Carrissa Anderson

Profile

I earned my Bachelor’s of Arts in History at the University of California, Santa Cruz, during which time I spent a year abroad at the University of East Anglia. I then earned my Master’s of Arts degree, also in History, at Howard University. I have four years of teaching experience at San Joaquin Delta Community College in Stockton, California in addition to recent courses at the University of Leeds and the University of York.   

Awards

GTA Teaching Award, University of York – July 2024

Research Assistance Award, British Association for American Studies (BAAS) – March 2024

Research Grant – Truman Presidential Library – November 2023

Papers

‘Operation STAGE (1951-1957)’ – National Intelligence History Conference (NIHC), Bletchley Park (November 2024)

’The Planning and Execution of Operation STAGE’ – Scottish Association for the Study of America (SASA) 25^th Annual Conference (March 2024)

‘How to Prepare for an Invasion – The FBI and “Operation STAGE” – PGR Seminar Series, University of Leeds (January 2024)

’Western European Stay Behind Networks and the Alaska Program’ – PGR Seminar Series, University of Leeds (May 2023)

Organized Events

’Secret Histories’ Conference, University of Leeds – September 2024

2^nd Annual ‘Bake Your Research’ Charity Sale, University of Leeds School of History – November 2023

Research interests

My research focuses on US intelligence communities during the 1950s within the context of ‘stay behind’ programs against Soviet Invasion. Specifically, I aim to contextualize the FBI’s “Stay-Behind” and “Escape and Evasion” programs in Alaska (1950–1957) within the greater scholarship of stay behind programs that have mainly focused since the early 1990s on Western European clandestine networks. I will also link these programs to the growing powers of intelligence communities during the early Cold War through their relationships with presidential administrations, the militarization of Alaska as part of the United States’ national defense policy and how that contributed to its statehood in 1959, and the United States Air Force’s assumed responsibility over the program early on and the perceived threat of a Soviet aerial invasion. 

This research is generally linked to the following fields:

• Alaskan History
• United States history
• The Cold War
• Military history
• United States intelligence
• US Presidents 
• NATO
• US-Canada Relations  

I welcome correspondence and avenues for collaboration on any of these topics.

Organizations

British Association for American Studies (BAAS)

Royal Historical Society

Phi Alpha Theta 

Qualifications

• Howard University (MA - History)
• University of California, Santa Cruz (BA - History)