Teaching Philosophy

As a Communication professor with a background and interest in media, I find that one of the most successful teaching strategies is one that integrates theory and practice. From teaching theories regarding mass communication to film to critical theory, I find that most students are able to comprehend these concepts much more successfully once I employ active learning techniques. Although many communication classes are separated between production and theory or criticism classes, I find that this separation need not be perpetuated. The addition of active learning in the classroom gives students the opportunity to practice individually and in groups many of the larger theories and concepts covered in the readings and lecture. Specifically, I incorporate into all of my lectures small group work, question and answer periods, in- class writing, peer review, and topic oriented exercises.

Scholarly Interests

The focus of my research is currently on the use of changing representations of nationalism, patriotism and citizenship in the exhibits and documentary films in public history sites. My research incorporates an interdisciplinary methodology that includes rhetoric, documentary film theory, memory studies, and critical/cultural studies. These varied theoretical approaches help to illuminate the intersection of location, memory and documentary film.

Communication 261, Graduate Seminar: Critical and Qualitative Research Methodologies
Communication 293, Graduate Seminar: Visual Communication
Communication 293, Graduate Seminar: Critical Theory and Ideology
Communication 150, Communication Capstone
Communication 133, Documentary as Persuasive Communication
Communication 134, Documentary Film Production
Honors 41, Creativity and Knowledge
Pacific Seminar II, Media and Pop Culture Critique
Pacific Seminar III, The Ethics of Family, Work and Citizenship

Faculty Research Lecturer Award 2015-16, University of the Pacific.

Jane Jacobs Urban Communication Book of the Year Award, 2013 for Exhibiting Patriotism: Creating and Contesting Interpretations of American Historic Sites

Pacific Fund Grant for research on Commemorating Women: Contemporary Patriotic Memorials in the United States, 2015.

Associate Editor for the Western Journal of Communication, 2006-Present.

Editorial Board for Women's Studies in Communication journal, 2013-Present.

Editorial Board for Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research. Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2015.