About Me

I am a gleeful and collaborative teacher and administrator who has worked in higher education for 23 years. Growing up in the migrant farming community of Arvin, California, I was keenly aware that my literate aptitude, which I only later associated with my whiteness, offered opportunities others did not receive. A proud first-generation college student and community college graduate, I have shared writing centers and classrooms with writers at a variety of postsecondary institutions, all of which have reinforced the flawed systemic conflation of Standard American English with intelligence and worth. In pursuit of a Ph.D. in Writing Studies at the University of Illinois, I wrote a dissertation examining how standardized intelligence testing and eugenics converged with limited understandings and assessments of literacy to justify the marginalization and mistreatment of many.

As an educator, I am passionate about supporting basic writers--most of whom have been defined against literacy and academic success--helping them discover how their existing rhetorical skills, linguistic awareness, and life experiences equip them to be effective writers. My work as an administrator is equal parts support, advocacy, and creativity; it is a great privilege to earn people's trust and support them so they may do their best work. And because all of my best work started with the intellectual generosity of others, professional development and sharing of resources are critical in all of my professional pursuits.

As I work at the intersection of social justice, race, and literacy, I begin with myself--every day recognizing my complicity in white supremacy and white supremacist systems; resisting what Wonderful Faison, Romeo García, and Anna K. Treviño have named White Womanhood Benevolence; and using my privilege to do the work Ijeoma Oluo calls for of dismantling the machine(s) I benefit from. I prioritize relationship and community building and believe that effective anti-racism work must amplify and defer to the work of BIPOC scholars, educators, writers, and activists.