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Curriculum Vitae

PDF version (February 2023)
EDUCATION
  • ​Ph.D.   English and American Literature, Washington University in St. Louis (ABD: November 2020)
    • Dissertation: Pragmatic Ambiguities: Aphoristic Thinking in the American Nineteenth Century
  • ​Fulbright Research Fellow, John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, 2020–21
  • M.A.    English and American Literature, Washington University in St. Louis, 2019
  • M.A.    English Literature, Michigan State University, 2015
  • B.A.    English and Biblical Studies, summa cum laude, Welch College, 2012

PUBLICATIONS
Peer-Reviewed Articles
  • “Thoreau's Arboreal Encounters and Aphoristic Forest Thinking,” Green Letters: Studies in Ecocriticism​, vol. 25, no. 4, 2021, pp. 390–402 (also available online)
Manuscripts in Submission
  • “‘A Penumbra of Vagueness’: Reading Du Bois’s ‘Double-Consciousness’ Aphoristically,” ​African American Review (currently under review)
  • “‘Two Stories Tangled Together’: The Double Brain, Pudd’nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins,” Nineteenth-Century Literature (currently under review)

AWARDS, GRANTS, & FELLOWSHIPS
  • Modern Language Association Travel Grant, 2023
  • Short-Term Fellowship, The Huntington Library, 2022–23
  • Dissertation Fellowship, Washington University in St. Louis, 2022–23
  • Graduate Student/Early Career Workshop, Mark Twain Circle of America, 2022
  • Dickinson Critical Institute, Emily Dickinson International Society, 2022
  • C19: Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists Travel Grant, 2022
  • Heidelberg Center for American Studies Spring Academy, Heidelberg Universität, 2022
  • ​Fulbright Research Fellowship, Germany, 2020–21
  • Cornelison English Prize, 1st Place, for best essay written by a graduate student during coursework, Washington University in St. Louis, 2020
  • National Science Foundation Travel Grant, 2019
  • Society for Literature, Science & the Arts Travel Grant, 2019
  • DAAD University Summer Course Grant, for language classes in Berlin, Germany, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (German Academic Exchange Service), 2019
  • Somers Excellence in Teaching Award, Michigan State University, 2015
  • Summer Support Fellowship, Michigan State University, 2014​
  • Best Graduate Essay Award, Michigan College English Association, 2012
  • Picirilli-Outlaw Greek Award, for best GPA in two years of Koine Greek language classes, Welch College, 2011

​INVITED TALKS
  • “Aphorismus and Nineteenth-Century American Literature: Reading ‘Double-Consciousness’ Aphoristically,” Cornell University Transatlantic Research Colloquium (co-sponsored by Humboldt Universität Berlin), Ithaca, NY, September 9–11, 2022.

CONFERENCE ACTIVITY
Panels Organized
  • “W. E. B. Du Bois’s Reconstruction of Language,” C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists, Coral Gables, FL, March 31–April 2.

Papers Presented
  • “Feeling Thoreau’s Radicle Empiricism,” Modern Language Association, Philadelphia, PA, January 4–7, 2024.
  • “Journalistic Ecology: ‘Radicle Empiricism’ in Thoreau’s Journal Manuscript,” Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, Portland, OR, July 9–12, 2023.
  • “Du Bois in Berlin, Du Bois in Atlanta: The Affect of Exile in The Souls of Black Folk,” Modern Language Association, San Francisco, CA, January 5–8, 2023.
  • “‘Two Stories Tangled Together’: The Double Brain, Pudd’nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins,” International Conference on the State of Mark Twain Studies, Elmira, NY, August 4–6, 2022.
  • “‘Can you render my Pencil?’: Dickinson's Aphoristic Prose and Affective Experience,” Emily Dickinson International Society, Seville, Spain, July 12–14, 2022.
  • “Aphoristic Emerson and the German Aphorismus,” Thoreau Annual Gathering, Concord, MA, July 6–10, 2022.
  • “‘A Penumbra of Vagueness’: W. E. B. Du Bois's Aphoristic Reconstructions in The Souls of Black Folk,” C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists, Coral Gables, FL, March 31–April 2, 2022.
  • “Thoreau’s Arboreal Encounters: A Transatlantic Re-Vision,” British Association for American Studies, virtual due to COVID-19, April 7–11, 2021.
  • “Thoreau’s Radicle Empiricism: Arboreal Encounters and the Posthuman Forest,” European Society for Literature, Science & the Arts, Bergen, Norway, March 4–5, 2021.
  • “Thinking Like a Tree: Human Cognition and Speculative Forest Thinking,” European Association for the Study of Literature, Culture and Environment, Granada, Spain, 2020 (canceled due to COVID-19).
  • “‘These Brainless, Stationary Trunks Are Protecting Each Other’: Speculative Forest Thinking in the Anthropocene,” European Society for Literature, Science & the Arts, Katowice, Poland, June 17–20, 2020.
  • “‘Experience Is Forever in Motion’: The Divided Brain and Experimental Thinking,” Society for Literature, Science & the Arts, Irvine, CA, November 7–9, 2019.
  • ​“Crossing the Border between Reason and Intoxication: William James on Nitrous Oxide,” Crossing the Borders of Creation and Critique Conference, St. Louis, MO, March 1, 2019.
  • “Literature as ‘Out of Mind’ Experience,” Society for Literature, Science & the Arts, Toronto, Canada, November 15–18, 2018.
  • “‘Creatures of Habit’: The Role of Habits in Short Story Character Creation,” American Literature Association Symposium, Savannah, GA, October 20–22, 2016.
  • “‘A Collective Murmur Goes Up from Us’: Vicarious Trauma as Motivation in The Handmaid's Tale,” American Literature Association, Boston, MA, May 20–24, 2015.
  • “William James Visits Roderick Usher: Literature as Translation of American Psychology,” Midwest Conference on Christianity and Literature, Wheaton, IL, March 20–21, 2014.
  • “‘Give Me My Leg!’: The Point of Tension in O’Connor’s ‘Good Country People,’” Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture since 1900, Louisville, KY, February 21–23, 2013.
  • “‘The World Will Burn Green’: Survival of Morality in Grendel,” Michigan College English Association, Grand Rapids, MI, October 26, 2012.

