Directory
More than anything, the Kinder Institute is a vibrant, diverse community of scholars who share not only an academic interest in rigorously unpacking the complex history of constitutional democracy in the U.S. and around the globe but also a commitment to collective inquiry. Both in the classroom and beyond it, our undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty learn both alongside and from one another, and they do so with the kind of civility and interdisciplinary curiosity that is essential to generating innovative scholarship and engaging in productive discourse.
You can contact the Kinder Institute front desk with questions at, (573) 882-3330. For questions specifically regarding undergraduate programs, contact Dr. Thomas Kane, Director of Undergraduate Studies, at KaneTC@missouri.edu.
Use the tabs below to meet the people who make up the Kinder Institute.
Michael Limmer

Michael Limmer
Graduate Fellows,
Kinder Institute Missouri Scholars Academy Graduate Fellow, michaelblimmer@missouri.edu
Michael B. Limmer is the Missouri Scholars Academy Graduate Fellow at the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy and a PhD candidate in History at the University of Missouri. He received his MA in History from the University of Missouri, a BA in Historical Studies from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and an AA from St. Louis Community College. Before joining the Kinder Institute, he was a graduate fellow in the Peace Studies Department. His dissertation examines how American soldiers, diplomats, and emigrants in Italy during and after the Second World War shaped understandings of American postwar globalism and militarism. He is the author of “‘Seen Through GI Eyes’: American Soldiers’ Travel Narratives in Occupied Italy and Sicily,” published in the journal Occupied Italy.
Mackenzie Tor

Mackenzie Tor
Graduate Fellows,
PhD Fellow, mltmq5@umsystem.edu
Mackenzie Tor is a PhD Candidate in History at the University of Missouri and a PhD Fellow at the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy. She received her BA in History & Italian from Providence College and her MA in History from Mizzou. Her dissertation, “Spirited Struggles: The Black Temperance Movement in Nineteenth-Century America,” examines how African American men and women entwined their promotion of sobriety with their campaigns for abolition, equal rights, and citizenship during the long nineteenth century. Her research has appeared in the Journal of the Early Republic and has been supported by the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, the American Antiquarian Society, the New England Regional Fellowship Consortium, and the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy. When not hard at work, Mackenzie enjoys reading, crafting, practicing yoga, and cheering on her favorite Boston sports teams.
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