about

I am associate professor of youth literatures and cultures. I received my PhD in children’s and young adult literature from Western Michigan University in 2018. I earned my Master of Arts degree in English literature and gender studies from Duquesne University in 2011 and my Bachelor of Arts degree in English and women's studies from Fairmont State University in 2009. Currently, I am earning an MFA in writing for children and young adults.

My research investigates the intersections of space, place, gender, and sexuality in United States youth literatures and cultures. My dissertation researched boyhood road trips in young adult novels with an emphasis on queer and BIPOC road stories that challenge a dominant narrative of the US road. A part of this project, "New Directions for Old Roads: Rewriting the Young Adult Road Trip Story" was published in the edited collection Beyond the Blockbuster: Themes and Trends in Contemporary Young Adult Literature. My more recent work analyzes queer rurality in youth literatures and cultures, with a particular interest in rural Appalachia and the U.S. South. I received the 2023-2024 Wilma Dykeman “Faces of Appalachia” Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in support of my work on queer Appalachian youth literature.

More broadly, my research interests include: youth literature, gender and sexuality studies, literary theory, writing for children and young adults, and media studies. 

I have taught over twenty courses since 2009 at the post-secondary level. These include courses in first-year writing, youth literature, gender and media, American literature and culture, research methods, and linguistics. I also taught English Language Arts at a junior-senior high school in rural Indiana from 2015-2016. A full-list of previous and upcoming courses can be found on my teaching page. 

In 2017, I embarked on a cross-country road trip with the PBS documentary television series Roadtrip Nation. Along with two other doctoral candidates, we interviewed twelve inspiring leaders who hold doctoral degrees to discover how to best use our education after graduating. You can watch the film, Degree of Impact, on your local PBS station or by streaming it online. 

When not professoring, I spend my time drinking lots of coffee, eating french fries, road tripping, working out, and trying to write books for young people.