Discussant
  • “Supporting Learning on the Inside: Library Services for Jackson College Students in Prison,” National Conference on Higher Education in Prison, Nashville, TN, November 3–6, 2016.

CAMPUS TALKS
  • “ChatGPT and the Future of Nineteenth-Century American Literature,” Department of English, Washington University in St. Louis, January 20, 2023.
  • “The Centrifugal Aphorism: Tracing a Transatlantic Form in the Nineteenth Century,” Department of English Graduate Student Colloquium, Washington University in St. Louis, November 18, 2022.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Freie Universität Berlin, John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies
  • A Genealogy of the Human Mind: Tracing Intelligence Discourses from Locke to Neoliberalism (MA Seminar, co-taught with Maxi Albrecht, Winter 2021–22)

Washington University in St. Louis, Department of English
  • ​Writing 1: Technology & Selfhood (Fall 2020)
  • Morality and Markets (TA for Abram Van Engen and Peter Baumgarden, Spring 2020)
  • Making it New: Emerson and the American Renaissance, 1836-1860 (TA for Robert Milder, Fall 2019)

St. Louis Community College, Department of English
  • College Composition I (Fall 2019)
  • College Composition II (Spring 2020, Fall 2019)

Jackson College, Prison Education Initiative (all courses taught in state prisons)
  • Writing Experience I (Fall 2016, Summer 2016, Fall 2015)
  • Cultural Connections (Summer 2017, Winter 2017, Fall 2016)
  • Poetry and Drama (Winter 2017, Winter 2016)
  • Technical & Business Communication (Summer 2017)
  • World Literature (Summer 2017)

Jackson College, Department of Liberal Arts
  • Introduction to College Writing (Fall 2016, Winter 2016)
  • Writing Experience I (Fall 2016, Winter 2016)
  • Writing Experience II (Summer 2017, Winter 2016, Fall 2015)
  • Cultural Connections (Winter 2017)

Davenport University, Department of English & Communications
  • Composition (Fall 2016, Fall 2015)
  • Advanced Composition (Winter 2017, Fall 2016, Winter 2016, Fall 2015)
  • Professional Writing (Fall 2016, Summer 2016)

Spring Arbor University, Department of English
  • College Writing (Fall 2016)

Michigan State University, Department of English
  • Michigan: The Life and Times of Where You Are (TA for Edward Watts, Winter 2015)
  • “Race” and “Culture” in U.S. Literature and Film (TA for Scott Michaelsen, Fall 2014)
  • Popular Culture in Global Perspective (TA for David Stowe, Winter 2014)
  • The Literature and Culture of Sports (TA for Stephan Arch, Fall 2013)

SERVICE TO PROFESSION
  • Media Committee, Ralph Waldo Emerson Society, 2023–present

DEPARTMENTAL/UNIVERSITY SERVICE
  • Founder, WashU Association of English Graduate Students, 2022
  • WashU Graduate Student Senate
    • Co-President, 2019–2020
    • Department Senator, 2018–2019
    • Legislative Concerns Committee, 2018–2019
  • WashU Professional and Graduate Student Coordinating Committee, 2019–2020
  • WashU Graduate Professional Council, 2018–2020
  • WashU Graduate School of Arts & Science Graduate Council, 2018–2020
  • Executive Board Member, MSU College of Arts & Letters Alumni Association, 2014–2016
  • MSU Council of Graduate Students
    • Department Representative, 2014–2015
    • University Committee on Curriculum, 2014–2015
  • Chair, University Student Commission, City of East Lansing, 2014–2015
  • Executive Board Member, MSU Association of English Graduate Students, 2014–2015

LANGUAGES
  • German: advanced reading and speaking proficiency (CEFR B2)
  • Turkish: basic understanding
  • Ancient Greek: can read with dictionary

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND AFFILIATIONS
  • Association for the Study of Literature and Environment
  • British Association of Nineteenth-Century Americanists
  • C19: Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists
  • Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien (German Association for American Studies)
  • Emily Dickinson International Society
  • ​European Society for Literature, Science & the Arts
  • Henry David Thoreau Society
  • Mark Twain Circle of America
  • Modern Language Association​
  • Ralph Waldo Emerson Society
  • Society for Literature, Science & the Arts
  • William James Society
ORCID: 0000-0001-6918-6702