Professional Life

Professional Experience

Texas General Land Office, April 2005 – Present

  • Director of Public Services, Archives and Records, 2010 – Present
    • Manage a budget of $1.8 million
    • Manage a diverse, 11-person staff
    • Develop and implement all policies related to the Public Services Division of the Archives and Records Program Area
    • Manage all aspects of customer service of the Archives and Records Program Area
    • Brand manager for Save Texas History program and Texas Hidden History
    • Event planning and coordinating:
    • Actively partner with Education and Research staff, and senior leaders in the development and implementation of educational, collections, and exhibit programs and initiatives.
    • Develop all components of public outreach; Coordinate speeches, presentations, workshops, exhibitions, vendor booths, public outreach, etc.
    • Manage all aspects of Social Media for Texas General Land Office Archives and Records and Save Texas History program (Facebook.com/savetxhistory, Twitter.com/savetxhistory, Medium.com [Regular contributor to Texas General Land Office blog])
    • Lead Curator for several major exhibitions across Texas
    • Cultivate relationships and pursue donations of archival material, as well as monetary donations
    • Identify and manage all grant activity
    • Develop and implement acquisitions/collecting policies and procedures and manage acquisitions budget
    • Overseeing timely registration, cataloging, and digitization; and implementing and updating processes as necessary.
    • Establish and administer departmental policies, procedures, and workflows to assure timely and orderly processing and management of gifts, collections, cataloging, and record keeping.
    • Manage public access to the collections and oversee licensing of all materials by responding to requests from the public, staff, and other institutions for information.
    • Work on cross-divisional teams to provide an excellent product/experience for GLO visitors and archival users

Additional Professional Archival Experience

Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas – Austin, Processing Intern, Fall 2014

  • Fully processed a collection of 16 cubic feet – The Juan Manuel Escobar Papers
  • Wrote an extensive appraisal report and processing plan for the collection
  • Performed basic preservation work (on papers, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks etc)
  • Wrote a DACS compliant finding aid
  • Encoded finding aid in EAD/XML
  • Finding aid available on repository website/TARO – coming soon

 Special Skills & Expertise

  • Excellent customer service
  • Excellent team builder and team player
  • Excellent public speaker
  • Effective communicator, both written and verbal
  • Technology Skills
    • General Computing: PC hardware and installation
    • XML Authoring Software: EditiX
    • Purchasing Software: BuySpeed Online
    • Cascade Server Online Management
    • DocuShare
    • WordPress Blog (www.harkives.com)
  • Special Archival Knowledge and Skills
    • Encoded Archival Description (EAD)
    • Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)
    • More Product, Less Process (MPLP)
    • Library Thing
    • Archivist Toolkit
  • Areas of Expertise
    • Texas history
    • Land development in Texas
    • Cartographic history
    • Customer Service
    • Team building and management

 Educational Experience

University of Texas – Austin

  • School of Information (iSchool) Master’s Program
    • 2014-2015

Texas State University-San Marcos

  • Masters in Public Administration, Fall 2010
  • B.A. in Communications, Fall 2005
    • Major – Public Relations
    • Minor – Business Administration
  • Scholarships
    • Recipient of Associated Student Government Scholarship, May 2009
    • Recipient of Gas & Liquid Distribution Association Scholarship, 2003; 2005; 2008

 Professional Associations & Memberships

  • Society of American Archivists (SAA), June 2014 – present
  • Society of Southwest Archivists (SSA), July 2011 – present
  • Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), November 2010 – present
  • German-Texan Heritage Society (GTHS), November 2009 – present
  • Texas Map Society (TMS), 2009
    • Member, 2009 – Present
    • Web Master, 2016 – Present
  • Dale Carnegie Leadership Training for Managers Graduate, Spring of 2012
  • Texas State University Masters of Public Administration Advisory Board, April 2010 – March 2012
  • American Society of Public Administrators (ASPA), November 2010 – present
    • Editor of Centex ASPA Newsletter, November 2010 – November 2011
  • Texas State Alumni Association, April 2007 – Present
  • Young Nonprofit Professionals Network, April 2007 – Present
  • Member of Young Austin Professionals Network, August 2006 – Present
  • National Broadcasting Society, August 2003 –August 2004
    • Vice President

