Michelle Jolly

Michelle Jolly is a Professor at Sonoma State University's Department of History, specializing in American social and political history, California/Western history, and women's history. She teaches courses on 16th-19th century U.S. history, California history, and women's history. Her research focuses on gender, politics, and media in gold-rush San Francisco, including award-winning work recognized by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. She directs the Sonoma County Women's Oral History Project (1970-1990), supported by a California Council for the Humanities grant. She also collaborates with K-12 educators through U.S. Department of Education-funded Teaching American History projects.

• PhD: University of California, San Diego

Her research interests emphasize intersections of gender, politics, and media in 19th-century urban contexts. Recent projects include oral histories documenting the Sonoma County women's movement and pedagogical initiatives bridging university and K-12 history education. Her publications explore themes like vigilantism, press dynamics, and social movements in San Francisco's formative years.

Her scholarship has earned the 2005 Catherine Covert Award for Mass Communication History. She actively engages in community-based research, leveraging grants to document underrepresented histories and improve history education outreach.