Office 316 Tolley Hall Syracuse University Syracuse NY 13244 Home 304 Scottholm Terrace NY 13224 kellen.backer@gmail.com (608) 469-3894 Education Ph.D., 2012, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Joint degree in Department of History and Department of the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology. Dissertation: World War II and the Triumph of Industrialized Food. Committee: Susan Johnson and Eric Schatzberg, co-chairs; William Cronon, Susan Lederer, and Ronald Numbers, members. Preliminary examination fields in the history of technology, history of science and medicine in the U.S., twentieth-century U.S. history, and U.S. social history. M.A., 2005, University of Wisconsin-Madison. History of Science. B.A., 2003, Rice University. History and Mathematics. Publications and Exhibitions Scholarly Publications: Food Will Win the War and Write the Peace : World War II and the Making of an American Industrial Food System, (Monograph in Progress). Quick to Freeze, Long to Succeed: The Turbulent Rise of the American Frozen Food Industry, (Article in Progress). When Meals Became Weapons: American Food in World War II, in The Nature of War: American Environments and World War II, ed. Tom Robertson and Richard Tucker (forthcoming, 2017).
!2 Food and War, in The Routledge History of American Foodways, ed. Jennifer Jensen Wallach, Lindsey R. Swindall, and Michael D. Wise (Routledge, 2016). Constructing Borderless Foods: The Quartermaster Corps, American Foods, and World War II Army Subsistence, in Food Across Borders: Production, Consumption, and Boundary Crossing in North America, ed. Don Mitchell, Melanie DuPuis, and Matt Garcia. (Rutgers University Press, forthcoming). Shaping a Celluloid World, Curated Exhibition at the Palitz Gallery, New York, NY, June 2014. Review of Cultivating Victory: The Women s Land Army and the Victory Garden Movement, by Cecilia Gowdy-Wygant, Agricultural History, 85 (2015): 121-122. Co-Written Review with Ted Endreny of Fields and Streams: Stream Restoration, Neoliberalism, and the Future of Environmental Science, by Rebecca Lave, Ecological Restoration, 31 (2013): 339-340. Review of Of Sugar and Snow: A History of Ice Cream Making, by Jeri Quinzio, Enterprise and Society, 12 (2011): 453-455. Popular Publications: Brunch in Historical Perspective, Refinery 29 (May 8, 2015) Grants, Fellowships, and Awards Selected Symposium Participant, Food Across Borders: Production, Consumption, and Boundary Crossing in North America cosponsored by William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University and Comparative Borders Studies Program at Arizona State University. Met September 2014, Taos, NM and February 2015, Phoenix. David and Greta Lindberg Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowship, Department of the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2010. Finalist, University of Wisconsin-Madison Capstone Ph.D. Teaching Award, Nominated by the Department of the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, 2010. Also Nominated 2011. Integrated Liberal Studies Teaching Award, Integrated Liberal Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2009.
!3 Finalist, College of Letters and Sciences Teaching Fellow, University of Wisconsin- Madison. Nominated by the Department of the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, 2010. Finalist, College of Letters and Sciences Teaching Fellow, University of Wisconsin- Madison. Nominated by the Integrated Liberal Studies Program, 2009. Teaching Fields History of Science, Medicine, and Technology Environmental History U.S. Social and Cultural History U.S. History since 1865 Teaching Experience Faculty Fellow in the Humanities, Syracuse University, Fall 2015-present. Part-Time Assistant Professor, Critical Issues for the United States, The Maxwell School, Syracuse University, Fall 2012 through Spring 2015 and Spring 2016. Part-Time Assistant Professor, Science and Technology in the Modern World, The Maxwell School, Syracuse University, Fall 2014. Part-Time Assistant Professor, Introduction to Writing, centered on the theme of technology, Le Moyne College, Fall 2013. Instructor, Critical Issues for the United States, The Maxwell School, Syracuse University, Fall 2011 and Spring 2012. Teaching Assistant, Technology and Social Change in History, Department of the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Spring 2010 and Spring 2011. Teaching Assistant, Western Culture: Science, Technology, Philosophy II, Integrated Liberal Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Spring 2008 and Spring 2009. Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Global Cultures, Integrated Liberal Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Fall 2008 and Fall 2009. Instructor, Nanotechnology and Society, Program in Science and Technology Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Spring 2006.
