Michael J. Durfee _______________________________________
155 Cleveland Ave., Buffalo, NY 14222, (716) 208-6273
EMPLOYMENT
Niagara University, 2012-Present
Full-Time Faculty, History Department
State University of New York at Buffalo, 2008-2012
Teaching Assistant, History Department
Niagara University, Fall 2011, Summer 2013
Adjunct Instructor, United States in the Contemporary World
State University of New York at Buffalo, Spring 2011, Summer 2012
Adjunct Instructor, U.S. History II, Twentieth Century Urban History
Rochester Institute of Technology, Fall 2010
Adjunct Instructor, Twentieth Century Urban History
Daemen College, Spring 2010
Adjunct Instructor, Twentieth Century Urban History
Leadership and Public Service High School @ Garinger, Charlotte, North Carolina, 2007-2008
Secondary Social Studies Teacher
EDUCATION
State University of New York at Buffalo, PhD candidate (A.B.D.)
State University of New York at Buffalo, M.A. in History - 2010
Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon, M.A. in Teaching - July 2007
State University of New York at Buffalo B.A. in History - June 2006
TEACHING
U.S. History
U.S. History I and II, Undergraduate
America in the Contemporary World, Undergraduate
Urban History/Carceral
Studies
Origins of the Urban Crisis, Undergraduate
The War on Drugs and Mass Incarceration, Undergraduate
The Crack Era in Context, Undergraduate
African American History
Rise of Black America, Undergraduate
The Long Civil Rights Movement, Undergraduate
Research Seminar
Introduction to Research, Undergraduate
World History
World Civilizations I and II, Undergraduate
Michael J. Durfee_______________________________________
155 Cleveland Ave., Buffalo, NY 14222, (716) 208-6273
ACADEMIC CONFERENCES/PRESENTATIONS
2009 – “The Devil and Len Bias” - SUNY Buffalo Milton Plesur Graduate History Conference –
Buffalo, NY - Presenter
June 26, 2011 – “The Devil and Len Bias: The Cultural Mechanics of the 1986 Crack Panic” - The
Pub, The Street, and the Medicine Cabinet – Alcohol and Drugs History Society – Buffalo, NY Presenter and Conference Coordinator
October 27, 2012 – “ ‘Taking Back the Streets of America’: Black-lash and the Origins of Crack
Era Reform” - The Cosmopolitan Metropolis – Urban History Association – New York City, NY –
Presenter
January 25, 2013 – “Rethinking Affirmative Action” - Martin Luther King Jr. Week Speaker Series
– Niagara University Multicultural Center – Niagara University, NY – Presenter
February 2, 2013 – “Degrees of Freedom: Unpacking the Emancipation Proclamation” - Black
History Month Exhibit – Niagara Power Vista – Lewiston, NY – Presenter
February 23, 2013 – “The Reverend Wendell Foster’s Holy War on Drugs” - Deviants, Taboos,
and Unmentionables – University of Rochester Fourth Annual Graduate Conference – Rochester,
NY – Presenter
April 20, 2013 – “ ‘Taking Back the Streets of America’: Black-lash and the Origins of Crack Era
Reform” - New York State Political Science Association 2013 Annual Conference – Syracuse, NY
– Presenter
May 11, 2013 – “A Grassroots War on Drugs: Black-lash in the Bronx” - The American Racial
State in the Long Twentieth Century – University of Michigan Graduate Student Conference – Ann
Arbor, MI - Presenter
June 22, 2013 – “The Fire Below: Grassroots Drug Reform in the Crack Era” - Under Control?
Alcohol and Drug Regulation, Past and Present – Alcohol and Drugs History Society – London,
UK – Presenter
November 23, 2013 – “ ‘Taking Back the Streets of America’: Black-lash and the Origins of Crack
Era Reform” – Organizing Powers - Social Science History Association – Chicago, IL – Presenter
October 11, 2014 – “Condemning Crack, Condemning Crime, Condemning Ourselves: Crack Era
Reform From the Grassroots to Washington” – Urban History Association – Philadelphia, PA –
Presenter
November 6, 2014 – “48 Hours On Crack Street: How TV News and Congressional Politics
Obstructed Grassroots Organizing – Inequalities: Politics, Policy, and the Past - Social Science
History Association – Toronto, ON – Presenter
January 2, 2015 – “The Boogie-Down Bronx Goes to Washington: Writing the Grassroots Out of
Crack Era Reform” - History and Other Disciplines – American Historical Association – New
York City, New York – Presenter
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Contributing Editor – Points: The Blog of the Alcohol and Drug History Society
American Historical Association
Urban History Association
Alcohol and Drugs History Society
Social Science History Association
GRANTS AND AWARDS
NYS Council for the Humanities – Community Conversations grant - Democracy
The College Committee on Teaching and Learning Grant, 2013 – Niagara University CCTL – “Living and
Breathing Historical Contingency”
College of Arts and Sciences Diversity Grant, 2013 – Niagara University Diversity Committee – “The New
Jim Crow? The Modern War on Drugs and Mass Incarceration”
SERVICE
Conference Coordinator – The Pub, The Street, and the Medicine Cabinet – Alcohol and Drugs
History Society – June, 2011 - Buffalo, NY.
Student Recruitment and Retention – Niagara University – 2014
AP Reader – U.S. History - 2014
mjdurfee@buffalo.edu & mdurfee@niagara.edu