After trying to be a chemistry and biology major for two years, I began studying communication as a junior in college and never looked back. I taught my very first college class right here at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and from then I knew I wanted to make a career out of helping people study and practice communication. I am particularly interested in identity and how we communicate information about ourselves to the people we interact with every day. My specialization is in the performance of gender and sexual identity, and I enjoy researching, teaching, and advocating for persons of gender and sexual minorities.
Here at Minnesota State Mankato, I teach a variety of our performance-based upper division courses in the COMM major to distance learners in the Twin Cities area (Minneapolis/St Paul) and online. I teach classes such as Performance of Literature, Argumentation, CMST Approaches & Perspectives, Advanced Public Communication, Performance Studies, and Gender, Race, and Identity.
I also contribute to our department at the Mankato campus, primarily teaching and advising graduate students. I’ve taught Qualitative Research Methods, Communication Theory, Performance Studies, Communication Pedagogy, and Gender, Race, and Identity at the graduate level, and have advised graduate capstone and thesis projects.
When I am not busy pursuing these interests, I enjoy video games, home improvement projects, cooking, and spoiling my niece and nephews. I also have two cats, Pickles and Doodle, who keep me company.