Lucas Bensley

I am a driven professional with several years of working experience in education, non-profit office environments, and the service industry. I am passionate about sharing knowledge and developing professional skills and development in team-based projects that are best served by communication and coordination. At present, I am pursuing a career in education, non-profit work or the public humanities, but I am open to also following opportunities that utilize my professional skills towards different fields.

• Daring Dames and Dirty Deeds: Chicago Burlesque in the early 20th Century, Conference Paper, Loyola University, Spring 2020
• Parks and Occupation: Public Spaces as Sites of Municipal Authority and Objects of Community Politics in Contemporary Chicago, 1968-1989, Master's Thesis, University of Chicago, 06/01/17
• Women Are Always in Someone Else's Territory: A History of the Anti-Rape Movement in 1970s Chicago, Conference Presentation, 2019 HGSA Conference, Loyola University, Chicago
• Suffer Not the Rain: The 1916 Suffrage Parade in Chicago, Project, Suffrage Illinois 2020-Evanston Women's History Project
• Daring Dames and Dirty Deeds: Burlesque and Censorship Politics in Chicago, 1850-1970, Dissertation, Loyola University, 04/01/24

My research in my postgraduate studies has chiefly concerned American urban history in the 20th century - particularly, in Chicago. My Master's Thesis, 'Parks and Occupation,' concerned race, public politics, and spatial analysis in Chicago from the Vietnam era into the present. My current research at Loyola, by contrast, focuses on the history of adult entertainment and censorship in Chicago in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This research investigates issues related to gender and sexuality in the public sphere, labor and leisure in Chicago, and changes in cultural standards of entertainment, beauty and morality politics.

Outside of work and education, I am a cooking and baking enthusiast, an avid bicyclist, a student of many forms of dance, and a collector of vintage clothing and art.

• Education in history and humanities subjects, middle school to college levels
• Programming and event planning for public humanities and entertainment events
• Customer service, cash handling, and communications with clients and work teams

ServSafe Food Handling and Alcoholic Beverage Certification

Training in Ignatian and Social Inclusivity Pedagogy, Loyola University

Ph.D in History

Substitute Teaching License, Chicago Public School District