In my years of teaching, program administration, and advocacy work in women’s shelters, I’ve seen writing make space for people to navigate trauma and build resilience. My research asks: How does this happen? And how can writing support belonging?
Current Research
My current research is supported by a New Directions Fellowship from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (2024–2026). This fellowship is funding my training in psychology and neuroscience so I can develop approaches to writing and writing pedagogy that are grounded in the science of resilience.
As part of this work, I’m writing my first book, Writing is Resilience: Fostering Agency and Transformation in First-Year Composition, which argues that students can cultivate resilience through writing as they exercise agency and reshape how they respond to uncertainty. Drawing from rhetorical theory, composition pedagogy, and the cognitive sciences, my book offers a framework for resilience-centered instruction at classroom, programmatic, and institutional levels.
Research Foundations
My research grows from a longstanding inquiry into how writing shapes the ways people navigate adversity — a question that first emerged in my work on trauma writing. Over time, this inquiry has expanded to include explorations of empathy, which can be difficult to sustain in equity-focused work. Increasingly, I’m finding that a truly resilient pedagogy extends care not only to our students, but also to ourselves. Across these projects, I’ve remained guided by listening—to students, colleagues, texts, and our cultural moment—and by a commitment to humanizing writing instruction.
Selected Publications
These selected publications reflect key themes in my ongoing research. A full list of my publications is available upon request.
“How putting your thoughts into words rewires your brain.” The Washington Post. 21 Nov 2025.
“Writing builds resilience by changing your brain, helping you face everyday challenges.” The Conversation. 24 Nov 2025. Republished across The Conversation’s syndication network. Translated into Portuguese, French, and Japanese.
“Resilience: A Rhetorical Tool.” Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture 25.3 (2025): pp. 367–389.
“Joy: A Compass Through Failure.” Chapter in Joy-Centered Pedagogy: Uplifting Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, edited by Eileen Kogl Camfield. Routledge (2025): pp. 212–225.
“Actionable Empathy Through Rhetorical Listening: A Possible Future for First-Year Composition.” Co-authored with Allison Tharp. College Composition and Communication 74.4 (June 2023): pp. 731–757.
“Negotiating Dominance in Writing Program Administration.” Chapter in Systems Shift: Creating and Navigating Change in Rhetoric and Composition Administration, edited by Genesea Carter and Aurora Matzke. WAC Clearinghouse (2023): pp. 189–202.
“Pathologizing the Wounded? Interrogating PTSD in an Era of Gun Violence.” Rhetoric of Health and Medicine 3.1 (March 2020): pp. 1–33.
“Methodology & Accountability: Tracking Our Movements as Feminist Pedagogues.” Chapter in Composing Feminist Interventions: Activism, Engagement, Praxis, edited by Kristine Blair and Lee Nickoson. WAC Clearinghouse (2018): pp. 57–74.