She is a journalism historian who studies the African American press in the West and representations of race, ethnicity, and gender in newspapers published during the nineteenth century. Her book about Beatrice Morrow Cannady, a civil rights activist who lived in Portland from 1912 until 1936, will be published in 2010 by Oregon State University Press. Dr. Mangun has had other articles published in Oregon Historical Quarterly, Pacific Northwest Quarterly, and American Journalism. She received her doctorate from the University of Oregon.