Dr. Yokota graduated summa cum laude from UCLA where she earned a B.A. in History with a specialization in Asian American Studies. She earned an MA from the Asian American Studies Department, UCLA . She wrote a thesis entitled "From Little Tokyo to Bronzeville and Back," that looked at interethnic relations between the Asian American and African American communities in the pre- and post-WWII era. Dr. Yokota holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Yokota was an Assistant Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University before coming to the University of Colorado Denver. She was recently held fellowships at Christ Church College, Oxford University and the Rothermere American Institute, Oxford University. Dr. Yokota is the author of Unbecoming British: How Revolutionary America Became a Postcolonial Nation (Oxford University Press 2014) as well as other publications on topics of immigration and ethnicity. She is currently working on a history of the US relations in the Asia Pacific region entitled Pacific Overtures. Dr. Yokota teaches courses on immigration, ethnicity, and identity in the United States as well as classes on early American history and material culture.