Certifications & Awards

  • Larry McNeill Research Fellowship in Texas Legal History, Texas State Historical Association, 2020
  • James W. McGrew Research Award from the American Society For Public Administrators (ASPA), Spring 2011
  • Academy of Certified Archivists (ACA)
    • Certified Archivist, Fall 2011
  • Texas Alcohol and Beverage Certification, 2003-Present

Public Presentations

Television Appearances

Newspaper and Magazine Clippings

Radio Interviews

Public Presentations

  • Reinforcing the Alamo: From Travis to Genesis and the Plan to Save Texas History, Commentator, Texas State Historical Association Annual Meeting (2019)
  • Incorporating Tejano History into Texas History (Chaired by Walter Buenger, TSHA Chief Historian, and Life Board Member), Mexican American History Symposium (April 2016)
  • The Other Side of the Texas Archives War: Perspectives from the Texas General Land Office
    • Central Texas Historical Association (April 2016)
    • Texas State Historical Association (March 2015)
    • Austin History Center Association Angelina Eberly Luncheon (Summer 2015)
  • Historical and Genealogical Resources of the Texas General Land Office
    • Federation of Genealogical Societies (August 30, 2014)
    • Texas Library Association (April 9, 2014)
    • Texas State Genealogical Society (November 2011, 2012)
    • Over 30 Presentations across Texas to various genealogical and historical societies
  • Land Surveying Resources of the Texas General Land Office Archives and Records
    • Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Annual Surveying Conference (April 2, 2014)
    • Texas Society of Professional Surveyors (November 2012)
  • Online Resources of the Texas General Land Office Archives and Records
    • Texas State Genealogical Society (October 2013)
    • Texas Society of Professional Surveyors (November 2012)
  • German-Texan Genealogical Resources of the Texas General Land Office
    • Angelina College Genealogy Conference (July 2013 & 2014)
  • The Spanish Collection of the Texas General Land Office
    • Angelina College Genealogy Conference (July 2013 & 2014)

 Volunteer Work

  • Jerry Patterson Lieutenant Governor Campaign Volunteer, 2014
  • Member of Team GLO Bike Team for MS150, April 2011 – present
    • Support Crew since 2013
    • Developed/organized a three-year co-ed softball tournament for state employees
      • Raised $50,000, with 100% of the money going to Multiple Sclerosis Society-Lone Star Chapter
  • State Employee Charitable Campaign (SECC), 2005-present
  •  Volunteer with Bobcat Build, Spring 2003 – 2006
  •  Habitat for Humanity volunteer, September 2000-2006
  •  Project: Help Houston, September 2001-2006

 Additional Work Experience

  • Champion’s Bar & Grill, Austin, TX, October 2007 – July 2009
    • Certified Trainer for servers and bartenders
    • Won multiple customer service awards
    • Hit regular benchmarks for sales
  • Joe’s Crab Shack, San Marcos, TX, April 2003 – August 2006
    • Certified Trainer for servers and bartenders
    • Supervised 15 employees
    • Won multiple customer service awards
    • Hit regular benchmarks for sales
  • Kinsmen Lutheran Church, Houston, TX, May 2003 – August 2003
    • Camp Manager/Summer Intern
    • Supervised 35 employees
    • Coordinated schedules of over 150 camp attendees, aged 1st Grade-8th Grade
  • KTSW Radio Station, San Marcos, TX, January 2003 – August 2004
    • Show Producer/On-Air Talent  
    • Voted top radio show on KTSW for multiple months (February & March, 2004)   
  • Stephen F. Austin State University Admissions, Nacogdoches, TX, January 2002 – December 2002
    • Admissions Assistant
    • Conducted tours for potential incoming students
    • Regular clerical/administrative duties
  • Randall’s Grocery Store, Houston, TX, April 1999 – January 2003
    • Service Manager
    • Supervised 20 employees
    • Won multiple customer service awards

Leave a comment