KELLY J. BAKER, Ph.D.

Curriculum Vitae

kellyjbaker@gmail.com

EMPLOYMENT
Freelance Writer (2013-present)

Previously a Featured Writer at Sacred Matters, Chronicle Vitae, Bearings, and Women in Higher Education

• DeRose-Hinkhouse Award of Excellence, 2016.

Women in Higher Education (2016-2022)

Editor

• APEX Award of Excellence in Writing: Departments & Columns, 2017.
• APEX Grand Award in Writing for The Editor’s Odds and Ends Column, 2021.
• APEX Award of Excellence in Writing: Departments & Columns, 2022.

The National Teaching and Learning Forum (2020-2022)

Editor

University of Tennessee (2010-2013)

Lecturer, Religious Studies

Affiliated Faculty, American Studies and Global Studies

• Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence, University of Tennessee, 2013.
• University of Tennessee’s Quest/Research Scholar of the Week, 2012.

University of New Mexico and Central New Mexico (2007-2009)

Instructor, Religious Studies and Humanities

EDUCATION        

Florida State University, Department of Religion

• Ph.D. (2008), The Gospel According to the Klan: The Ku Klux Klan’s Vision of White Protestant America, 1915-1930

• Comprehensive Exams Passed With Distinction

• M.A. (2003), Henry Ossawa Tanner: Race, Religion, and Visual Mysticism
  

Florida State University, Program of American and Florida Studies

• B.A.  (2002)

• Graduated summa cum laude

BOOKS

Gospel According to the Klan: The Ku Klux Klan’s Appeal to Protestant America, 1915-1930, (University Press of Kansas, 2011).

• Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2012.

The Zombies Are Coming! The Realities of the Zombie Apocalypse in American Culture, (Blue Books, 2020).

• 2021 Winner of the Gold Medal from the Florida Authors and Publishers Association (FAPA) President's Book Awards in Nonfiction/Politics

Grace Period: A Memoir in Pieces, (Blue Crow Books, 2017).

• Best Books in New Religion Journalism of the Decade by Religion Dispatches

Sexism Ed: Essays on Gender and Labor in Academia, (Blue Crow Books, 2018).

• 2018 GOLD Winner for Women’s Studies for the Foreword INDIES.

Final Girl: And Other Essays on Grief, Trauma, and Mental Illness (Blue Crow Books, 2020).

Succeeding Beyond Academia, co-edited with Joseph Fruscione, (University Press of Kansas, 2018).

The Moms Aren’t Alright, (Broadleaf Press, forthcoming 2025).

ARTICLES

1. “The Artifacts of White Supremacy,” Religion & Culture Forum, June 2017, online.
2. “The Look of White Supremacy,” Sacred Matters, February 2017, online.
3. “The New White Nationalists?,” Religion & Politics, October 2016, online.
4. “Fashionable Intolerance,” Sacred Matters, July 2016, online.
5. “Birth of the Klan’s Nation,” Sacred Matters, April 2016, online.
6. “Silence Won’t Protect You,” Marginalia Review of Books, March 2016, online.
7. “Doomsday Politics,” Sacred Matters, March 2016, online.
8. “It’s gonna be forever or it’s gonna go down in flames: Tenure and (In)Justice,” Marginalia Review of Books, 2016, online.
9.  “Special Issue on Evidence in American Religions,” Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 41:4 (November 2012): 1.
10. “Evidentiary Boundaries and Improper Interventions: Evidence, Implications and Illegitimacy in American Religious Studies,” Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 41:4 (November 2012): 2-11.
11.  “Naturalizing Klansmen, Evangelizing the South: Faith, Fraternity and Lost Cause Religion in the 1920s Klan,” Perspectives in Religious Studies, 39:3 (Fall 2012): 261-274.
12.  “With a Shamble and a Moan: Zombie Eschatology in American Popular Culture,” Arc, Special Issue: Eschatology, 39 (2011): 1-11.
13. “Robes, Fiery Crosses, and the American Flag: The Materiality of the 1920s Klan’s Christianity, Patriotism, and Intolerance,” Material Religion, 7:3 (November 2011): 312-343.
14. “Getting Rapture Ready: The Materiality of the Rapture in North America,” Studies in World Christianity, Special Issue: Material Faith, 17:2 (August 2011): 101-118.
15. “Rome’s Reputation Is Stained with Protestant Blood: The Klan-Notre Dame Riot of May 1924,” Cushwa Center for Study of American Catholicism, Working Paper Series, Spring 2010.
16. “Female Leadership in Southern Religion (and American Religions),” Review Essay of Women in the Church of God in Christ (Anthea Butler) and Women With a Mission (Laura R. Olson et al.), Journal of Southern Religion, XI, 2009, online.
17. “Religion and the Rise of the Second Ku Klux Klan, 1915-1922,” The Readex Report, 4:3, September 2009, online.
18. “Wrangling the Bull Gator,” Review Essay of Erskine Clarke’s Dwelling Place, Journal of Southern Religion, XI, 2009, online.
19. “Painting the Gospel: Henry Ossawa Tanner’s The Annunciation and Christ and Nicodemus,” Between the Texts and the Canvas, eds. Ela Nutu and J. Cheryl Exum, Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2007: 190-212.
20. “A Visionary People: Religion and the Visual Arts,” Faith in America, ed. Charles Lippy, Praeger, 2006: 25-44.

