I challenge my students to reach beyond their comfort zone. Through interactive online and classroom modules, I scaffold intellectually challenging lessons. In my core classes, students learn key theories in feminist, queer, transgender, and critical masculinities studies. They learn to become better readers of literature, film and media, and performance. Students expand their understanding of the unique histories that give rise to different artistic and activist movements. I teach my students to reach across disciplinary boundaries and to take a transnational perspective.

I love creating new classes that explore the most pressing issues of our time. In “Cowboys, Gangsters, and Drag Kings,” students take a broad approach to masculinities through a trans, queer, and feminist lens. We talk about how toxic masculinity plays a role in global cultures. In “Transgender Lives in Literature and Film,” students explore the latest cultural production and theory. In “Gender and Sexuality in Times of Pandemic,” we look at cultural responses to the Plagues, the flu of 1918-1920, polio, HIV/AIDS, and COVID-19.

Students gain confidence in writing academic prose and also create projects that reflect their future goals, including presentations, zines, creative non-fiction, blog posts, and more. They learn to master the various appeals used in visual and written communication. One example is the digital scrapbook assignment. Students respond visually to class texts using video, photos, and digital drawing tools. In “Sexing the Archive,” they acquire basic and advanced research skills using online and brick-and-mortar archives, databases, and university art galleries.

I create many opportunities for collaboration and peer-peer learning. Using online platforms like Nearpod and Brightspace discussion boards, as well as social media, students get new ideas from one another. Through group-level and paired interactions, I build inclusive communities, centralizing the voices of those marginalized by race, gender, sexuality, ability, language, nationality, and religion. I take an intersectional approach to instruction where students develop a deep understanding of power and responses to power. Many keep in touch after the semester and tell me what a welcoming and warm environment they experienced.

I make every opportunity to speak about my work and bring my ideas to both campus-wide, national and international audiences. I present on HIV/AIDS and cultural production to the Vanderbilt Medical School and to the Blair School of Music. I take part in student organizations for sexual assualt awareness and LGBTQIA+ life. I speak on queer history, lead book discussions, and take part in faculty forums on working with trans and queer students. I’m active with the graduate student community and serve as mentor and a commentator for graduate conferences. I believe in connecting and forming new partnerships beyond the classroom.

I build relationships with students through independent studies, honors and immersion projects, and PhD committees. I take time to inspire so they can achieve their goals and do their best work. Students have studied eco-criticism and literature, queer animation, reality T.V., comedy, performance and dance, representation in sports, and health disparities. The range of topics speaks to my own intellectual curiosity, which I encourage in students. Students go on to earn Fulbright fellowships, admission to graduate school, and employment in fields they may not have thought about before our work together.