Teaching
As an instructor my goals are to embolden students to become active participants in their development as composers and critical thinkers and to develop skills that enable them to explore and thrive in the vibrant, diverse world both in and beyond my classroom.
The invitation for students to become active participants in the development of their writing and their inner life as scholars requires that I draw students’ attention to the concrete material goals of their writing. In my online, graduate-level Grant Writing course, for example, students began composing from day one a full application for an actual grant that they could submit once the course was complete. This material objective guided my feedback to them throughout the process even as I drew attention to the practice of composing for such a goal and the ways that process may differ in various contexts. I am committed to cross-discipline engagement and prior to my recent appointment at Texas Tech University, taught for the University of Texas at El Paso's (UTEP) Religious Studies, Rhetoric and Composition, and Entering Student departments.
I am committed to anti-racist and non-violent pedagogy. I am in the process of re-evaluating what that means for me--especially as I wrestle with this piece from 2004 "Declarations of Whiteness: The non-performativity of anti-racism." Previously I had stated:
"I teach by example, performing a critical and empathetic interrogation of my own position, power, and practices within our culture while also evaluating cultural others’ ways of being in the world. To facilitate this, for example, I invited students in my freshman composition class at UTEP to begin the semester reading Ashanti Young’s (2010) “Mama’s Memories” along with a New York Times article from a first generation college student (Crucet, “Taking My Parents to College,” 2015) and Bartholomae’s (1986) “Inventing the University.” Class discussions around these readings lay the groundwork for students to think through their own position in the university’s institutional “culture” and how they can engage it successfully but also critically."
While I think this still holds generally, clearly my capacity as an instructor to speak my commitment to anti-racism into being is limited. Whether this commitment is effective can really only be judged, I suspect, by whether my students of color experience it in the classroom as actively resisting racist pedagogical logic and practice for them.
"I teach by example, performing a critical and empathetic interrogation of my own position, power, and practices within our culture while also evaluating cultural others’ ways of being in the world. To facilitate this, for example, I invited students in my freshman composition class at UTEP to begin the semester reading Ashanti Young’s (2010) “Mama’s Memories” along with a New York Times article from a first generation college student (Crucet, “Taking My Parents to College,” 2015) and Bartholomae’s (1986) “Inventing the University.” Class discussions around these readings lay the groundwork for students to think through their own position in the university’s institutional “culture” and how they can engage it successfully but also critically."
While I think this still holds generally, clearly my capacity as an instructor to speak my commitment to anti-racism into being is limited. Whether this commitment is effective can really only be judged, I suspect, by whether my students of color experience it in the classroom as actively resisting racist pedagogical logic and practice for them.
Non-violent pedagogy, as I attempt to practice it, seeks to limit if not eradicate the coercive dynamics of student-teacher relations. Of course, I have to comport myself somewhat differently depending on where students "are" as learners and as human beings. But increasingly, I have sought to make space for my students to show up in class in whatever way they need to that day. The only limit being of course the extent to which they "way of showing up" disrupts their colleagues' ability and desire to engage our topic or activity.
We understand that we are there to learn, to engage, to respect one another. Learning to do this even when we don't necessarily "feel like it" is certainly part of developing ourselves as professionals. But punitive disciplinarity, be it via my engagement with students in the classroom, or using policies or grades as modes of control, is something I seek to eliminate in my pedagogical toolkit.
While I have no illusions about our (both my and my students') "place" in the university as an institution, its means of organization, control, or discipline, I seek to make our learning goals for the day, the semester, and beyond the organizing objective of our interpersonal relations.
We understand that we are there to learn, to engage, to respect one another. Learning to do this even when we don't necessarily "feel like it" is certainly part of developing ourselves as professionals. But punitive disciplinarity, be it via my engagement with students in the classroom, or using policies or grades as modes of control, is something I seek to eliminate in my pedagogical toolkit.
While I have no illusions about our (both my and my students') "place" in the university as an institution, its means of organization, control, or discipline, I seek to make our learning goals for the day, the semester, and beyond the organizing objective of our interpersonal relations.
At UTEP, I also co-chaired the Entering Student Program’s “Research and Creative Projects Showcase” where students in first year seminar courses compete to present the best of their work from that semester at an open public forum of their colleagues, instructors, and family members. Most recently my own first year seminar students presented creative research video projects in which they produced a recruitment video for students from a foreign country of their choice, inviting them to come study at UTEP. Students researched the cultural dynamics at both their own university and that of the chosen target audience of cultural others. The project required students to make professional, technically sound, and culturally aware rhetorical choices in their video invitation to come and study at UTEP. Below is a short video about our fall 2015 Showcase:
As a first year seminar instructor I used the organizing theme “intercultural communication in the 21st century” to encourage students to see themselves as shaped by cultural dynamics at once not entirely of their own making and yet dependent on their continued participation in perpetuating these cultural structures in social, political, and professional environments. Within this process I asked students to discuss cultural difference as a material reality as well as an emotive and symbolic reality that they can both replicate and critique as they study and write about the topic of intercultural communication. To excite students’ passion for study and exploration, I encouraged them to think of themselves as researchers—even in their very first semester.
My work with first year and transfer students cultivated a deep concern that students develop academic success skills for use later in their academic and professional careers. It continues to shape my approach as an assistant professor. As an online lecturer teaching first year and transfer student seminars, I received institutional grant funding to collaborate with our university library developing online learning modules together to improve students’ information literacy skills. These modules helped students learn and practice the mechanical skills needed to read online, search library databases, and find materials, as well as how to begin evaluating the materials they obtained. Students then assessed these materials’ relevance, authority, and accuracy, ultimately situating them in relation to their writing objectives for later assignments. I take an expressly formative, rather than summative, approach to my feedback on these and all my assignments to encourage students to see coursework as part of “learning to learn,” enabling them to shift their expectations from a “banking,” “memorize and regurgitate” approach to writing and research activity to an inquiry, objective-focused activity that they can refine and hone as they become increasingly self-directed learners.
