Education
PhD, Middle Tennessee State University
MA, Colorado State University
BA, Colorado State University
About Me
My teaching and scholarly interests center on pedagogical research, composition studies, and rhetoric. I am deeply committed to teaching and to continually engaging with research on effective, student-centered approaches to the classroom. In an increasingly complex and rapidly changing educational landscape, I believe that thoughtful, research-informed pedagogy is essential to helping students thrive.
I am a member of the American Literature Association, the American Humor Studies Association, the John Dewey Society, the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition, the Popular Culture Association, and the Tennessee Philological Association.
I currently serve as President of the Tennessee Philological Association, one of Tennessee’s oldest literary organizations. Through its annual interdisciplinary conference, the association brings together scholars with diverse interests to engage in conversation about language, literature, and culture. I am also a strong advocate for Open Educational Resources (OER) in higher education and have served on multiple grant teams dedicated to authoring, editing, and revising open-access textbooks for English composition courses.
Honors or Awards:
College of Liberal Arts Outstanding Student Award, English Department Nominee, Middle Tennessee State University, 2026
The John N. McDaniel Excellence in Teaching Award, Middle Tennessee State University, 2023
Kevin J. Donovan Graduate Award for Excellence in Scholarship, Middle Tennessee State University, 2022
The Richard C. and Virginia Peck Award, Middle Tennessee State University, 2021
William R. Wolfe Writing Award, First Place, Middle Tennessee State University, 2021
Research Interests
I am currently researching the representation of fat embodiment in cinema, with a particular focus on the use of fat suits in Hollywood films. More broadly, I explore the intersections of ethics and identity in moving images and popular culture.
Publications
Monograph
Fabricated Flesh: Fat Suits, Gross-Out Comedy, and Politics of the Body. Under contract, Indiana University Press.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
"Cringe in the Classroom: Teaching with Unironic Joy.” Joking Matters: Humour, Ethics, and Social Difference, edited by Pratyusha Pramanik, Prateek Upreti, Sakshi Srivastava, and Mansi Bose, Peter Lang Publishing. Forthcoming.
“Humans as Fat Suits: Controlling Images and Digital Dismemberment in Norbit.” Fat Studies, July 2026, pp. 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2026.2686444
“Not So Nice, After All: Failures of Fat Representation in Michael Schur’s ‘Nicecore’ Worlds.” Excessive Bodies, vol. 2, no. 1, March 2025 pp. 220-249. https://doi.org/10.32920/eb.v2i1.2307
"Transcending Transcendence in Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson.” Screen Bodies, vol. 9, no. 1, June 2024, pp. 12–25. https://doi.org/10.3167/screen.2024.090103.
Courses Taught
I love teaching English composition, literature, and film courses. My courses include Literature as Philosophy and American Film and Literature of the 1960s.