Director of Doctoral Studies and Clinical Assistant Professor
Clinical Assistant Professor
LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION
Curriculum and Instruction; Access and Equity; Bullying; English Education; ESL / ENL / Bilingual; Literacy; Gender, Culture, and Equity; Educator Preparation; Higher Education; Race, Inequality, and Education; Linguistic, Discourse, and Sociocultural Context; Qualitative Research Methods; Professional / Staff Development; Social and Emotional Development
Broadly, my research themes include teacher education, professional socialization and identity development, mentoring relationships in higher education, and the role of equity and inclusion in cultivating supportive and sustainable educational environments. Specifically, my research explores issues of teacher preparation, teacher candidate identity formation, teacher professional identity formation, and teacher retention and attrition. In addition, my research examines professional socialization and identity development of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, mentoring relationships, and mentoring practices in higher education as they relate to self-efficacy, sociocultural inequity, and belongingness within and across educational contexts.
Teacher Education and Professional Identity Formation Scholarship: Teaching requires educators to respond to constantly changing subject matter, standards, and students that are shaped by complex societal, cultural, political, and socioeconomic factors. As a result, differences between expectation and reality can be difficult for beginning teachers to reconcile; a disconnect that lends itself to considerations of teacher self-efficacy. As novice teachers continue to experience fluctuating levels of self-efficacy during the identity transition from preservice to in-service teacher, it is critical to continue researching the relationship between preservice expectations and the early-career realities of the teaching profession. Furthermore, working toward a shared vision of reimagined teacher education requires sustained cooperation between researchers, policymakers, and practitioners, where diverse analysis collectives can better understand one another’s responsibilities and engage in transformative dialogue to support P12 schools and teachers. I posit this synergy will assist in disrupting positivist, antidemocratic policy practices that perpetuate social injustice and early-career teacher attrition, thereby tracing a path toward equity for all groups affected by educational policy. Collectively, my scholarly works explore the dynamics that affect the intersecting roles of educators as agents of state and agents of change, the preparation and induction of teachers, and how education and policy shape classroom practices to lend insight into how teacher educators can engage preservice teachers in experiential learning, applied practice, and critical reflection to support their early-career teacher identity development.
Mentoring Relationships in Higher Education Scholarship: My research on mentorship addresses the persistent marginalization experienced by women, People of Color, and international students in STEM fields, as well as includes strategies for how to reimagine inclusive and sustainable academic STEM environments. Using theories of human, social, structural, and positive psychological capital, my research aims to identify and reform underlying values, discrete elements, and frameworks that perpetuate exploitative practices which negatively impact mentoring relationships, research culture, the sense of belonging (to higher education), and the overall well-being of those working within and across educational disciplines. Related to my research on how we mentor and prepare preservice teachers, this research seeks to enhance the current body of mentoring literature to promote reflective, culturally responsive practices and the cultivation of supportive and sustainable research environments for students, faculty, and staff.
Equity and Inclusion Scholarship: Evidenced in part by my scholarship in teacher education and mentoring, my research is foregrounded in creating and sustaining equitable and inclusive educational environments. In addition, my research aims to deconstruct xenophobia by providing a closer look at COVID-19’s impact on the United States economy and educational landscape, discussing the global history of pandemic-prompted xenophobia and its relationship to sensationalized media discourse, and recommending the reconsideration of various intercultural communication aspects in relation to public health issues. In addition, I have published on the importance of place-conscious methods in rural education, the need to examine faculty-student cyberbullying in higher education, and the need to address LGBTQIA+ cyberbullying victimization to promote help-seeking, conflict resolution, and resource utilization within higher education.