Kristen Epps

Kristen Epps is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Kansas State University, specializing in slavery, the sectional conflict, and the Civil War in the West. She serves as editor of Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains and has taught at multiple institutions, including the University of Kansas and Colorado State University-Pueblo.

• Education
  • Ph.D., University of Kansas (2010)
  • M.A., The College of William and Mary
  • B.A., William Jewell College

Her research focuses on slavery's legal boundaries, reform movements, and intersections with religious and women's history. Her 2016 book, Slavery on the Periphery, examines the Kansas-Missouri border's role in pre-Civil War tensions.

Recent publications include analyses of habeas corpus, fugitive slave laws, and frontier settlement dynamics. She has held editorial positions at The Journal of the Civil War Era and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.

• Scientific Awards
  • Marnie and Bill Argersinger Graduate School Award (best dissertation, University of Kansas)

Kristen has offered courses on Civil War and Reconstruction, Kansas history, and African American history. She has held professional roles at the Kansas Historical Society and contributed to digital humanities projects.