Fun Facts

In order to feel my best, I have to balance my academics and athletics. If I spend all morning in the library working on a paper, you can bet that I'll spend all afternoon going for a long, meditative run. It's been wonderful to make the transition from rural Maryland (where I'm from!) to NYC, and having to adjust my running habits to a complex urban environment.

About Me

I am a first-year MA student in the department of English and American Literature at NYU. In 2012 I graduated summa cum laude from Goucher College in maryland/towson">Towson, Maryland with a major in English and a minor in Anthropology. I am still in the early stages of the MA program, and depending on how my research interests develop over the next two years I will either use my MA to teach/tutor full time or I will apply to PhD programs so that I can ultimately teach at the university level.

As an undergraduate at Goucher College I worked as a writing center tutor for 3 years, helping students from all majors write and edit their papers. This was tremendously rewarding and enjoyable. Working one-on-one with students and helping them create a thesis, organize their essay, cite their sources, etc. instilled in me a passion for meticulously edited work and honest, effective prose.

One frustration that I have found in many students is the difficulty in transcribing concepts from their head onto the page. Often, I find that students grasp a particular idea well and can clearly and effectively explain it in speech, but that the process of "fitting" that idea into written language on the page makes the otherwise clear concept murky. I address this issue by having students "talk out" their arguments, points, goals, etc. with me before we even move to the page. It is crucial that students feel confident about their work and "own it", so to speak, before they make their ideas conform to written language.