Sara Rzeszutek Haviland earned her PhD in US history from Rutgers University in 2009. She has been an assistant professor of history at St. Francis College in Brooklyn since 2011. Her teaching and research interests focus on the intersections of politics and social movements in the United States. Her current project explores how the Cold War influenced the personal and family lives of black Communists and, in turn, shaped the course of the civil rights movement. Her interest in the Tuning Project comes from her current work with Dr. Eric Platt to revise the St. Francis history curriculum so that it reflects the diversity of the student body, takes full advantage of the abundant historical and cultural resources in Brooklyn, and produces majors who can articulate the benefits of a history degree and apply it to their careers and community lives.