I am a history professor at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio. I specialize in urban history. I'm the author of New Orleans on Parade: Tourism and the Transformation of the Crescent City (2006), Believing in Cleveland: Managing Decline in "The Best Location in the Nation" (2017), and Sandhill Cities: Metropolitan Ambitions in Augusta, Columbus, and Macon, Georgia (2025), and am currently researching a history of tourism in Savannah, Georgia. In addition, I direct the Center for Public History + Digital Humanities, creators of the Cleveland Historical website and app. When I'm not thinking about, researching, or exploring cities, I am an active musician, playing trumpet in the Cleveland Repertory Orchestra, Cleveland Winds, and Euclid Symphony Orchestra. A native of Gainesville, Georgia, I now live in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

This photostream and its albums curate mostly my urban photography. My banner image is the lobby ceiling of one of my favorite skyscrapers, the Guardian Building in Detroit. Feel welcome to get in touch for permission to use my photos.