What in your life drew you to your current field of study?
When I was a teenager, I played guitar in a heavy-metal band and I was always writing original songs, metal or otherwise. I also started getting really into film scores, video editing, photography, film in general, and literature. I started reading novels, short stories, and poetry. I learned to play keyboard (at least well enough to make multitrack recordings). I even tried my hand at making short films with my friends and writing a few screenplays. What united all these interests was a fascination with the ways meaning is shared through language and media. In undergrad, I took an Advanced Composition course that, by way of semiotics, introduced me to this thing called rhetoric. Since then, I’ve retained an interest in what I’d now call multimodality, but much of my graduate and current research has taken a broader view of rhetorical history, gender, and genre.
What do you hope your students gain from studying or working with you?
Like many English teachers, I hope my students learn to appreciate that how they write something is just as important as what they write. After working with me, I hope students remember not a specific topic I lectured about but rather what they made, composed, and discovered for themselves.
What are you passionate about in your personal life?
I love spending time with my beautiful family. I enjoy keeping up with the news, various podcasts, and good TV/movies.