She earned her Ph.D. in History and the Humanities from Stanford University in 2008. She was an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities at Yale University from 2008–2010 and joined the UNCG Department of History in 2010. Emily is currently on research leave at the National Humanities Center, but will continue her work with HNAC upon her return in the fall of 2018.