Education
MA Creative Writing & Pedagogy (3.81 GPA)
Northern Michigan University – December 2017
BA English Writing, Journalism Minor (3.75 GPA – full honors, magna cum laude)
Northern Michigan University – December 2013

Work Experience

Instructor; English Department
Butte College — 2018 – Present

  • Job Duties: teaching courses in composition and first-year writing, critical thinking, literature, and poetry

Teaching Assistant; Composition I and Composition II
Northern Michigan University — 2014 – 2016

  • Job Duties: course development; developing and applying course materials (syllabi, lesson plans, assignment sheets, PowerPoint presentations, and grading rubrics); grading and assessment of student learning and success; teaching rhetoric, composition, research, literary analysis, argumentative/persuasive writing, MLA/APA styles, and multimodal communication; moderating in-class activities (literature discussions, workshops, presentations, in-class reading and writing activities, and group activities); utilizing online course management systems; creating and maintaining a supportive and inclusive learning environment; enforcing rules and managing day-to-day classroom environment; building and maintaining a friendly, professional rapport with students; attending professional development seminars and department meetings; conducting teaching observations and providing constructive pedagogical feedback to peers

Associate Editor; Passages North
Northern Michigan University — 2014 – 2017

  • Job Duties: reading creative nonfiction and poetry submissions to literary journal; leaving written feedback and constructive criticism on Submittable; attending and participating in weekly meetings to discuss, critique, and accept submissions for publication; taking weekly meeting minutes; narrated the first episode of “The Auroral,” the Passages North podcast

Staff Writer; The North Wind
Northern Michigan University — 2013

  • Job Duties: writing articles for the Features section (arts & culture articles, music reviews)

Editor/Senior Writer; internship
gagagadget.com, based out of Atlanta, GA — 2010 – 2012

  • Job Duties: researching gadgets, smartphones, applications, websites, home theater equipment, and related technologies; writing and publishing several written blog posts per week (minimum 200 words/article); running weekly conference call meetings; managing social media accounting and running occasional contest events; editing and publishing other writers’ content through WordPress interface; attending the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in 2011 and 2012 to meet with company representatives and explore emerging technologies

Research Experience

  • Assisted with research for Professor Matthew Gavin Frank’s book The Mad Feast: An Ecstatic Tour Through America’s Food (2015). Contacted restaurants from across the United States to collect and document regional recipes and food preparation techniques

Thesis

  • An Unstable Container (2017) — An Unstable Container is a collection of short creative nonfiction essays and poetry, with influences from personal memoir, lyric essays, race and gender studies, and poetry. The work examines the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality, and the ways in which language, society, and the human body contribute to the construction of one’s sense of self. Through the lenses of language, modern technology, medicine, and genetics, An Unstable Container explores blackness, queerness, masculine identity, growing up in rural Michigan, and the dangers and pleasures of corporeality. The collection also interrogates the social institutions of marriage and religion, gender roles, and non-traditional family structures.

Publications & Presentations

  • An Unstable Container — An collection of creative nonfiction essays, based on the compositions from my thesis of the same name (forthcoming Fall 2019/Spring 2020 from Bull City Press)
  • Narrated the first episode of “The Auroral,” a podcast from Passages North, in January 2018
  • Moderated a pedagogical panel on teaching graphic novels at Writing Across the Peninsula (WAP), a pedagogical conference in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in 2014
  • Wrote article on WAP for the English Department Electronic Newsletter (EDEN) Nov. 2014
  • Composed and published articles as an intern for for Gagagadget, an Atlanta-based technology blog, from 2010 through 2012
  • Poems have appeared or are forthcoming in:
    • Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, Hot Metal Bridge, Glass: A Journal of Poetry’s “Poets Resist” series, Rising Phoenix Review, yell/shout/scream, Apofenie, The /Temz/ Review, Glint Literary Journal, Rhythm & Bones, petrichor: a Journal of Text & Image, Wyvern Lit, Under the Gum Tree, & Midwestern Gothic

Honors & Awards

  • Dean’s list: Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Fall 2011, Winter 2012, Fall 2012, Winter 2013, Fall 2013
  • NMU Merit Award 2009-2013
  • Michigan Competitive Scholarship 2009-2012
  • Graduate of Northern Michigan University’s undergraduate Honors Program
  • National Honor Society Member
  • “Best of the Net” poetry anthology nominee for 2018
  • Four-time Pushcart Prize nominee for 2018

Skills/Interests

  • Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel)
  • Online social media/social networks — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, LinkedIn
  • Published blogs with WordPress
  • Designed pages with InDesign
  • Utilized EduCat, a Weebly-based online course management system, for two years as a TA
  • Experience composing in AP style
  • Earned the highest score (5) on the Advanced Placement English Composition exam
  • Moderator of Genius.com (formerly RapGenius.com)
  • Producing an upcoming podcast about lived LGBTQ+ experiences (QueerAmericans.com)
  • Clear and efficient communicator
  • Detail oriented, fast learner
  • Works well alone or in a team
  • Eager to learn new skills
  • Committed to student success
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