Courses Taught
Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
Assistant Professor
Department of English 2017-Present
ENGL 3365: Professional Report Writing (4 sections)
Guide students through the process of drafting, revising, and editing professional reports, from informal emails, to professional recommendation reports. Students are encouraged as writers to think “rhetorically” about the reporting they do, considering the goals and objectives of their reporting, the audience for their writing, audience expectations for writing, and so on. Throughout the course we consider the larger socio-cultural, political, and ethical concerns that confront us as we write reports in professional settings.
The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX
Visiting Lecturer
Department of English, 2015-2017
ENGL 5313: Grant Writing (online, 2 sections)
Guide students through the basics of grant writing and administration as they produce a complete grant application for this master’s level core requirement in UTEP’s Technical and Professional Writing Certificate program. Conducted 100% online in an accelerated 7-week format.
RWS 1301: Rhetoric and Composition I (1 section)
Introduce freshmen to the basics of composition in a variety of academic, professional, and creative rhetorical situations as they learn to compose memos, annotated bibliographies, and creative visual presentations.
Department of Religious Studies, 2014-2017
RS 3330: History of Christianity (online, 3 sections)
Introduce students to the historical origins and development of Christianity with an emphasis on critically engaging primary source materials.
RS 3320: Judaism (online, 4 sections)
Introduce students to the historical origins and development of Judaism with an emphasis on critically engaging primary source materials.
Lecturer
Entering Student Program, 2012-2017
UNIV 1301: Seminar for Critical Inquiry (online, face-to-face, 19 sections)
First-year seminar course designed to teach academic success skills to entering students (freshman and transfer students) using the theme of “Intercultural Communication in the 21st Century.”
UNIV 2350: Interdisciplinary Technology and Society (online, 14 sections)
Seminar course designed to teach academic success skills to transfer students using the theme of “Intercultural Communication in the 21st Century.”
Professional Advisor/Lecturer
Academic Advising Center/Entering Student Program, 2009-2012
UNIV 1301: Seminar for Critical Inquiry (face-to-face, 5 sections)
UNIV 2350: Interdisciplinary Technology and Society (hybrid, online, 7 sections)
Academy for Church Planting and Leadership, Bangalore, India
Visiting Professor, 2008-2013
Taught undergraduate and master’s level church history, biblical theology, and critical theology courses in an intercultural education context to individuals from multiple language backgrounds at an ecclesial school in Bangalore, India as well as satellite campuses in Dimapur, Nagaland; Bidar, Karnataka; Kathmandu, Nepal; and Trincomalee, Sri Lanka.
Supervised and assisted with the development and evaluation of national students’ theses helping to improve the institution’s graduation rate.
Assisted with program curricula development for a national master’s program.
Composed organizational guidelines for writing master’s level theses
Assistant Professor
Department of English 2017-Present
ENGL 3365: Professional Report Writing (4 sections)
Guide students through the process of drafting, revising, and editing professional reports, from informal emails, to professional recommendation reports. Students are encouraged as writers to think “rhetorically” about the reporting they do, considering the goals and objectives of their reporting, the audience for their writing, audience expectations for writing, and so on. Throughout the course we consider the larger socio-cultural, political, and ethical concerns that confront us as we write reports in professional settings.
The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX
Visiting Lecturer
Department of English, 2015-2017
ENGL 5313: Grant Writing (online, 2 sections)
Guide students through the basics of grant writing and administration as they produce a complete grant application for this master’s level core requirement in UTEP’s Technical and Professional Writing Certificate program. Conducted 100% online in an accelerated 7-week format.
RWS 1301: Rhetoric and Composition I (1 section)
Introduce freshmen to the basics of composition in a variety of academic, professional, and creative rhetorical situations as they learn to compose memos, annotated bibliographies, and creative visual presentations.
Department of Religious Studies, 2014-2017
RS 3330: History of Christianity (online, 3 sections)
Introduce students to the historical origins and development of Christianity with an emphasis on critically engaging primary source materials.
RS 3320: Judaism (online, 4 sections)
Introduce students to the historical origins and development of Judaism with an emphasis on critically engaging primary source materials.
Lecturer
Entering Student Program, 2012-2017
UNIV 1301: Seminar for Critical Inquiry (online, face-to-face, 19 sections)
First-year seminar course designed to teach academic success skills to entering students (freshman and transfer students) using the theme of “Intercultural Communication in the 21st Century.”
UNIV 2350: Interdisciplinary Technology and Society (online, 14 sections)
Seminar course designed to teach academic success skills to transfer students using the theme of “Intercultural Communication in the 21st Century.”
Professional Advisor/Lecturer
Academic Advising Center/Entering Student Program, 2009-2012
UNIV 1301: Seminar for Critical Inquiry (face-to-face, 5 sections)
UNIV 2350: Interdisciplinary Technology and Society (hybrid, online, 7 sections)
Academy for Church Planting and Leadership, Bangalore, India
Visiting Professor, 2008-2013
Taught undergraduate and master’s level church history, biblical theology, and critical theology courses in an intercultural education context to individuals from multiple language backgrounds at an ecclesial school in Bangalore, India as well as satellite campuses in Dimapur, Nagaland; Bidar, Karnataka; Kathmandu, Nepal; and Trincomalee, Sri Lanka.
Supervised and assisted with the development and evaluation of national students’ theses helping to improve the institution’s graduation rate.
Assisted with program curricula development for a national master’s program.
Composed organizational guidelines for writing master’s level theses