Courses I’m Currently Teaching:

• World Literature: Romanticism to Contemporary (undergraduate and graduate)
• Creative Writing (undergraduate and graduate)
• Memoir & Autobiography (undergraduate and graduate)
• Writing for Change: Advocacy & Civic Engagement (undergraduate and graduate)
• Grant Writing (undergraduate and graduate)
• Social Science Writing (undergraduate)
• Health Science Writing (undergraduate)
• Journal and Expressive Writing (community and health groups)

Research Interests

• Applied literature
• Applicable and applied writing forms: beyond college essays
• Creative writing methodologies in academic forms

Academic Presentations

• Walking Through: An Exploration of Place-Based Memoir with a New Historicism Lens, April 2026. Heritage University Faculty Scholarship Series.
• Beyond the Essay: Writing for change, connection and compassion. American Association of Colleges & Universities, CLASS conference (accepted for April 2026).
• Voices Matter: A Roadmap for Creating Agency and Place-Based Connectivity/Advocacy, National Council of Teachers of English, Teaching in the Two-Year College (April 2024)
• The Walk-n-Talk: Growing Student Writing Communities through Conversation National Council of Teachers of English Conference November 2023 (accepted)
• Interrogating Narratives: Indigenous and Black Place-Stories in Washington, DC. Sept. 2022. Heritage Faculty Scholarship Series
• Mellon Mays Foundation, Guest Lecturer, Heritage University.
  • Where They Walked: Langston Hughes & Contemporaries. Dec. 2020/Jan. 2022.
  • Monuments and Memories. January 2021, October 2021.
  • Public Art & Architecture through a Literary Lens. February 2021, November 2021.
  • Escape, Abolition and the Underground Railroad in D.C. February 2022.
• The Family Photograph: Using the familiar to develop

Extended Training and Certifications in Higher Education

• Certificate in Online Pedagogy
• Creative & Scholarly Engagement Training
• Online Course Delivery Training

Teaching Philosophy

Teaching is my second career. Because of this, my philosophy is rooted in the world outside academia and my approach to teaching reflects my own experience in interdisciplinary environments. Much of my teaching philosophy is built on over 20 years working in the nonprofit sector and as a writer working in the fields of human services, the arts and architecture. As a teacher, it is my mandate and mission to welcome and approach each student with humanity and to create a learning environment that honors each student’s perspective, gifts, talents, life experiences and motivation.

Real-world, interdisciplinary approaches guide my interactions with students as each one must be prepared to tackle what lays before them.  Each class I teach is based on students’ own life experiences – I want them to understand themselves so that they more clearly understand the world. I want them to mine their own experiences to achieve their best understanding of our complex world by using English language and literature as their springboard for contemplation, analysis and production.

To read my entire statement, please download below. For sample syllabi, please email me.