I received my B.A. in English and political science with a minor in history from Texas Christian University in 1997. While at TCU, I was a member of the Honors Program and completed a Senior Honors Thesis titled "The Reunion of Nature and Spirituality: The Writings of Annie Dillard, Terry Tempest Williams, and Teresa Jordan." I then completed my M.A. in English at the University of Nebraska--Lincoln, specializing in American Literature. My thesis, titled "The Reunion of Gender and Radicalism: Working-Class Women and Authenticity in American Proletarian Writings,” looked at women's working-class writings of the 1930s. I then returned to TCU where I completed my Ph.D. in 2003, under the direction of Dr. David L. Vanderwerken. My dissertation, titled "Renegotiating Radicalism: The Complexities of Politics, Gender, and Race in the Chronicling of 1930s and 1940s Working-Class Experience," looked at both fictional and historical writings of this time period to determine how the intersections of race, gender, class, and politics revealed important ideas about nationhood and identity, particularly in terms of working-class experience. While at TCU, I served as Graduate Instructor, Writing Center Specialist, and Assistant Director of Composition. For more information about my experiences, please see my CV.
I am currently an Assistant Professor of English at North Carolina Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, NC. I have taught Basic Reading and Writing, English Composition I, English Composition II, Advanced Composition, Introduction to Literature, Studies in Genre, Fundamentals of Communication, Business Communication, and College 101 at Wesleyan ; however, I have also taught Major American Writers and World Literature I in the past. My areas of specialization include 20th-century American literature, working-class literature, women's writing, and composition studies. I emphasize a liberatory and student-centered pedagogy in my classroom; student-led discussions, group work, collaboration, and a non-hierarchical mode of teaching take center stage in my work with students. In the fall of 2007, I will be teaching Basic Reading and Writing, Fundamentals of Communication, the Senior Seminar, College 101, and directing a Senior Honors Thesis. To find out more about my pedagogical interests, please read my teaching philosophy.
My primary research interests focus on 20th-century American literature and working-class studies. Since my dissertation, I have continued my interests in working-class studies, looking at both the critical and pedagogical implications of this emerging field of study. Along with Dr. Laura Hapke, I am also the co-editor of a manuscript titled A Class of Our Own: Revising Labor Fiction, which is currently in contract with Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Recent publications and presentations also include the following:
 | Forthcoming publication of "'How it grieves the heart of a mother [ . . . ]': The Intersections of Gender, Class, and Politics in Grace Lumpkin's To Make My Bread." Women's Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Fall 2007. |
| “Teaching Class: Working-Class Studies in Theory and Practice.” Fourth Monday Research Colloquium. North Carolina Wesleyan College. March 26, 2007. |
| “Redefining Academic ‘Success’: Teaching Writers of Varying Abilities at the Small College.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. New York. March 24, 2007. |
| "Interrogating Suburban Life in The Virgin Suicides." Academic Exchange Quarterly. Spring 2007. |
| Review of Selfe and Hawisher's Literate Lives in the Information Age: Narratives on Literacy from the United States for Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies. December 2006. |
| “Ph.D.= Packinghouse Daughter: Reflecting on the Socioeconomic, Academic, and Feminist in Cheri Register’s Packinghouse Daughter.” Society for the Study of American Women Writers Conference. Philadelphia, PA. November 9, 2006. |
| “‘So the storm passed...’: Exploring Notions of Feminism and Nationhood in Chopin's ‘At the ‘Cadian Ball’ and ‘The Storm.’” South Central Modern Language Association Conference. Dallas, TX. October 27, 2006. |
| "Shades of Passing: Teaching and Interrogating Identity in Roth's The Human Stain and Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby." Philip Roth Studies. Fall 2006. |
| “Strategies for Building Successful Résumés and Cover Letters: A Workshop.” Student African American Brotherhood Chapter Meeting. North Carolina Wesleyan College. September 25, 2006. |
| “The Freshman Writing Experience at North Carolina Wesleyan College.” North Carolina Wesleyan College Parents’ Weekend. Rocky Mount, NC. September 23, 2006. |
| Review of Meade's Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties--Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dorothy Parker, Zelda Fitzgerald, and Edna Ferber for Women Writers: A Zine. Summer 2006. |
| Review of Allison's Skin: Talking about Sex, Class, & Literature for Sobriquet Magazine. Summer April 2006. |
Additionally, I have a strong interest in composition studies and am particularly interested in issues of plagiarism and academic integrity as well as literacy issues. I also just completed my second year as a Reader for the AP Language and Composition Exam in Daytona Beach, Florida. Finally, I am currently serving as the editorial assistant for the Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies.
| Co-Director (along with Dr. Bill Grattan) of the North Carolina Wesleyan College Writing Lab. |
| Course development and independent summer research on a English 215 as a course on southern writers, funded by the "Fritz" James Morrison Smith, Jr. Faculty Development Fund. |
| Spring 2009 course development for English 112: English Composition II, English 130: Fundamentals of Communication, English 215: Studies in Genre, and English 302: Advanced Composition. |
| Revising conference paper, titled "Cowboys of the High Seas: Representations of Working-Class Masculinity on Deadliest Catch," for journal submission. |
| Final revisions of A Class of Our Own: Revising Labor Fiction manuscript for Cambridge Scholars Publishing. |
| Editorial assistant for the Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies. |