LECTURES AND CONFERENCE PAPERS

1. Panelist, “Religion, Authoritarianism, and Public Narratives,” SORAAAD, 2023.
2. Keynote, “Public Scholarship as Translation,” Implicit Religion, 2023.
3. Plenary, Centre for Critical Study of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements, 2021.
4. “#MeToo, Harassment, and the AAR,” American Academy of Religion, 2018.
5. Panelist, “Birth of a Nation,” American Academy of Religion, 2015.
6. “Contingency and Academic Freedom,” American Academy of Religion, 2015.
7. Panelist, “How the University Works,” American Academy of Religion, 2015.
8. “Can You Be An Activist at the Junior Level?” American Academy of Religion, 2014.
9. “Gendering Contingency,” American Academy of Religion, 2014.
10. “Convents, Confessions, and Conflict: The 1920s Klan versus Our Sunday Visitor,” American Historical Association, 2013.
11.  “Fear the dead. Fight the living”: Zombie Apocalypses, Ethics, and American Religions, American Academy of Religion, 2012.
12. Respondent, “Digital Dastan: Using New Tools to Tell Old Tales, American Academy of Religion,” 2012.
13. Panelist, “Ideology and/of Apocalypticism,” Society of Biblical Literature, 2012.
14. “Sign, sign, everywhere a sign: The Politics of Tim LaHaye’s End-Time Theologies,” Society of Biblical Literature, 2012.
15. Panelist, “Religion, Revelation, and Politics,” Elon Center for the Study of Religion, Culture, and Society, Elon University, North Carolina. 2012.
16. “The horror! the horror! Abject Objects and the Study of American Religions,” Mediated Material and Visual Elements of Religious Erlebniswelten (Experience worlds), Heidelberg University, Germany, 2012.
17. Panelist, “The Past, Present, and Future of American Religion Scholarship,” University of North Carolina, Charlotte, 2012.
18. Panelist, “Apocalypticism and Millennialisms in American Culture,” SESCOR: Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion, Regional American Academy of Religion, 2012.
19. “Gender in American Religions and Our Classrooms,” SESCOR: Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion, Regional American Academy of Religion, 2012.
20. Respondent, “Religion and the Politics of Legitimation,” Eleventh Annual Florida State University Graduate Symposium in Religion, 2012.
21. Panelist, “The ‘Evidence’ of North American Religions: A Roundtable,” North American Association for the Study of Religion, 2011.
22. “Imagining the End (Again): Tim LaHaye, American Fundamentalism and Ever-Present Danger of Globalization,” American Studies Association, 2011.
23. Poster, “Braids, Prairie Dresses, and Polygamist Fashion,” The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians, 2011.
24. “Life After Grad School: A Roundtable,” Tenth Annual Florida State University Graduate Symposium in Religion, Tallahassee, Florida, 2011.
25. Panelist, “Beyond ‘Teaching Tolerance’: Changing the Discourse of Tolerance in America,” American Studies Association, 2010.
26. “Dum, Dum, Dumb, Dumb, Dumb: Humor, Religious Intolerance and South Park,” American Academy of Religion, 2010.
27. Panelist, “Islamophobia: A Conversation,” University of Tennessee Religious Studies Association, Knoxville, Tennessee, 2010.
28. “Fashion the Cult Way: Polygamist Fashion, the American Media, and ‘Fashionable’ Religious Intolerance,” SESCOR: Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion, Regional American Academy of Religion, 2010.
29. “Rome’s Threat to America: The Klan, Anti-Catholicism, and the Klan-Notre Dame Riot of 1924,” Invited lecture for AMST 20100: Introduction to  Studies, Professor Erika Doss, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, 2009.
30. “Rome’s Reputation Is Stained with Protestant Blood: The Klan-Notre Dame Riot of May 1924”, American Catholic Studies Seminar, Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, 2009.
31. “Rome’s Reputation is Stained With Protestant Blood”: The Klan-Notre Dame Riot of 1924, American Studies Association. 2008.
32. “Take the Christ out of America, and America Fails!: The 1920s Klan and Religious Nationalism,” Central New Mexico, Montoya Campus Lecture Series, Albuquerque, NM, 2008.
33. Respondent, Erskine Clarke’s Dwelling Place: A Conversation, SESCOR: Southeastern Commission the Study of Religion, Regional American Academy of Religion, 2008.
34. “Let Us Keep the Bible in Schools: The 1920s Klan, the Public School, and Religious Nationalism,” Regional American Academy of Religion, 2008.
35. “Protestant America: Robes, Burning Crosses, and the 1920s Klan,” American Studies Association, 2006.
36. “Hate Made Flesh (and Canvas): Religious Hate Groups and the Creation of Identity Through Uniforms and Tattooing,” American Academy of Religion, 2005.
37. “Painting the Gospel: Henry Ossawa Tanner’s The Annunciation and Christ and Nicodemus,” The Bible and the Visual Arts Section, Society of Biblical Literature, 2005.
38. “Folds of Hatred: Ku Klux Klan, Uniforms, and Collective Identity,” American Studies Association, 2005.
39. “Dressed to Hate: Ku Klux Klan, Uniforms, and Collective Identity,” 3rd Annual Emerging Scholars in Material Culture Symposium, Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, DE, 2005.
40. “Henry Ossawa Tanner, Visual Mystic,” Mysticism Group, American Academy of Religion, 2004.
41. “Henry Ossawa Tanner’s Visualization of the Bible,” SESCOR: Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion, Regional American Academy of Religion, Atlanta, GA. 2004.
42. “Henry Ossawa Tanner and Visual Mysticism,” Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture/American Culture Conference, 2003.
43. “Henry Ossawa Tanner: Religious Painter, Racial Artist, or American Outsider?” Department of Religion’s Graduate Symposium, Florida State University, 2003.

