After 17 years of teaching, including 10 years at top 20, R1 universities, I am now pursuing a PhD in Applied Linguistics at the University of Memphis. I am excited to focus on my professional development and pursue my research interests in critical pedagogy, identity formation, academic writing, genre analysis, graduate communications, and English for Specific Purposes (ESP).

In every class I design or teach, I search for opportunities to uplift, empower, and inspire students to reach their full potential. Experience has taught me that interactive, challenging, authentic, and fun classes can engage students across cultures and learning backgrounds. I have written and implemented hundreds of hours of creative, communicative, and learner-centered curriculum for various modes of delivery including face-to-face, hybrid, and online courses. Balancing student and institutional priorities has meant carefully gathering and analyzing data to ensure courses meet the cultural and academic needs of program stakeholders. I am eager to further expand my career building educational environments for diverse learning communities.

I have experienced firsthand how interactive and student-centered teaching can develop students’ self-efficacy, identity formation, and metacognitive skills. To achieve this growth, I employ communicative and critical language teaching methods grounded in constructivism and social cognitive theory. I shape my lessons with needs analyses and authentic language use in context so that students may connect the skills they are learning to real-world applications.