I am a college writing researcher with a Ph.D. in English Education. My research focuses on applied linguistics for the English classroom. I am interested in developing applications of Systemic Functional Linguistics and Legitimation Code Theory for student writing and reading. My current research projects are an analysis of the knowledge structures of first-year composition and linguistic analysis of various academic and civic genres. I have presented my educational and linguistic research with colleagues at local, regional, and national conferences in the U.S.

I have teaching experience at various levels, working in diverse environments including an urban middle school, a rural high school, a community college, and a major research university.

I graduated from Anderson University with a Bachelors of Arts in English and minor in Mathematics. I earned my teaching license in Anderson University’s Teach for Indiana program. After teaching for a year, I attended graduate school and completed my MA in English Language and Linguistics at Purdue University. After several years teaching at the college level, I returned to the middle-school classroom as a periodic volunteer teaching assistant for several years. I have taught English composition at the college level for approximately a decade.

I have also been a participant in the Slam Poetry community since the early 2000s. I have competed in multiple slams in Lafayette, IN; Indianapolis; Chicago, IL. I have also read in El Dorado, AR. My major Slam influences include Taylor Mali, Jack McCarthy, Todd Alcott, and Patricia Smith.