BOOK REVIEWS

1. Review of Tanya Erzen’s Fanpire, Bulletin for the Study of Religion blog, 2014.
2. Review of Erika Doss’s Memorial Mania, Material Religion, 2013.
3. Review of Hugh Urban’s The Church of Scientology, Nova Religio, 2013.
4. Review of James Turner’s Religion Enters the Academy, Journal of Southern Religion, 14 (November 2012).
5. Review of Patrick Q. Mason’s The Mormon Menace, Practical Matters, Spring 2012, online.
6. Review of The New Black Gods, Nova Religio, 15:2 (November 2011): 122-124.
7. Review of W. Scott Poole’s Satan in America, Church History, 80:1 (March 2011): 225-227
8. Review of Timothy Beal’s Roadside Religion, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 17, Fall 2007, online.
9. “Betrayal in Black and White,” Review of Paul Ortiz’s Emancipation Betrayed, H-South, September 2006, online.
10. Review of R. Marie Griffith’s Born Again Bodies, American Religious Experience, 2006, online.
11. Review of James Bennett’s Religion and the Rise of Jim Crow In New Orleans, Journal of African American History, 91:3, Summer 2006, p. 344.  
12. Review of Stephen Prothero’s American Jesus, Journal of American Culture, 29:1, March 2006, pp. 63-4.
13.  Review of Belief in the Media, Eds. Peter Horsfield, Mary E. Hess, and Adán M. Medrano, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 12, Spring 2006, online.
14. Review of Colleen McDannell’s Picturing Faith, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 10, Summer 2005, online. 
15. Review of Mark I. Pinsky’s The Gospel According to Disney: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust, Journal of Popular Culture, 38:4, May 2005, p. 763.  
16. Review of S. Brent Plate’s Religion, Art, and Visual Culture, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 7, Summer 2004, online.
17. Review of Bruce Dain’s A Hideous Monster of the Mind, American Studies International, 42:2-3, June/October 2004, pp. 260-261.
18. Review of Paternalism in a Southern City, Southern Historian, XXV, Spring 2004, p. 70.
19. Review of Marcus Bruce’s Henry Ossawa Tanner: A Spiritual Biography” The Journal of American Culture, 27:1, March 2004, p. 113.
20. Review of David Morgan’s Protestants and Pictures, The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 5, Fall 2003, online.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN

