I am currently a Doctoral Candidate in English Studies at Old Dominion University, pursuing the Literary/Cultural Studies and Rhetoric concentrations.

As a Special Projects Graduate Research Assistant, I have served on the Quality Enhancement Planning (QEP) Board and University Eportfolio Committee, worked as a facilitator for pedagogical workshops, and designed, implemented and assessed several pilot studies connected to an evolving eportfolio initiative within the English Department. In Fall 2013, I am collaborating on a Mobile Think Tank, designed to collect and analyze data regarding students’ use of mobile technology as a learning tool.

In my research, I study the intersection of literature and rhetoric, focusing in particular on early modern women and discourses of authority, as well as metafiction and historiography. My previous research includes a study of Mary Stuart and her Casket Sonnets, analyzing the ways in which Stuart manipulated gendered roles within the sonnet tradition for political purposes. My dissertation Constructing an Early Modern Queen: Gender, Authority, and the Rhetoric of Identity examines Elizabeth Tudor as a significant rhetor during the early modern moment.