Rebecca Scofield is an associate professor of American history, specializing in gender and sexuality in the US West. Born and raised in Emmett, Idaho, she is interested in how people enact popular ideas about the West in their everyday lives. Her work bridges academic and public-facing projects as she collaborates to bring history to life through theater, web exhibits, and podcasts. She is currently working on the Gay Rodeo Oral History Project, gathering vital information about how gay men and women have built a vibrant community and experienced rodeo over the past forty years. Her other work includes country-western icons like Dolly Parton and practices like mechanical bull riding. Building off her first book project, Outriders: Rodeo at the Fringes of the America West (Univ. of Washington Press, 2019), her co-authored second book entitled Slapping Leather: Sport and Performance at the Gay Rodeo was released in 2023.
- American studies program.
- History of gender and sexuality in the American West
- With Elyssa Ford, Slapping Leather: Sport and Performance at the Gay Rodeo (Seattle: University of Washington Press, Forthcoming 2023).
- “Ain’t Nothin’ Free: Earning an Education at the Houston Junior Market Steer Auction.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 126, no. 4 (April 2023): 494-516.
- “Violence and Social Salvation at the Texas Prison Rodeo.” Journal of American Studies 54, no. 1 (February 2020): 105-130.
- With Katherine Aiken, "Balance Act: Idaho's Campaign got Woman Suffrage," Western Legal History 30, no. 1 & 2 (2019): 33-44
- Outriders: Rodeo at the Fringes of the American West (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019)
- "Chaps and Scowls': Play, Violence, and the post-1970s Urban Cowboy." The Journal of American Culture 40, no. 4 (December 2017): 325-340.
- "Nipped, Tucked, or Sucked': Dolly Parton and the Construction of the Authentic Body." Journal of Popular Culture 49, no. 3 (2016), 660-677
- "Nailed It: Producing and Consuming In Tokyo's Nail Industry. In Fashioning the Global City," ed. Claudia Brazzale. Special Issue, Streetnotes 20 (2012): 111-133.
- The Virginia Wolf Distinguished Service Award for Faculty, Women's Center, University of Idaho, 2023
- Idaho Humanities Council Major Programs Grant, PI, “CLASS Social Change Speaker Series,” 2022
- Humanities Fellow, College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences, University of Idaho, 2021
- Presidential Research Fund on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Grant, University of Idaho, 2021
- Hoffman Award in Teaching Excellence, University of Idaho, 2019
- Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship, 2019-2020
- Digital Scholarship Fellow, UI Center for Digital Learning and Inquiry, 2018
- Seed Grant, University of Idaho, 2016-2017
- Merit Fellow, Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Spring 2015
- Research Seed Grant, Center for American Political Studies, Spring 2015
- Research Fellow, Charles Warren Center for the Study of American History, Fall 2014
- Research Grant, The Open Gate, The Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus, Fall 2014
- Distinction in Teaching Award, Bok Center, Harvard University, Spring 2014
- Visiting Fellow, the Autry National Center of the American West, 2013
- Jacob K. Javits Fellow, 2010-2014