Amanda Taylor-Montoya received her B.A. in History from the University of New Mexico in 1999 and came to the University of Oklahoma two years later to study western history.  Her M.A., which she earned in 2003, explored the collision of Hispanic and Anglo property systems in the Southwest by focusing on local responses to the imposition of federal conservation policy through the creation of the first forest reserves in northern New Mexico in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.  She is now ABD and finishing a dissertation on race, citizenship, and land tenure in territorial New Mexico.  In addition to giving papers at regional conferences like Phi Alpha Theta and the Mid-America History Conference, Ms. Taylor-Montoya presented her research at the annual meeting of the Western History Association in 2005 and 2007.  She currently serves on the steering committee of the Coalition for Western Women’s History.  Ms. Taylor-Montoya has taught a number of courses including the post-Civil War survey of U.S. History and upper division courses on “Women in the American West,” and “American Frontiers Since 1828.”  In addition to her teaching for the History Department, Ms. Taylor-Montoya has also offered a first-year seminar for the Department of Freshman Programs.