"Over the course of nearly two decades spent in higher education, I have developed an advanced understanding of both short- and long-form academic writing. My tenure as a graduate student at the University of Mississippi and Columbia has yielded two MA theses and a full-length dissertation; a wealth of original contemporary and historical socio-cultural research; academic, encyclopedic, and journalistic publications; and a curatorial position with Smithsonian-Folkways. I gained additional editing experience through assistantships with the distinguished interdisciplinary journal The Global South and the publication arm of the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture.

My research has helped me to access a pedagogical environment attuned to the potential for mentorship and instruction, temporary or otherwise, to serve as a shared creative, intellectual process in ways that deeply engage humanistic principles, and, importantly, multiple modalities of intelligence. Additionally, my experience as an instructor in Columbia’s Music Department was aimed towards helping students connect thoughtfully with the globally informed network of local, cultural communities in New York City. My mentorship approach reflects my own education in the disciplines of culture and media studies; anthropology; sociology; ethnomusicology; urban studies; and race and the articulation of difference in the United States. With the ever-growing diversity of collegiate demographics, and the present emphasis on identity politics, I believe my instructional praxis offers many resources and entry points for helping students understand and interrogate the complex and often challenging world in which they pursue educational goals. I very much enjoy supporting students in their own inquires and consider it among the most fulfilling aspects of academic labor, and a crucial channel through which they can access the joys of academic work, civic-minded intellectualism, and highly competitive written and analytical skills." less...