I am an Assistant Professor of English and the Associate Director of the University Writing Center at Salisbury University on the eastern shore of Maryland. Along with co-administering the writing center, I teach courses in first-year and advanced composition, digital and multimedia writing, and rhetoric and research. My own research examines the institutional relationships and networks that impact writing center work, as well as the labor of writing center administrators and tutoring staff. I also do research on how writing centers and programs might better serve marginalized populations, particularly working-class and first-generation students.
I received my Ph.D. in Rhetoric & Composition at Purdue University. My dissertation, “It Depends on Who You Talk To: Mapping Writing Center-Writing Program Relationships at Small Liberal Arts Colleges,” focuses on the how programmatic relationships are impacted by institutional structures such as administrator positionality and labor, faculty governance, and student populations.
Previous to my doctorate studies, I received an MFA in creative writing from the University of Notre Dame and continue to write and publish poetry. My chapbook, Rhadbdomancy, was released by Adjunct Press in 2016 . My creative work is heavily influenced by media theory and archival/documentary methods. The history of Midwestern marshlands and the ecological impact of their erosion over time are also major influences on my work.
When I’m not spending time on my academic or creative work, I can almost always be found reading a book. My favorite writers are Kurt Vonnegut, Marilynne Robinson, Hilary Mantel, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Olivia Laing, Tana French, and Susan Howe. On the rare times a book is not handy, you will likely see me expanding my wine collection, listening to comedy and film podcasts, or valiantly defending the beauty of my home state, Indiana.