About Me

Liz Skilton is the Associate Director of Research at the Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Public Policy Center and an Associate Professor of History at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She also holds the J.J. Burdin M.D. and Helen B. Burdin/Board of Regents Endowed Professorship in Louisiana Studies. Skilton specializes in the history of disaster and human response to it. With expertise in Louisiana, environmental, and hazards history, in addition to qualitative research methods training, she has ample experience with a variety of different types of grant projects and research programs. Her grant-funded research is highly interdisciplinary and collaborative as her community-based projects are geared at assessing the impact and assisting communities in recovery from crises in Louisiana and the Gulf South. For this reason, her research has been funded by a variety of organizations including federal (National Science Foundation & National Endowment for the Humanities), state (Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, Louisiana SeaGrant, and Louisiana BORSF), and local and community organizations, and featured in venues like National Geographic and The Washington Post.

Skilton received her Ph.D. in History from Tulane University in 2013, an M.A. in History from Tulane University in 2010, and B.A. in both History and Sociology from Case Western Reserve University in 2007. In addition to her role as Associate Director of Research at the Blanco Center, she teaches classes in Louisiana, environmental, and hazards history as an Associate Professor of History in the Department of History, Geography, and Philosophy. She also serves as part of the research faculty at the Guilbeau Center for Public History, Institute for Coastal & Water Research (ICaWR), the Louisiana Watershed Flood Center, and the Center for Louisiana Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and as part of grant research teams studying the impact of disaster on Louisiana.

In addition to publications such as journal articles, podcasts, exhibits, Skilton is author of the book, Tempest: Hurricane Naming & American Culture (LSU Press, 2019); co-editor of Rethinking American Disasters (LSU Press, 2023); and co-author of the textbook, The Louisiana Experience (2016).

To view some of Skilton's most recent work, check out the links below, or view her ORCID page here.

Publications to Note:

Tempest: Hurricane Naming and American Culture

Book, LSU Press, released June 1, 2019. (Available here)

Rethinking American Disasters

Book, Co-Edited with Cynthia A. Kierner and Matthew Mulcahy, LSU Press, Released April 2023. (Available here)

“Disasters Have Histories”: Teaching And Researching American Disasters

Co-Authored Article, The American Historian, February 2018. (Available here)

Gendering Natural Disaster: The Battle Over Female Hurricane Names

Article, Journal of Women’s History, Fall 2018. (Available here)

History Lost? Saving Louisiana’s Archival Heritage Workshop Report and Recommendations for Future Actions

Co-Authored Report, Louisiana History, Fall 2018. (Available here)