presented numerous papers at conferences, chaired sessions, and been the featured or invited speaker at numerous special conferences as well as formal and informal gatherings.
Besides being an active scholar, I love to teach and I have ever since the first day I stepped foot in a classroom back in graduate school. I particularly enjoy taking students out into the “field” to get first-hand experience with history and place. I believe it’s important to make history relevant, connected, and “felt”. So, I’ve taken my US West class to Fort Atkinson, Homestead National Monument, Nebraska State Historical Society Museum and Archives, and the Durham Museum. I’ve taken my Environmental students on 10-day trips to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, long weekends to the Niobrara, a short camping trip to Indian Cave State Park, Northwest Fur Post Museum, as well as Spring Creek Prairie and numerous other locations.
Besides teaching and writing formal history, I also do quite a bit of photography and creative writing, as well.
If you have questions about my work, or would like me to come speak to your group, please contact me at mathewsbenham at yahoo dot com. Feel free to use my CONTACT page as well!
