Fun Facts

1.) I have published numerous peer reviewed academic articles about the history and significance of heavy metal music.

2.) I served in the Peace Corps in Northern Albania

3.) I am a regular contributor to the website PopMatters.com

About Me

I have recently received my PhD in American Studies with a Graduate Certificate in International Cultural Studies from the University of Hawai`i, Manoa. I also hold an MA in Popular Culture from Bowling Green State University and a BA from the University of Montana. I have had extensive teaching experience, both with online courses and traditional classrooms. Almost all of the courses that I have taught have focused on writing skills, composition, and reading-comprehension/washington/seattle">reading comprehension. My courses have included large amounts of time working one-on-one with my students to improve their writing and comprehension skills.

In addition to my course work and research, I have taught numerous courses, given a number of guest lectures, and led several discussion sections concerning American religions, cultural theory, philosophy, and popular culture. While working on my MA in Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University I had the opportunity to teach three semesters of Introduction to Popular Culture, an experience that I found immensely enjoyable and exciting. While studying for my PhD at the University of Hawai`i I spent nearly three years conducting in-depth ethnographic research within the local heavy metal scene on Oahu that has developed into my doctoral dissertation. My dissertation research has revealed the numerous ways in which religion, gender performance, and numerous other cultural factors are used to construct and contest identities through heavy metal subculture.

In my second year at the University of Hawai`i I was given the opportunity to begin teaching and designing my own courses which have included several 200 level courses concerning popular culture, American religions, and American institutions and movements. In addition, I have given several guest lecturers in the American Studies Department and the Religion Department at the University of Hawai`i concerning American religions and popular culture. During the summer of 2011 I was given the opportunity to travel to the arts">California College of the Arts in order to guest lecture about Harry Potter fan-culture and the anti-Harry Potter backlash from the religious right. From the fall of 2011 until my graduation in December of 2012 I taught online courses on American music while finishing my dissertation.

When planning a course, lecture, or washington/washington/seattle">seattle">tutoring session I construct a basic framework of discussion around PowerPoint presentations or other visual aids that provide a basic roadmap for discussion, while also allowing for as much adaptation and elaboration as necessary. I encourage students to interrupt me with questions, and respond to one another’s queries; in this way, I attempt to establish a middle-ground between a moderated class discussion, and a traditional lecture. I feel that it is important to keep students focused through a high-energy, stimulating classroom environment in which pictures, music, video clips, and quotations are all combined with student participation and instructor commentary. I would very much enjoy bringing my experiences and techniques to Frog washington/washington/seattle">seattle">Tutoring.