The study of the humanities—knowledge of literature, language, history, philosophy, and culture—belongs equally to the scholarly traditions through which it is perpetuated and the public discourses through which it is sustained. The specialized research of the doctoral dissertation is as valuable to society as the informal exchange of ideas among friends and family. Humanistic inquiry is found in the intricate translational and interpretive work of literary studies, and it is expressed in the fundamental questions your child asks you about the meaning of the stories you read together each night. It is found in the archival and citational weight of peer-reviewed accounts of the history of our country and in debates between students in a high school classroom.
This knowledge belongs to all of us. It is the rightful inheritance of every person regardless of background or position. For this reason, the people to whom it has been formally entrusted—those with the highest levels of training in the texts and methods of humanities scholarship—have an obligation to do their work in the service not only of their academic disciplines, but also for the public good. It is my conviction that humanistic knowledge, preserved and advanced through research, teaching, and meaningful community engagement, is critically important in our interconnected world and essential to American democracy and public life.
Professional Biography
In my current role as Associate Director of the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington, I serve an expansive research mission to support humanities scholarship and to advocate for its value to audiences beyond the academy. The Simpson Center is one of the largest and most comprehensive humanities centers in the United States. It operates under the direction of Kathleen Woodward, whose leadership shapes the Simpson Center’s internationally-known initiatives in digital humanities, public scholarship, and innovation in graduate education. An important aspect of my work at the center involves securing and stewarding grant funding to support emerging research in the humanities. I also pilot and develop our programs and serve as a main point of contact for regional institutional partners and national organizations.
I speak and write regularly on the value of the humanities and on professional life in higher education. My most recent essay, for the ADE Bulletin, offers a reflection on career directions for PhDs in English. An article for Inside Higher Ed, co-authored with Cristóbal A. Borges and Jim Jewell, gives advice on how doctoral students can effectively prepare for and obtain faculty positions at two-year colleges. And my introduction to Public Scholarship in Literary Studies (Amherst College Press, 2021), a collection of essays I co-edited with Rosemary Erickson Johnsen, outlines the stakes and institutional contexts of the many forms of publicly-engaged teaching, writing, and research underway in literary studies in and beyond English departments in the United States and Canada.
Presently, I serve on the Delegate Assembly of the Modern Language Association (MLA) as a Delegate for Region 7, the Western United States and Western Canada, and on the Council of Advisors for the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory (HASTAC). I recently chaired the Association of Departments of English Ad Hoc Committee on English Majors’ Career Preparation and Outcomes—you can read our full report here—and I have served on planning and review committees for the National Humanities Alliance (NHA), the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and Humanities Washington.
Born in Olympia, raised in Grays Harbor, and now based in Seattle, I am deeply committed to Washington State and the Pacific Northwest region. I have supported and participated in a wide range of cross-institutional partnerships here, working with humanities educators and leaders in the K-12 system, community colleges, and four-year colleges and universities to strengthen educational infrastructure and expand access to opportunity for all students. I come from a family of public school teachers, and I hold the PhD in English from the University of Washington.
Writing
My short fiction has appeared in the Clackamas Literary Review and The Westchester Review. My scholarly work has been published in the Flannery O’Connor Review, Literature Interpretation Theory, and Early American Literature.
Read “Territorial Claims” in the Summer 2023 issue of The Westchester Review. The story was nominated for the "Best of the Net" anthology, an annual acknowledgement of literary excellence in online publishing.
