Short Teaching Philosophy
A class is made by those in it. I believe students bring experience, insight, and important questions to each class, and transformation—student and faculty transformation—happens through our co-production of knowledge. A student may feel, for instance, they don’t know anything about a complicated topic like gender, when, in truth, they’ve felt its effects in how they’ve communicated their entire life. It takes reflection, discussion, and critical interrogation to understand the structures in which we live and how to communicate responsibly in them. I believe responsible communication—that is, communication that seeks to mitigate harm, exercise literacy with information production and consumption, connect the personal and structural, build genuine community, and address injustice—is itself action. And we practice it every day together.
Communication as a discipline, as a site of teaching and learning grapples with the fact that beings are unavoidably open to the influence of communication—responsive (and so responsible) to other beings.
Courses Taught
Pacific Lutheran University, Assistant Professor
Introduction to Media Studies, latest: Spring 2023
Introduction to Communication, latest: Fall 2022
Introduction to Gender, Sexuality, and Race Studies, latest: Fall 2021
Gender and Communication, latest: Fall 2022
Intercultural Communication, latest: Spring 2023
Multimedia Production, latest: Spring 2023
Communication, Race, and Surveillance, latest: January Term 2020
Debate/Advanced Debate, latest: Spring 2022
Media, Ethics, and the Law, latest: Fall 2018, Fall 2020
Sample Lesson Plans & Assignments
"Research Brief on Queer and/or Trans International Community & Supplement," Intercultural Communication, Spring 2023
"Policy Memo," Intercultural Communication, Spring 2022
"US News Audit,” Introduction to Media Studies, Spring 2023
"Slang Website,” Introduction to Communication, Fall 2022
"Sound Argument,” Introduction to Communication, Fall 2022
"Mapping Campus Security Cameras,” Communication, Race, and Surveillance, J-Term 2020
"PISSAR Bathroom Survey," from Chess, et al. reading, Gender and Communication, Fall 2018, Fall 2021
Example of Unit Summaries for Intro to Media Studies
I value combining theory and making. Unit 1 News. Unit 2 Ads & Images. Unit 3 TV & Film.
