Assistant Professor
I entered the field of composition and rhetoric as an undergraduate peer tutor in my college’s writing center. My early tutoring experiences were formative in developing both my research interests and teaching methods, which center around the collaborative writing talk and affiliative relationship-building characteristic of writing centers (and of tutoring and peer mentoring, more broadly).
Today I study occasions of one-with-one writing talk—occasions that take place regularly in schools, workplaces, homes, and community sites. I am interested in the potential of this talk (and the relationship-building, writing, and revision involved) to bring about social change, or more equitable relations, for individuals and members of their social networks. I use conversation analysis (CA) to study in-the-moment interactions and take a mixed-method approach, tracing evolutions over time. I ask: what is the role of writing in social change, and how might we better cultivate conditions that bring about equity?
Much of my work—my research, teaching, professional service, and community involvement—is motivated by my commitment to equity in education. In my classroom teaching, this commitment manifests in a focus on inquiry-driven student research that reaches beyond the classroom walls to impact the campus and community. With students, I seek to understand the power of writing—and talk about and around writing—to facilitate personal and social transformations for writers and their communities.
Office Hours
Spring 2013- TUTH 12:30-2:00
Teaching Schedule
Spring 2013
- 3210/102, Advanced Composition, TUTH 9:30-10:45, Wehr Physics 154
- 3220/101, Writing for the Professions, TUTH 11:00-12:15, Wehr Physics 154
Teaching Fields
- Composition and Rhetoric
Research Interests
- Composition theory and pedagogy
- Research methodologies
- Language and learning
- Equity and social justice
- Community literacy and community-based research
- Writing centers and writing across the curriculum
- Co-founded the Milwaukee Writing Center Consortium with Rebecca Nowacek of Marquette and Margie Mika of UW-Milwaukee, 2012.
Selected Publications
- “Toward Explaining the Transformative Power of Talk About, Around, and for Writing.” Research in the Teaching of English 47.2 (Nov. 2012): 171-197.
- “A Multi-Dimensional Pedagogy for Racial Justice in Writing Centers.” With Rasha Diab, Thomas Ferrel, and Neil Simpkins. Praxis: A Writing Center Journal. 10.1 (2012): Web.
- “Organizing for Antiracism in Writing Centers: Principles for Enacting Social Change.” With Moira Ozias. Writing Centers and the New Racism: A Call for Sustainable Dialogue and Change, edited by Laura Greenfield and Karen Rowan. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press, 2011. 150-174. *Award Winner: The book received the 2011 International Writing Centers Association (IWCA) Outstanding Book Award.
- “Resisting Altruism: How Systematic Power and Privilege Become Personal in One-on- One Community Tutoring.” Community Literacy Journal 3.2 (Spring 2009): 37-52.
- “Making It Count: Mentoring as Cultural Currency.” With Tanya Cochran. Stories of Mentoring, edited by Michelle F. Eble and Lynée Lewis Gaillet. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press, 2008. 301-305.
- “Navigating Conversational Turns: Grounding Difficult Discussions on Racism.” With Sarah Dees and Moira Ozias. Praxis: A Writing Center Journal 5.1 (Fall 2007): Web.
- “A (Re)cognition of Peerness as Friendship.” Writing Lab Newsletter 29.6 (Feb. 2005): 13-15.
Forthcoming Publications
- “Making Commitments to Racial Justice Actionable.” With Rasha Diab, Thomas Ferrel, and Neil Simpkins. Forthcoming in Across the Disciplines.
Honors/Awards
- Regular Research Grant, Marquette University, 2012
- Summer Faculty Fellowship, Marquette University, 2012
- Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) Chairs’ Memorial Scholarship, 2011
- Josephine De Kármán Fellowship, 2010-2011
- International Writing Centers Association (IWCA) Graduate Research Grants, 2010 and 2004
- Teaching Fellow, University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Letters & Science, 2010
- Mary Adams Dissertation Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2010
- International Writing Centers Association (IWCA) Ben Rafoth Graduate Research Award, 2008
- Southeastern Writing Center Association (SWCA) Peer Tutor Award, 2005
English Department
