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 more fluid and adept readers and critics of literature, film, media, and performance. Students expand their understanding of the unique histories that give rise to different intellectual, artistic, and activist movements. I encourage my students to reach across disciplinary boundaries and to adopt a global perspective.

In my endeavor to remain cutting edge and to meet the moment, I regularly design 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 the intersection of medicine and the humanities through studying the flu of 1918-1920, polio, HIV/AIDS, and Covid-19.

Students gain confidence in writing academic prose and in designing projects that reflect their future goals, including presentations, zines, creative non-fiction, social media posts, blogs, and more. They learn to master the various appeals used in visual, aural, 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 learn to be flexible and adaptable to new modalities. 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, warm, and yet rigorous 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 have been invited to deliver two international keynote addresses, and to participate in residential fellowships and grant projects abroad. I take part in student organizations for sexual assualt awareness and LGBTQIA+ life. I speak on queer history and lead book discussions and faculty forums on working with trans and queer students. I’m active with the graduate student community, and I serve as mentor and a commentator for international graduate conferences. I believe in the primacy of 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 and guide so they can achieve their goals and do their best work. Students have studied sexual and gender justice, Marxist cultural critique, eco-criticism, American 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 prestigious graduate schools, and employment in fields they may not have thought about before our work together.