PSU History
I have been teaching in Child, Youth, and Family Studies since 2004.
Experience
I started working with youth and young people in the mid-1990s and have experience in group and residential care, community mental health, juvenile corrections, sexuality education, queer youth support, outdoor and recreational education, runaway and homeless youth services, and voluntary out-of-school programs.
Academic/Research Interests
I am interested mostly in questions related to gender and sexuality; youth and young people; equity and justice; and the position of youth work in the United States. Through my research and teaching, I'm interested in challenging and destabilizing orthodoxy across my fields of interest - expanding my own and other people's thinking beyond what we commonly take for granted in our work.
My research approaches these and other topics primarily through interpretive and constructivist methods like content and critical discourse analysis; interpretive and hermeneutic phenomenology; critical ethnography. My work is informed by post-structuralist and critical theories (including critical feminisms, critical race theory, queer theory, and critical youth studies).
I teach content related to youth and youth work; systems of oppression and privilege; activism; sexuality; pedagogy; and critical / post-structural thought.
Personal Interests
I am a Northwesterner through and through, born and raised in the Portland area. I love the rain, the clouds, the green, the mountains, and the rivers. I enjoy hiking, travel, happy hour with friends, and being together with my big queer family.