Education

• Ph.D., British Literature, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
• M.A., British and American Literature, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
• B.A., English, with theology minor, Wisconsin Lutheran College, Milwaukee, WI

Background

My work explores the novels of Elizabeth Gaskell who challenges 19th-century notions of what constitutes reliable, credible, and even admissible truth claims. Gaskell reflects the public's - and the legal community's - anxiety regarding truth claims and the evidence that was permitted to be used to ascertain the truth. Her novels address this anxiety through narrative techniques incorporating different forms of evidence to open a discussion in her readers regarding gender and power as well as truth and authenticity, and her conclusions have implications well beyond law to theology, politics, and narrative ethics.

Teaching

• ENG 101: Writing and Rhetoric
• ENG 221: British Literature II
• ENG 295: Genre Studies: Fiction
• ENG 303: Professional Writing
• ENG 304: Advanced Writing
• ENG 305: Creative Writing
• ENG 306: Technical and Scientific Writing
• ENG 326: Victorian Literature
• ENG 498: Senior Thesis

Research Interests

• Victorian Novel
• Law and Literature
• Narrative Theory
• Professional Writing

Scholarly Works

Publications

“Why I Am a Lutheran: Perspectives from Three Women Professors.” Co-authored with Angela Ebeling and Kristi Meyer. Logia 26.4 (Fall 2017): 19-24.

“Allowing for the Transcendent in Postmodernism.”  CHARIS 4.4 (Winter 2005): 28-34.

Select Conference Presentations

“Practicing Community in Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford.”  63^rd Annual Convention of the Midwest Modern Language Association, Minneapolis, 18 November 2022.

“Collective Acts of Compassion: Gender and Labor in Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South and Mary Barton.”  62^nd Annual Convention of the Midwest Modern Language Association, Milwaukee, 4-7 November 2021.

“Using the Common Read to Write with Purpose.”  Conference on College Composition & Communication, Milwaukee, 27 March 2020.

“Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth: The Providential Plotting of a Social Problem Novel.”  61^st  Annual Convention of the Midwest Modern Language Association, Chicago, 14 November 2019.

“Revising a General Education Curriculum: Lessons Learned.”  50 ^th Annual College English Association Conference, New Orleans, 30 March 2019.

“The Body as a Site for Change: Truth Telling in Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South.”  59th Annual Convention of the Midwest Modern Language Association, Cincinnati, 11 November 2017.

“Vocation as Pursuit of the Holy Ordinary.”  81^st Annual Association of Lutheran College Faculties Conference, Mequon, 1 October 2016.

“Creating Meaning through a Professionalized Learning Environment.” 47^th Annual College English Association Conference, Denver, 31 March 2016.

 “Testimony as Narrative Representation.”  12^th Annual Women’s Studies Conference, Milwaukee, 23 March 2006.

“Employing a Little ‘Re-Direction’: Negotiating Graduate Student Dynamics in University Writing Centers.”  International Writing Centers Association & National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing Conference, Minneapolis, 21 October 2005.

“Confession and Reason in Ann Radcliffe’s The Italian.”  11^th Annual Women’s Studies Conference, Milwaukee, 11 March 2005.

Select Invited Talks

Association of Marquette University Women Book Club, Invited Moderator and Discussion Leader, 10 October 2023.  The Book of Nature by Barbara Mahany.

Association of Marquette University Women Book Club, Invited Moderator and Discussion Leader, 28 March 2023. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell.

Association of Marquette University Women Library Reception, Invited Moderator, 2 November 2022.

Association of Marquette University Women Book Club, Invited Moderator and Discussion Leader, 28 March 2022.  Send for Me by Lauren Fox.

Association of Marquette University Women Book Club, Invited Speaker and Discussion Leader, 21 October 2021.  A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner.

Association of Marquette University Women Book Club, Invited Discussion Leader, 15 October 2020.  Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.

“Questions of Romance, Gender, and Class in Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South.”  Association of Marquette University Women, Invited Speaker, Milwaukee, 22 September 2015.

Select Service

Wisconsin Lutheran College

• Department of English, Head, 2019-2022
• General Education Committee, Chair, 2021
• General Education Committee, Member, 2018-2021
• Creative Writing Club, Advisor, 2013-Current
• Behavioral Intervention Team, Faculty Liaison, 2009-Current
• General Education Task Force, Member, 2014-15
• Accreditation Committee, Member, 2013-2014
• Co-Curricular Committee, Chair, 2012-2015
• Co-Curricular Committee, Member, 2011-2015

Community

• Association of Marquette University Women, Leadership Council, 2023-Current
• Association of Marquette University Women, Board of Directors, 2012-2023
• St. Marcus School Council, 2022-Current
• St. Marcus Care Team, 2013-2022

Professional Memberships

• Midwest Modern Language Association
• College English Association
• Gaskell Society