Introduction

On the first day of every class, I introduce myself to my students with a summary of my own undergraduate academic history, which include the many semesters I dropped out of college, the loss of scholarships and financial aid, how I ended up designing my own degree program, and how it took ten years to complete my bachelor’s degree. I share this history with them, in part, because I want them to understand that I did not end up at the front of the classroom because of some innate skill or luck. It was work—hard work—often done without a clear sense of where I would end up. It required being open to help from my community, open to the unknown, and a willingness to adapt when necessary. I hope to demonstrate through my story concepts that guide my teaching: mutuality, flexibility, and risk-taking.

Sample Syllabi & Assignments

Writing with Style

Upper-division writing course that emphasizes style as rhetorical choice-making. Components of class include a commonplace book, regular style experimentation, and an essay that analyzes the style of a chosen text.

The Rhetoric of True Crime

Class proposed for Fall 2020 (cancelled due to COVID-19).

Online Advanced Composition Course

Course themed around food, with assignments including food literacy narrative and an ethnography research project. Taught Summer 2019, Summer 2020.

Introductory Composition Course

Emphasis in course on developing a research project through intellectual exploration and revision. Taught Spring 2018.

American Authors

Course subject on Southern Literature and the Short Story, including writers Charles W. Chesnutt, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Eudora Welty, Zora Neale Hurston. Included artifact essay assignment and podcast/film components. Taught Summer 2018.