English Professor + AI Expert

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In the thirteen years since joining the OCC community, I have watched our student body grow more complex, more resilient, and more remarkable with every passing year. Our students come to us from every walk of life, some focused and ready, others balancing jobs, children, aging parents, and pressures most people never see. They have navigated a pandemic, national unrest, and a rapidly shifting world that has made many of them question their place in higher education and in their chosen careers. Showing up for those students, every semester, is the work I care most about.

This portfolio reflects how I show up. The learning objects, course materials, and teaching documents here are built around a few principles I return to again and again: that students need multiple pathways to succeed, that every learner has a superpower worth developing, and that metacognition and growth mindset are not add-ons. They are the foundation. 

AI literacy is where those principles get tested in real time. Students arrive every semester either afraid of AI or misusing it, and I am passionate about solving both problems at once. I build metacognition, mindset, and regular self-assessment into my courses first, so students arrive at AI with a strong sense of their own abilities. Then I teach them to use it purposefully in prewriting and revision, where it sharpens their thinking rather than replacing it. The result is students who are more intellectually confident, more resilient, and more prepared for the world they are actually entering.

My academic background is in English Literature. I hold an MA and specialized certificates from Oxford and Cambridge in English Literary Studies and Shakespearean Studies. I value the timeless, human-centered experiences explored in literature, and the talent and skill that allow writers to reach readers across time periods, religions, races, worldwide locations, and shifting political and ideological landscapes. The study of literary works is more than an academic pursuit for me: it is how I intellectualize the human condition, and it is a constant source of awe and inspiration. It is why I've focused on language, voice, and writing at every stage of my career, and it is why I teach.

Outside the classroom, I live in Michigan with my husband, our two daughters, and two mini labradoodles who consider cuddling a full-time job. I recharge with hot yoga, spinning, and weightlifting, and I am happiest around a table with good friends, great food, and philosophical conversation.