Upon earning her PhD, Newell joined the faculty at Ohio State University (OSU) in 1991.[2] During her early tenure at the university, she published her first book; From Dependency to Independence: Economic Revolution in Colonial New England. The book focused on how early New England colonialists grew their struggling economy in limited time to successfully lead an Independence war.[3][4] Following the publication of this book, she received the school's Outstanding Faculty Member by the Sphinx and Mortar Board Senior Class Honoraries.[1]
In 2015, Newell was promoted to the rank of Full professor in the Department of History at OSU.[5] In this role, she published her second book titled Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery, which received the James A. Rawley Prize[6] and the Peter J. Gomes Memorial Book Prize.[7] The book discussed how New England colonists enslaved thousands of Native Americans and were the first colony to legalize slavery.[8] In 2019, she was the recipient of OSU's Harlan Hatcher Arts and Sciences Distinguished Faculty Award.[9]
Publications
Robert Child and the entrepreneurial vision: economic development and ideology in New England, 1629-1654, 1986
Economic ideology, culture and development in New England, 1620-1800, 1991
From dependency to independence: economic revolution in colonial New England, 1997
Brethren by nature: New England Indians, colonists, and the origins of American slavery, 2015
^T. H. Breen (February 2000). "Review of From Dependency to Independence: Economic Revolution in Colonial New England". The American Historical Review. 105 (1): 205–206. doi:10.1086/ahr/105.1.205.