Spring 2013        Global Religions and Race in America (100 level)

Spring 2013        The Apocalypse in American Culture (300 level)

Spring 2013        Gender in Global Religions (300 level)

Fall 2012        Religious and Racial Intolerance in the U.S. (300 level)

Fall 2012        Haunting, Horror and Religion in American Culture (300 level)

Fall 2012         Global Religions and Race in America (100 level)

Spring 2012        Religion(s) in the U.S. (300 level)—two sections

Spring 2012        World Religions in America (100 level)—two sections

Fall 2011        Gender in Global Religions (300 level)

Fall 2011        Apocalypse in American Culture (300 level)

Fall 2011        World Religions in America (100 level)—two sections

Summer 2011        Religion(s) in the U.S. (300 level)

Spring 2011        Gender and Religion in American Culture (400 level)

Spring 2011        World Religions in America (100 level)

Spring 2011        Introduction to American Studies (300 level)

Fall 2010        The Apocalypse in American Culture (300 level)

Fall 2010        Introduction to American Studies (300 level)

Summer 2010        Religion(s) in the U.S. (300 level)

Spring 2010        World Religions in America (100 level)

Spring 2010        Religious Intolerance in America (300 level)

Spring 2010        Introduction to American Studies (300 level)

University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM

Spring 2009        Religious Intolerance in the U.S. (300 level)

Spring 2008        Religion and Gender (300 level)

Fall 2007        Religion and Gender (300 level)

Central New Mexico Community College, Albuquerque, NM

Summer 2008        Living World Religions (1000 level)

Spring 2008        Early World Civilizations (1000 level)

Spring 2008        Living World Religions (1000 level)—three sections

Fall 2007        Early World Civilizations (1000 level)

Fall 2007        Living World Religions (1000 level)—two sections

Summer 2007        Living World Religions (100 level)

Summer 2007        Modern World Civilizations (100 level)

Spring 2007        Early World Civilizations (100 level)

Spring 2007        Living World Religions (100 level)

Tallahassee Community College, Tallahassee, FL

Fall 2006        World Religions (2000 level)

Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL

Fall 2006        Religion in the U.S. (2000 level)

Summer 2006        Religion in the U.S. (2000 level)

Spring 2006        Religion in the U.S. (2000 level)

Fall 2005        Religion in the U.S. (2000 level)

Spring 2004        Gender and Religion (3000 level)

Fall 2003        First Year Experience (1000 level)

Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL (as a Teaching Assistant)

Summer 2004        Religion in the U.S. (2000 level)

Fall 2003        Religion in the U.S. (2000 level)

Summer 2003        Gender and Religion (2000 level)

Spring 2003        Death and Dying (3000 level)

TEACHING PROFICIENCY

African American History

Apocalypticism in American Culture

Gender, Class, and Race in American History

Gender in North American Religions

Gender in Global Religions

Horror and Religion in American Culture

Intro to American Studies

Material Religion

Racial and Religious Intolerance in the U.S.

