I am a Lecturer in Auburn University's English Department. I hold a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Mississippi ('10) and I specialize in multiple genres: poetry, playwriting, fiction, and nonfiction. I am an interdisciplinary scholar teaching courses in all three of Auburn's major English tracks : Creative Writing, Literature, and Composition. I also occasionally offer playwriting courses through the Honors College and am organizing a Study Abroad program in Greece (Summer 2017). My pedagogy emphasizes student-centered Active and Team Based Learning, while my research focuses on instructional technologies, gamification, digital badging, and ePortfolios.

My current pedagogical research:

-2016: 30K Departmental Award Proposal: Gamify the English Department

This video documents the presentation I made with Associate Chair, Hilary Wyss, to the Teaching Effectiveness Committee on April 8, 2016 on behalf of the English Department in competition for the for the 30K Excellence in Teaching Departmental Award. In the first four minutes I offer highlights of the teaching accomplishments of our department over the past year. At minute 4:10, I begin the proposal to Gamify the English Department using Digital Badges and a branding campaign, "Own Your Story," to increase recruitment and retention among undergraduate majors and minors.

~ 2016 - 2017: Breeden Grant funded faculty development project "Core Strengths" project: Building a Networked Improvement Community of NTT English faculty

~2016-2017: ePortfolio Research & Assessment Grant to study the impact of workshop interventions on faculty implementation of eportfolio pedagogy

~Summer 2016: Developing and piloting the first online Composition I course for Auburn University

~ 2015 - 2019: Longitudinal Study on the Effects of the Integrative Knowledge Portfolio Process on Auburn Students

~ Summer 2015: Biggio Center's Summer Course Re-design Workshop. I redesigned my Composition II courses for Spring 2016 to incorporate iPads and Active & Team Based Learning. For Faculty: Here's a link to a recently published article on this workshop composed by Sam King, the Biggio Center's Post-Doc Fellow and one of the workshop facilitators: "Evidence-Based Course Design for Active Learning: Evaluation of a Blended Learning Approach to Enable Academic Faculty Development"

~ Collaborating with Dr. Scott Simkins on the research and development of a strategic plan to integrate eportfolios into First Year Composition

~ Helping to Pilot the Teaching Circle Program: GTA Development & Mentoring

Navigating this Portfolio:

To see what kinds of projects and learning I do outside of the classroom, check out my Service & Outreach section.

For more specific information about my pedagogical research and philosophies, use the navigation menu to choose from any of my three areas of specialization.

In Pubs & Honors you can find links to some of my poetry, plays, plays, prose, and editorial positions.