Courses Taught
This course is an upper-division course for the humanities where we read, write and discuss the nature of travel and how travel shapes our view of the world. Classroom discussions revolve around the common experiences of travelers, how those experiences serve to open our minds and our understanding of other cultures, as well as our own. Students write their own travel narratives, perform a long rhetorical analysis of a book-length travel narrative, and work in groups to create and update a section of our class website/blog aimed at those who wish to learn more about Boulder in advance of their visits.
This course is an upper-division course for the humanities where we interrogate gender and sexualities in new media platforms and write about and in those platforms. Classroom discussions revolve around gender and sexuality theories, particularly regarding intersectionality and power structures, and effective ways to communicate such ideas. We discuss readings for content and questions of rhetoric. Students write a persuasive research paper on a topic related to gender and sexuality and then create an activist website with a blog and a video to persuade the general public to act on behalf of that same topic.
Developments in the Novel
This course is designated as pre-1900 British Literature, and my section is designed around the theme of Gender and the Gothic. We read many of the most iconic novels from 19th century England, including works by Walpole, Radcliffe, Brontë, Shelley and Lewis and discussed how gender was presented within the novels, how the authors’ gender influenced the novels, and how these themes coincided with the time period. The course also focused on historical discussions of the French Revolution and Reign of Terror and their influence on the genre.
Modern and Contemporary Literature
This course is designed around the theme of intersectionality and how views of gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity have evolved and changed through literature in the last century. This course focuses on texts by Zora Neale Hurston, Celeste Ng, Toni Morrison, T.C. Boyle, and Roxane Gay, among others.
This course is an upper-division course for engineering students. Classroom discussions and assignments revolve around concepts of design as a tool for communication.
American Masterpieces of Literature
I designed this course around the theme of “What is an American?” Given the current state of politics and the ways in which both sides of the political divide seem to think they have the copyright on defining the terms “American” and “un-American.” Therefore, we study texts ranging from the Declaration of Independence, the musical Hamilton, the film I am Not Your Negro, and the works of Mark Twain, Margaret Atwood, and Sherman Alexie.
This course is an upper-division course for the sciences. Classroom discussions revolve around concepts of utopia, the intersection of science and social theory, and effective ways to communicate such ideas.
This course introduces students to conventions of academic discourse and argument, including the personal narrative, research, and digital storytelling genres. It is taught as a workshop where students read all of each others' work and learn from each others' successes and errors.
This course has the same goals as the above course, but is for more experienced writers with a more challenging workload that emphasizes service learning. All students must volunteer and focus their projects on their volunteer organizations.
Honors Colloquium: Adventures in Podcasting
As part of the honors program, this course is designed to work with honors students from across the disciplines to examine the power of narrative and the ways in which podcasts, as both a new and old medium (radio), use narrative for change. This course utilized narrative theory to look at the current cultural consumption of podcasts for entertainment, education, news and to promote social change. As part of this course, students will divide into groups to produce their own serial podcast (10 episodes) that attempts to achieve one or all of these goals for a particular audience. These are live podcasts that we will promote to audiences outside of the class.
Honors Colloquium: Humor Studies
As part of the honors program, this course is designed to work with honors students from across the disciplines to examine comic genres in literature, film, television, drama, performance, and advertising. This course utilized psychological theory, scientific exploration, cultural examination, and an understanding of advertising conventions and audience. There was also a service learning component to this class where students were required to use comedy in a way that would encourage everyday people to take action. Projects included videos created for charitable websites and infographics to be displayed on campus.
Freshman Composition: Research, Analysis & Documentation
This course focuses on introducing students to research including analyzing journals and their discourse communities, evaluating sources, and writing a research argument. In the Fall of 2017, this course was redesigned to focus on the theme of “Language, Power & Social Justice,” where we focused extensively on the different Englishes used in America utilizing the book Other People’s English and other readings focused on race, gender, and other identities. In keeping with this theme, this class is also designed to use contract grading.
This course introduces students to several literary concepts, theories and applications. Students read short fiction, poetry and drama and analyze the readings using the concepts studies.
Aimed primarily at future teachers, this course attempts to define children’s literature and determine the best children’s books based on their message, consideration of race and gender, and learning styles, for children of all ages.
World Literature After 1600
This course introduces students to the literature of various cultures and time periods by examining major literary works in the context of important historical events. Works studied include the works of Moliere, Basho, Ibsen, Woolf and Faulkner.
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American Literature Before the Civil War
American Literature After the Civil War
This course introduces students to the literature of various cultures and time periods by examining major literary works in the context of important historical events prior to the Civil War. Works studied include the works of the founding fathers, as well as Hawthorne, Poe, and Truth and Stowe, among others.
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This course introduces students to the literature of various cultures and time periods by examining major literary works in the context of important historical events. Works studied include the works of Whitman, Dickinson, O'Connor, Miller, and Boyle.
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Introduction to Literature: Gender & Literature
This class teaches students how to analyze and engage with literature from Shakespeare to books published in 2014, paying particular attention to how sex and gender are portrayed and how that reflects the time period of the texts. Students are also asked to interpret literature on a personal level by examining their own reactions and interactions with the texts.
Composition I
This course introduces students to conventions of academic discourse, analysis, and argument, including personal narrative, visual analysis, editorial, and digital storytelling genres.
Composition II
This course introduces students to research including analyzing journals and their discourse communities, evaluating sources, writing a research argument, and digital storytelling.
University of Phoenix
Film
This course introduces students to the various conventions and genres of film and how they appeal to various audiences.
Muliticultural Literature
This course teaches students how to read, interpret, analyze, and engage with literature from multiple race, gender, and socioeconomic cultures.
This course teaches students how to interpret and engage with literature from various nations and centuries both in context of their location, and through the lens of our current cultural attitudes.
World Literature (Online)
Media Influences on American Culture
Various Composition Courses
I taught several online and brick-and-mortar introductory composition courses including Essentials of College Writing, Elements of University Composition I & II and The Persuasive Research Paper. These courses introduced students to general writing conventions and the concepts of audience & discourse communities, academic writing and research.
This course teaches students how to interrogate contemporary American culture through analysis, deconstruction, and engagement with advertising, film, television, and journalism.
World Literature II
This course taught students how to interpret, analyze, and engage with texts from Shakespeare through contemporary literature.
Composition II
This course introduced students to research including analyzing journals and their discourse communities, interviewing experts, evaluating sources, and writing a research argument.
Literary Perspectives on the Modern World
This course introduced students to 20th century American and European literature and ways to interpret, analyze, and engage with the texts. We read novels by Kurt Vonnegut, Virginia Woolf, Thomas Pynchon, Flannery O'Connor, Anthony Burgess and more. A major focus of this course was to trace literary theory as it moved from modernism to postmodernism.
Western Literary Tradition
This course introduced students to literature from Sophocles to Virginia Woolf and how to interrogate the way in which the western world values and ethics have evolved. We also looked at the way that western literature has influenced current culture by pairing Oedipus Rex with Freud's discussion of the Oedipal Complex, and Pride & Prejudice with excerpts from Bridget Jones' Diary.
Intermediate Analytical Writing
This course ntroduced students to research including analyzing journals and their discourse communities, interviewing experts, evaluating sources, and writing a research argument.
Technical Writing
This class taught students how to write resumes, cover letters, business plans, proposals, and instructions. Students eventually divided into groups and came up with a proposal for a new business and then had to learn how to propose expanding their business internationally.
Composition I & II
Using a common syllabus for a portfolio-style course, these classes introduced students to academic writing, genre, research, argument, and debate.