“The classroom, with all its limitations, remains a location of possibility.

bell hooks (1994)

About Me

I am a PhD student in the Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership, and Technology at Auburn University. My scholarship focuses on understanding the practices that shape postsecondary education and the people who navigate them. In particular, I explore the ways in which teaching and learning can become more effective, engaging, and equitable. I also investigate how students with marginalized and minoritized identities, including disabled students, international students, first-generation students, and parenting students, navigate postsecondary education. I primarily deploy qualitative methodologies, such as ethnography, narrative inquiry, and phenomenology, in my scholarship.

I currently work in the Biggio Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning at Auburn University as a research assistant who specializes in the scholarship of teaching and learning.

I am a first-generation student from a working-class family in Appalachia.

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  • "Check It Again": The Cultural Politics of Mentoring in an Engineering Lab at a Research University

    The purpose of this ethnographic study was to examine how mentoring is enacted, experienced, and evaluated within an engineering lab at a research university. In particular, it explores mentoring as a culturally situated practice shaped by power dynamics, disciplinary norms, and institutional expectations. Drawing on 20 weeks of fieldwork, it uses participant observation and semi-structured interviews to examine how knowledge and guidance circulated, or failed to circulate, within the lab’s culture. The findings reveal mentoring as an uneven, negotiated, and at times contested practice, characterized by peer hierarchies, informal networks, and gatekeeping mechanisms that conditioned access to support on demonstrations of worth.

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  • Snow-covered trees in a valley with towering mountains and cliffs under a dark, cloudy sky.

    Roads to Change: Exploring the Lived Experiences of Be(com)ing among Faculty Who Participated in Educational Development

    The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of be(com)ing among faculty members who participated in educational development. I generated data for this study using semi-structured interviews with eight faculty members who participated in at least one program through the Biggio Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning at Auburn University. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, I identified five themes in the data. The findings of this study not only shed light on the complex landscapes that faculty members navigate but also demonstrate the potentialities of educational development to enable them to shape their professional growth in meaningful ways.

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  • Sunset over a green valley with rock formations and a circular stone pattern on the grass

    Beyond the Mic: Fostering Critical Consciousness through Podcasting in a Social Foundations of Education Course

    The purpose of this case study was to examine the ways in which a podcast project facilitated the development of critical consciousness among pre-service teachers in an undergraduate social foundations of education course at a research university in the southeastern United States. It draws on data generated using semi-structured interviews with 10 pre-service teachers across two semesters of the course who completed the podcast project. The findings highlight how the processes of understanding social phenomena, confronting personal assumptions, and engaging in dialogue enhanced students’ understanding of systemic inequities and strengthened their commitment to justice-oriented practice.

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Contact Me

Thanks for visiting my website. Reach out to me if you are interested in learning more about my work. I welcome inquiries about potential collaborations and possible consultations within my areas of expertise.