About
Currently the Assistant Director of Communications at Westmark School in Encino, California, I have over seventeen years of experience as a researcher, writer, editor, and educator. In 2014, I earned a PhD in Critical Studies from the University of Southern California, where I wrote the dissertation “Channeling Shirley MacLaine: Stardom, Travel, Politics, and Beyond.” In 2005, I wrote the dissertation “Befriending the Grotesque: The Friendly Monster in 1980s Family Fantasy Films” and received an MA in English with a concentration in Film Studies from the University of Exeter in England. I graduated summa cum laude from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, with a BA in English in 2004. I have teaching experience at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels.