I’m an educator, writer, historian, and podcaster, living in Gainesville, Florida.

As an educator, I’m employed as a lecturer by the University of Florida’s Management Communication Center, where I teach undergraduate and graduate classes on professional writing. Previously, I have worked as a history, writing, and humanities instructor at the University of Florida, Santa Fe College, and Penn State University. In these setting, I have accumulated a decade of experience, teaching more than 1,800 students both in-person and online.

As a writer, I have published 40+ scholarly and popular articles in The Atlantic, TIME, Salon, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Gainesville Sun, Socialist Alternative, Early American Studies, Vestoj, and elsewhere.

As an historian, I write about nineteenth-century men’s fashion (including in my forthcoming book, The Bearded Age) and aim to make scholarly perspectives accessible to the public.

Finally, as a podcaster, I co-host a weekly show entitled Impolitic, featuring weekly conversation between myself, a socialist, and my libertarian co-host, Paul Matzko.

Originally from Trenton, New Jersey, I attended the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. After graduating with a B.A. in history and religion (2007), I worked briefly as an administrative assistant and IT consultant for a best-practices consultancy in Arlington, Virginia. Subsequently, I moved to State College, PA, where I received an M.A. in history (2011) and a Ph.D. in history and Women’s Studies (2015) from the Pennsylvania State University.

I relocated to Gainesville, Florida in 2015, where I now live with my partner, UF librarian Hélène Huet, and my cat Lucy. In my free time, I serve in leadership roles in both the Gainesville chapter of Socialist Alternative and the Alachua County Labor Coalition; I’m a proud member of my union, the United Faculty of Florida; and I enjoy biking, hiking, and woodworking.

You can find me on Twitter at @ess_trainor, as well as on Academia.edu and LinkedIn.