After receiving my BA and MA from the University of Nebraska, I spent a year as a Fulbright scholar in Germany before beginning a PhD in German Studies at the University of Massachusetts. My research explores identity construction in German-language literature and culture, with a particular focus on intersections of race and gender. I am currently completing a book manuscript on whiteness in Wilhelmine youth literature, based on my dissertation, which was awarded the Coalition of Women in German dissertation prize. This research has also been supported by DAAD, the Children’s Literature Association, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, and the Leibniz Institute for Educational Media. Other recent research has focused on First World War literature, decolonization in German and inclusive teaching. I have an additional research focus on gender-inclusive German in the language classroom. I believe in the importance of research-led teaching across all levels of the curriculum. In 2024, I was awarded the CASS Educational Award for Commitment to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) and a Strategic Teaching and Learning Grant to work with a team to embed Indigenous Knowledges and Perspectives in Languages curriculum. I am a member of authoring team and editorial board of the online, open access, social-justice focused German curriculum, Grenzenlos Deutsch, whose development was support by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. At the ANU I convene Introductory German, teach all levels of German language and teach thematic courses with topics like German Memory Cultures, Black Germany, and Germans and Indigenous Peoples. I come to ANU after previously holding teaching positions at Lafayette College (PA), the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Notre Dame (IN).

PhD in German Studies (University of Massachusetts Amherst), MA in German Studies with a Graduate Certificate in Women's and Gender Studies, BA in English and German (University of Nebraska–Lincoln)

19th-21st Germanophone literature and culture; inclusive, anti-racist, and decolonial pedagogy; gender, race, and postcolonialism/decolonization in modern Germany; Black German studies; critical race theory and critical whitenes studies