My commitment to diversity and inclusion is grounded in my lived experiences, my years of administrative leadership and teaching in the classroom, and my deep desire to promote equitable experiences in the communities to which I belong. I believe that inclusive education in rhetoric, writing studies, and technical communication maintains a critical role in cultivating the robust knowledge needed to transform students into student-citizens with the power to affect change in their communities.
My parents did not attend college and I am the first person in my family to seek post-graduate degrees at both the Master’s and doctoral levels. I grew up in a white, working-class family in a racially segregated town in Alabama where I interacted with the systems which oppress people due to differences in race, gender, sexuality, ability, and socio-economic status. My parents instilled in me from a young age the importance of cultural awareness and community engagement, as well as the necessity for a resilient work ethic regardless of the job I choose to do.
I have witnessed the meaningful ways diverse teams and inclusive principles strengthen academia locally and globally in my time as both a student and an instructor in undergraduate and graduate education. I have been fortunate to learn from diverse, multiply-marginalized, and underrepresented students in many classes I taught, particularly during my time as an instructor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and at Lawson State Community College. I continue to be inspired by the tenacity of students who overcome multiple barriers to become good writers, strong students, and engaged citizens. My experiences working with these talented, creative students compounds with other experiences with students at predominantly white institutions like Illinois State University (ISU) and the East Carolina University (ECU) to form the standpoint I have to teaching, service, research, and community engagement. In addition, I remain indebted for the valuable knowledge I gained from working with diverse peers and mentors throughout graduate school as a student administrator for the ISU Writing Program and as a mentee of a treasured dissertation committee.
The importance of diversity and inclusion to me is demonstrated through my service to my department, my college, and my institution at ISU. I was an elected graduate student representative on the English department Graduate Committee that eliminated the GRE as a graduate admissions requirement. As the elected Vice-Chair of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Council I ensured graduate students had the same meaningful access to workshops and teaching certifications as faculty members through the ISU Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology (CTLT). As a member of the ISU Graduate Student Advisory Council (GSAC) I worked with international graduate students across the university to navigate the evolving practices and procedures of the ISU Graduate School during the Coronavirus pandemic. Indeed, my motivation to build an equitable future manifests in all of my endeavors.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s monograph We Should All Be Feminists has significantly influenced my approach to diversity and inclusion. Adichie (2015) writes, “I often make the mistake of thinking that something that is obvious to me is just as obvious to everyone else” (p.14). The necessity for diverse, inclusive practices is apparent to me, but I realize it is not apparent to everyone. While I have dedicated my life and career to diversity and inclusion in our culture, I know not everyone has done the same. Still, I am dedicated to working with you as a part of a coalition of educators and community members to raise awareness and affect change as we build an equitable future together.
My parents did not attend college and I am the first person in my family to seek post-graduate degrees at both the Master’s and doctoral levels. I grew up in a white, working-class family in a racially segregated town in Alabama where I interacted with the systems which oppress people due to differences in race, gender, sexuality, ability, and socio-economic status. My parents instilled in me from a young age the importance of cultural awareness and community engagement, as well as the necessity for a resilient work ethic regardless of the job I choose to do.
I have witnessed the meaningful ways diverse teams and inclusive principles strengthen academia locally and globally in my time as both a student and an instructor in undergraduate and graduate education. I have been fortunate to learn from diverse, multiply-marginalized, and underrepresented students in many classes I taught, particularly during my time as an instructor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and at Lawson State Community College. I continue to be inspired by the tenacity of students who overcome multiple barriers to become good writers, strong students, and engaged citizens. My experiences working with these talented, creative students compounds with other experiences with students at predominantly white institutions like Illinois State University (ISU) and the East Carolina University (ECU) to form the standpoint I have to teaching, service, research, and community engagement. In addition, I remain indebted for the valuable knowledge I gained from working with diverse peers and mentors throughout graduate school as a student administrator for the ISU Writing Program and as a mentee of a treasured dissertation committee.
The importance of diversity and inclusion to me is demonstrated through my service to my department, my college, and my institution at ISU. I was an elected graduate student representative on the English department Graduate Committee that eliminated the GRE as a graduate admissions requirement. As the elected Vice-Chair of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Council I ensured graduate students had the same meaningful access to workshops and teaching certifications as faculty members through the ISU Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology (CTLT). As a member of the ISU Graduate Student Advisory Council (GSAC) I worked with international graduate students across the university to navigate the evolving practices and procedures of the ISU Graduate School during the Coronavirus pandemic. Indeed, my motivation to build an equitable future manifests in all of my endeavors.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s monograph We Should All Be Feminists has significantly influenced my approach to diversity and inclusion. Adichie (2015) writes, “I often make the mistake of thinking that something that is obvious to me is just as obvious to everyone else” (p.14). The necessity for diverse, inclusive practices is apparent to me, but I realize it is not apparent to everyone. While I have dedicated my life and career to diversity and inclusion in our culture, I know not everyone has done the same. Still, I am dedicated to working with you as a part of a coalition of educators and community members to raise awareness and affect change as we build an equitable future together.