Professor Stang a historian of U.S. public amusement and popular culture. In particular, their research, writing, and teaching explore how mass entertainment both refracts mass fear. While at Randolph, they will be working on their first book manuscript: a comprehensive history of the U.S. haunted house attraction industry and Halloween’s role in the intersecting histories of policing, secularization, and political violence from the early 20th century to the present.

In the classroom, Professor Stang encourages students to look twice at everyday entertainments—what we watch, where we shop, who we follow—and asks how students’ beliefs shape the way they engage with American culture and its history.

Off campus, you can usually find Professor Stang thrifting, watching movies, swimming laps, hunting down good food, or playing tabletop games. They proudly hold the title of second-favorite human to a pack of extremely fussy felines, who are far more devoted to Professor Stang’s spouse, Shane, because Shane doles out the kibble. In the summer, Professor Stang is either galavanting around theme parks, spelunking in archives, or finally catching up on all the novels they purchased yet failed to read during the school year.