You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.
~ Angela Davis
~ Angela Davis
About Me
I am an assistant professor and critical educator in the Teacher Education Division at Wayne State University in Detroit*, Michigan. I am also an activist and an abolitionist. I identify as a white, pansexual cis woman with non-visible disabilities. My primary line of inquiry focuses on how school systems, policies, and practices impact multiply marginalized youth from their perspectives. I use critical theories, including disability critical race theory (DisCrit), critical spatial theory, and intersectionality along with qualitative (interviews, focus groups) and visual (photovoice, cartography) methods. I believe that schools should ask students about their experiences and then make changes based on their solutions and suggestions. I am particularly interested in learning from and with girls of color, including girls of color who identify with or have been labeled autism, cerebral palsy, deaf/blindness, intellectual disability, and/or multiple disabilities. I believe their experiences and perspectives are vital to truly reconstruct schools. I also work with educators to create learning communities that are culturally responsive, culturally sustaining, and inclusive and with families from diverse backgrounds to transform family-school-community partnerships. Equity, justice, interconnectedness, and access are at the heart of my work.
I grew up in Faribault, Minnesota. Before pursuing a PhD, I was a public school teacher in big city spaces (Minneapolis, Minnesota and Phoenix, Arizona) and rural communities (Homer, Alaska) for 8 years. I was also a Peace Corps Volunteer in Gobabis, Namibia (2007-2009), a Peace Corps Response Volunteer in Salala, Liberia (2014), and an AmeriCorps Vista Volunteer in Homer, Alaska (2015). I enjoy spending time with friends, family, and especially my dog Marley. I thrive being outside hiking, camping, and gardening. I am a photographer always and sometimes a musician too.
As you read and explore this website, my hope is that you will see how my beliefs and actions concerning research, teaching, and service integrally inform one another. I see research as an avenue to rupture dominant ideologies and reimagine and recreate schooling by following the lead of multiply marginalized communities. I pair service with teaching for meaningful, collaborative partnerships.
*Wayne State University rests on Waawiyaataanong, also referred to as Detroit, the ancestral and contemporary homelands of the Anishinaabewaki, Peoria, Potawatomi, Meskwakeee (Fox), Mississauga, and Miami peoples. However, this land acknowledgement is not action. As a white person, I am a colonizer here, and it is my responsibility is to provide solidarity and reparations to Indigenous communities, both until and after they get their land back. We need mass land returns and reparations to Indigenous communities and reparations to Black communities.
I grew up in Faribault, Minnesota. Before pursuing a PhD, I was a public school teacher in big city spaces (Minneapolis, Minnesota and Phoenix, Arizona) and rural communities (Homer, Alaska) for 8 years. I was also a Peace Corps Volunteer in Gobabis, Namibia (2007-2009), a Peace Corps Response Volunteer in Salala, Liberia (2014), and an AmeriCorps Vista Volunteer in Homer, Alaska (2015). I enjoy spending time with friends, family, and especially my dog Marley. I thrive being outside hiking, camping, and gardening. I am a photographer always and sometimes a musician too.
As you read and explore this website, my hope is that you will see how my beliefs and actions concerning research, teaching, and service integrally inform one another. I see research as an avenue to rupture dominant ideologies and reimagine and recreate schooling by following the lead of multiply marginalized communities. I pair service with teaching for meaningful, collaborative partnerships.
*Wayne State University rests on Waawiyaataanong, also referred to as Detroit, the ancestral and contemporary homelands of the Anishinaabewaki, Peoria, Potawatomi, Meskwakeee (Fox), Mississauga, and Miami peoples. However, this land acknowledgement is not action. As a white person, I am a colonizer here, and it is my responsibility is to provide solidarity and reparations to Indigenous communities, both until and after they get their land back. We need mass land returns and reparations to Indigenous communities and reparations to Black communities.
