Jim has a BA in Anthropology from Illinois State University and an MA in Latin American Studies from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where he received two academic-year FLAS Fellowships and a Tinker Foundation Fellowship to support his studies and research.
At the University of Pittsburgh, he has continued to study Latin American history generally and Brazilian history specifically. His current research revolves around the history of pleasure and leisure in Brazil during the 20th century. In addition to Latin American history, Jim also specializes in the History of Gender & Sexuality and World History. He has been a Teaching Assistant for HIST 700: World History and for HIST 1760: Drugs in Global History. While at Pitt, he has also obtained an Arts and Sciences Fellowship and the World History Center Fellowship.
Jim received a Social Science Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship for the 2022-2023 academic year and is currently in Brazil conducting research.