Kaylie McCarthy

Kaylie McCarthy is a Center for Ethics Graduate Fellow at The Murphy Institute and a PhD candidate in the Department of History. Her research interrogates how systems of power have caused injustices and ethical dilemmas throughout history. Kaylie explores this through her dissertation titled, Tattoos & The American Surveillance State: Identity and Identification in Early Twentieth Century US, written under the direction of Prof. Karissa Haugeberg. 

She was born and raised in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, beginning her undergraduate career at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and ultimately completing and receiving her bachelor’s and master's degrees from the University of New Orleans. Her master's thesis research focused on analyzing tattoos recorded in the early twentieth century New Orleans Police Department Mugshot Collection (City Archives). Before beginning her PhD journey at Tulane, Kaylie had the privilege of working as an adjunct history professor at Bard Early College New Orleans and was the Institute Associate at the National WWII Museum. For her dissertation, Kaylie aims to continue researching tattoos and identity during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The Center for Ethics Graduate Fellowships provides support to outstanding Tulane doctoral students who have excelled in their fields of specialization, have demonstrated an interest in ethical questions that cut across disciplinary boundaries, and are likely to make significant contributions to teaching and scholarship in their respective fields.