Newbold is assistant professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Dallas. She earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Elon and a master’s degree in public administration from Virginia Tech.
In 2000 and 2001, Newbold won first-place awards in Elon’s annual Philip L. Carret Thomas Jefferson Essay Competition, in which students reflect on the ideals and principles embodied in Jefferson’s life and career.
After winning the competitions, Newbold visited the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello, where she gained new insights into our nation’s third president. That experience, along with her graduate internship at the International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, ignited a passion in Newbold for Jeffersonian study and inspired her to make Jefferson the focus of her doctoral dissertation.
Her essay, “How the Past Shapes the Present,” appeared in the spring 2007 issue of The Magazine of Elon. In the essay, Newbold reflected on Jefferson’s seminal contributions to the development of American government and liberal arts education.