!4 Teaching Assistant, Western Culture: Science, Technology, Philosophy I, Integrated Liberal Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Fall 2004, Fall 2006, and Fall 2007. Academic Work Experience Project Assistant, Initiative on Nanotechnology and Society, University of Wisconsin- Madison, Fall 2005. Developed a course on the social implications of nanotechnology. Project Assistant, Initiative on Nanotechnology and Society, University of Wisconsin- Madison, Spring 2005. Researched and wrote a paper on the history of nanotechnology in popular culture (presented at Society for the Social Studies of Science, 2005). Presentations Workshop Papers Constructing Borderless Foods: The Quartermaster Corps, American Foods, and World War II Army Subsistence, for Food Across Borders: Production, Consumption, and Boundary Crossing in North America cosponsored by William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University and Comparative Borders Studies Program at Arizona State University. Met September 2014, Taos, NM and February 2015, Phoenix. Food Systems at War: Canned and Frozen Food Production in World War II, for Workshop for the History of the Environment, Agriculture, Technology, and Science, Mississippi State University, October 2-4, 2009. Conference Presentations Food Will Write the Peace: Demobilization, Agriculture, and the Enduring Legacy of World War II, Agricultural History Society Annual Meeting, New York City and Briarcliff Manor, June 25, 2016. Borders and the Limits of Logistics and Standardization: The Quartermaster Corps and Food Provisioning in World War II, American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, San Francisco, March 2, 2016. Procuring Uniformity: The Quartermaster Corps, Standardization, and the Mass- Production of American Food in World War II, Society for of the History of Technology Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 10, 2015.
!5 Rationalizing Food: World War II Rations and the Making of American Food, Society for of the History of Technology Annual Conference, Tacoma, Washington, October 1, 2010. Food Goes to War: Farmers, Food Processors, and Industrialized Food in World War II, Agricultural History Society Annual Conference, Winter Park, Florida, June 10, 2010. Food Goes to War: U.S. Food Processors in World War II, Graduate Student Symposium at the Center for Culture, History, and Environment, University of Wisconsin-Madison, April 4, 2009. Using Science Fiction to Teach About the Societal Implications of Technology, WisCon, Feminist Science Fiction Conference, Madison, Wisconsin, May 28, 2006. Gray Goo Run Amok: The History of Fears of Nanotechnology in the U.S., Society for the Social Studies of Science Annual Conference, Pasadena, California, October 21, 2005. Invited Presentations Food Systems at War: Canned and Frozen Food Production During World War II, Public Lecture at University of Wisconsin-Madison in conjunction with the Go Big Read Initiative, November 19, 2009. Gray Goo Run Amok: The History of Fears of Nanotechnology in the U.S., Lecture for the Seminar Series in Public Policy, Science, and Democracy, University of Wisconsin- Madison, November 9, 2005. Chaired Panels Why is all Conservation Trans-situ? (Or Conservation as Dance), Agricultural History Society Annual Meeting, New York City and Briarcliff Manor, June 25, 2016. Organized Panels Constructing Foods and Creating Tastes: Histories of Foods in Transnational Perspectives, Society for of the History of Technology Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 10, 2015. Consuming Expertise: Experts' Role in Shaping Food Production and Consumption in Global Contexts, Society for of the History of Technology Annual Conference, Tacoma, Washington, October 1, 2010. Workshops
!6 Discussant, Workshop for the History of the Environment, Agriculture, Technology, and Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, October 8-10, 2010. Informal Presentations CSIence 101: What Forensic Dramas Teach Us About Science, Medicine, and Technology, Brown Bag Presentation, Department of the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, March 19, 2010. World War II and the Creation of American Food," Brown Bag Presentation, Department of the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, February 2, 2007. Food Forum, Brown Bag Presentation, Department of the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, December 1, 2006. Service Postdocs: How to Get One, What to Expect, Syracuse University Future Professoriate Program Annual Conference, White Eagle Conference Center, Hamilton, NY May 19-20, 2016. Co-Convener, Envirotech, a Special Interest Group of the Society for the History of Technology and the American Society for Environmental History, 2014-present. Duties include fundraising, running meetings, managing a listserv, organizing and participating in book prize and article prize committees. Lower Division Academic Advisor, Syracuse University, 2013-2015. Summer Faculty Advisor, Syracuse University, 2013. SummerStart Seminar Instructor, Syracuse University, 2013. Book Selection Committee Member, Go Big Read Initiative, University of Wisconsin- Madison Common Book Project, Spring 2011. Planning Committee Member, Workshop for the History of Environment, Agriculture, Technology, and Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, October 8-10, 2010. Discussion Facilitator, The Go Big Read Initiative, University of Wisconsin-Madison Common Book project based on Michael Pollan s In Defense of Food, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Fall 2009 and Spring 2010.
!7 Presentations given to Department of the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology on topics including teaching, preliminary exams, Ph.D. minors, joint Ph.D.s, and the role of conferences in academia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2006-2010. Panelist, New Student Welcome in the College of Letters of Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, August 25, 2010. Presentation to incoming graduate students in the Department of History on succeeding in graduate school, University of Wisconsin-Madison, September 10, 2007. Member, Graduate Student Advisory Committee to the Ambrose-Hesseltine Military History Search Committee, Department of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2007. Visiting Student Housing Coordinator, Department of the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2005-06. Organizer, History of Science Journal Club, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2006. Organizer, Food History Reading Group, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2005. Participant, Department of History of Science, Medicine, and Technology Teaching Forum, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2004.