Interdisciplinary Individual Ph.D., Disability Studies, History, & Geography, University of Washington
M.A. Cultural Studies, University of Washington Bothell
B.A. Society, Ethics & Human Behavior, University of Washington Bothell

• BCORE 117 Material of Culture and the (not so) Secret Life of Everyday Things
• DIS ST 230 Introduction to Disability Studies
• BIS 340: Approaches to Cultural Research
• DIS ST 384 A/GEOG 395 A: Disability Geographies: Space, Place & Transnational Disability Activism
• CHID/DIS ST 430 A: Disability, Representation & Intersectionality: Cultural Studies Approaches to Disability
• GEOG 445 A: Geographies of Housing: Housing Crises in the Puget Sound Region
• CHID/DIS ST 332 A: Disability Studies, Feminist Thought, & Representation

My approach to teaching starts with the understanding that I will learn as much (if not more) from each of the students that enter my classroom as they learn from me, that each student comes into the classroom with unique experiences and backgrounds that bring important context to what we study, and above all, I strive to create and maintain a learning environment that is safe, comfortable, welcoming, and accessible. It is my job as the course instructor to facilitate a safe and accessible space for individual and group learning and to demonstrate how students can collaborate productively with people from different backgrounds, histories, and political viewpoints. The first and perhaps most critical step in working towards inclusivity in the classroom is to actively seek out the distinct backgrounds, unique viewpoints, and diverse learning styles that students bring. I find the most exciting teaching moments happen when students are comfortable enough to express disagreement with my interpretation of the course content and willing to share their unique understanding of the materials we discuss. I structure my curriculum around transdisciplinary scholarship and draw on experiential techniques that help students connect the scholarship we study to the real-world political contexts in which they work and live. In addition to weekly reading and lecture sessions, in-class group workshops provide a less formal space for students to engage with challenging topics such as transnational feminism, colonialism, racist and ableist oppression, the histories of eugenics, globalization, disability justice, and nationalist ideologies. Students work side by side combing through vintage magazines to find links between current-day culture and historically driven ideological patterns, they collaborate on their individual research and portfolio development, enter lively discussions about news and social media stories related to our coursework, and build digital maps that reflect the topics we study.

Interdisciplinary research specialization in social justice, critical cultural studies, relational history, critical disability studies, histories of philanthropy, experiential narrative, and digital and human geographies.

• Focus on transnational, intersectional, and cultural disability studies; disability histories; cultural studies theory and methods; power and representation; human geographies; experiential storytelling; transdisciplinary research; and qualitative digital mapping research methods.
• Culture, consumer, and geopolitical content analysis.