Religions in the U.S. (lower and upper level)

Theories and Methods in both Religious Studies and History

U.S. History to 1877

U.S. History from 1877

Women in American History

World Religions in the U.S. History (introductory level)

EDITORIAL SERVICE

2012-2014        North American Book Review Editor, Material Religion

2012-2013        Editor, Bulletin for the Study of Religion

2007-2013        Editor, Religion in American History Blog: http://usreligion.blogspot.com

2005-2009        Review Editor, H-American Study, a division of Humanities and Social Sciences Online (H-Net)

2004-2005        Assistant to the Editors, Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

2014-2016        Chair, Contingency Task Force, American Academy of Religion

2010-2013        Chair, Religions in America Section, Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion (SECSOR)

2010-2012        Chair, Religion and American Culture Caucus, American Studies Association

2007-2010        Steering Committee, Religion and American Culture Caucus, American Studies Association

2006-pres.        Reviewer for Routledge Press, Material Religion, Fortress Press and American Quarterly

2006        Co-Coordinator, 5th Annual Religion Graduate Symposium, Florida State University

2005-2011        Steering Committee, Arts, Literature, and Religion Section, American Academy of Religion

2005        Co-Coordinator, 4th Annual Religion Graduate Symposium, Florida State University

2003        Steering Committee, 2nd Annual Religion Graduate Symposium, Florida State University

2002-2004        Student Liaison, American Academy of Religion

2001-2002        Steering Committee, Program in American and Florida Studies

UNIVERSITY SERVICE

2012        Moderator, Panel on Dialogue: A Conversation on Race and Religion, University of Tennessee

2011        Facilitator, Documentary, Dialogue: A Conversation on Race and Religion, University of Tennessee

2011-pres.        Interim Advisor, Muslim Student Association, University of Tennessee

2011-pres.        Advisor, Religious Studies Association, University of Tennessee

2011        Panelist, “Body as Canvas”, College of Communication and Information Diversity and Inclusion Week, University of Tennessee

2011        Moderator, Discussion with filmmaker Diana Saqeb, Religious Studies Association, University of Tennessee

2010        Moderator, “What is Religious (In)Tolerance?” Panel, Religious Studies Association, University of Tennessee

2010        Panelist, “Islamophobia: A Conversation”, Religious Studies Association, University of Tennessee

2007-2009        Religious Studies Committee, University of New Mexico

MEDIA APPEARANCES

2017        Interview, “White Nationalist Movement on the Rise,” MSNBC.

2017        Interview, “Lessons from Trump’s America,” The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow.

2017        Interview, “Baker on ‘The Good White People’ Problem,” The Chauncey DeVega Show.

2016         Op-ed, “White Collar Supremacy,” The New York Times.

2016        “Gospel According to the Klan–Kelly J. Baker,” Sowing the Seed.

2011        Interview, “FSU Alumna Discusses Pop Culture’s Favorite Monster,” Tallahassee

Democrat.

2011        Interview, “Zombie Craze Takes Over FSU Campus,” WXTL TV Local News, (ABC 27,

Tallahassee, FL).

2011        Interview, “Harold Camping’s October Prediction,” Volunteer TV Local 8 News

Special Report (WVLT, Knoxville CBS affiliate).

2011        Interview, “Extremism in America: The Modern Ku Klux Klan”, LIFE with Dr. Howard

Gluss, KFNX 1100 AM radio.

2010        Interview, “Religious Leaders Weigh In On the Signs of the End”, Volunteer TV Local

8 News Special Report (WVLT, Knoxville CBS affiliate).

2008        Interview, “Clicking with Jesus”, Baltimore Sun.

OTHER AWARDS, GRANTS, AND HONORS

1. Expert, SheSource, Women’s Media Center, 2017.
2. Mary Jo Small Fellow, Society for Values in Higher Education, 2012.
3. Graduate Research and Creativity Award, Florida State University, 2008.
4. Best New Blog 2007: Religion in American History, Cliopatria, 2008.
5. Golden Key Honor Society, 2007.
6. CUSHWA Center for the Study of American Catholicism Research Travel Grant, 2007.
7. Florida State University Dissertation Research Travel Grant, 2007.
8. Florida State University, Congress of Graduate Students Travel Grant, 2006.
9. International Who’s Who Historical Society, 2006.
10. Graduate Teaching Fellowship, Florida State University, 2004-2006.
11. Graduate Assistant Fellowship, Florida State University, 2002-2003.
12. Phi Beta Kappa, 2002.

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP

American Academy of Religion

American Historical Association

American Studies Association

American Society of Church History

North American Association for the Study of Religion

Organization of American Historians

Popular Culture Association

Southeast Commission for the Study of Religion (SECSOR)