CV

Page contains selections – full CV available upon request.

Education

M.A. English, concentration in research, Virginia Commonwealth University, December 2016

• Thesis (Passed with Distinction, December 2016): “From Watchman to Mockingbird: Tay Hohoff’s Editorial Influence on Harper Lee” Advisor: Bryant Mangum, Ph.D.

B.A. English (minor in Religious Studies), Virginia Commonwealth University, May 2008

Publications

Books and Chapters

Recasting the Bygone Witch, interdisciplinary collection co-edited with Maria DiBenigno, Vernon Press (2026).

“Eternal Troupers: Circus Death Memorialization and Community Identity” The Routledge Handbook of Dark Events, eds. Wyatt, Stewart, Kennell, and Stone (2026).

(Forthcoming) “Grave Implications: The Richmond Vampire Legend and Cultural Revision” Urban Legends and Cultural Geography of Horror, University of Wales Press (2026).

Articles

“‘Queens of Ghost-Land’ 134 Years Later: Un-Masking An Appalachian Witchcraft Accuser” The Journal of American Culture (2025).

“Tiptoe Once More: Tiny Tim’s Extraordinary Return to Popular Culture” Bandwagon: The Journal of the Circus Historical Society. Vol. 68. No 4. (2024).

“Step Right Up: Sideshow Autonomy from Freaks to American Horror Story” Horror Homeroom, Special Issue 6 (2022).

“‛She’ll want to drink blood”: The Implications of Disease, Fear, and Lore in Margaret Atwood’s ‘Lusus Naturae’ and the Exhumation of Mercy Brown” Margaret Atwood Studies Journal. Vol. 15 (2022).

“The Tenacious Women of Iron Jaw” Bandwagon: The Journal of the Circus Historical Society. Vol. 65. No. 3. (2021).

“Lore No More: Uncovering Eva Clark’s Rightful Legacy” Bandwagon: The Journal of the Circus Historical Society. Vol. 64, No. 3 (2020).

Research Exhibits and Digital Contributions

“Sally Fridley’s Bewildering Press: Investigating Accusations of Appalachian Witchcraft” C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists Podcast (2025).

“Circus Slang: Its Peculiarities and Derivation” Circus Life and Celebrities by Thomas Frost, Chapter narrator, LibriVox Audiobooks (2025)

“Teeth Work: Incredible Iron Jaw” Exhibit, Circus World Museum, Baraboo Wisconsin, 2025-27 Season, Co-curated and installed with Jennifer Cronk (2025).

Press and Media

“New Circus Study Examines Lingo and Community” StageLync (Previously CircusTalk). Apr. 30, 2024.

“VCU alum publishes research about a famous female aerialist” VCU College of Humanities and Sciences, Mar. 2, 2021.

“Researchers uncover details about a famous aerialist who was shot and later died in Staunton nearly a century ago” WHSV TV-3. Feb. 11, 2021.

“A very cold case: Circus performer’s mysterious death in 1906 has ties to Cincinnati” Cincinnati Enquirer. Dec. 31, 2020.

“Past the lore: Norris, Tucker discuss their research about the life and career of Eva Clark” The News Virginian. Nov. 14, 2020. 

Grant Funding, Travel Funding, and Scholarships

Michael Schoenecke Travel Grant for Graduate Students, Popular Culture Association, $800	(2025)
Sigma Tau Delta Regent Scholarship: Southern Region, awarded $1,000 scholarship	(2024)
Old Dominion University Graduate Summer Award Program, awarded $3000 funding	(2024)
Travel award, Northeast Modern Language Association Graduate Student Caucus, $220	(2024)
Graduate Research Grant, Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, awarded $1,500 funding	(2023)
Travel award, Northeast Modern Language Association Graduate Student Caucus, $180	(2023)
Circus & Allied Arts Collection Fellowship, Milner Library Special Collections at Illinois State University, awarded $1,500 funding	(2022)
Total Funds Awarded	$8200

Honors and Awards

William M. Jones Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Paper, Popular Culture Association	(2025)
John R. Broderick Diversity Champion Award, Old Dominion University	(2024)
Sigma Tau Delta, International English Honor Society	(2023)
(Nominated) Stuart Thayer Prize, awarded by the Circus Historical Society for the highest quality of research, scholarship, and writing about American circus history	(2021), (2022)
(Nominated) Academy of Teaching Excellence, Pensacola State College	(2020)
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi	(2016)

Conference Presentations

Papers Delivered

(Upcoming) “Daughter of the ‘Mad Monk’: Maria Rasputin, Circus, and Celebrity Culture” Popular Culture Association Conference, 2026.

(Upcoming) “Grace Sherwood’s Perpetual Trial: The Cultural Cost of Witchcraft Reenactment” Northeast Modern Language Association Conference, 2026.

“Bewildering Byline: Using Mixed-Methods Research to Transform a Historic Allegation of Witchcraft in Virginia” Conrad M. Hall Symposium for Virginia History, 2025.

“‘Queens of Ghost-Land’ 134 Years Later: Un-Masking An Appalachian Witchcraft Accuser” Popular Culture Association Conference, 2025.

“Silver Bullets and Enchanted Milk: Investigating Witchcraft in the Archives of Virginia” Northeast Modern Language Association Conference, 2025.

“Eternal Troupers: Circus Graves and Community Identity” Death and Communities Conference, Centre for Death & Society, University of Bath, England, 2024.  

“Sally Fridley’s Bewildering Press: Investigating the Life of an Accused Appalachian Witch” Northeast Modern Language Association Conference, 2024.

“From First of May to Clown Alley: Examining the Circus Lexicon as a Community of Practice” William & Mary Graduate and Honors Research Symposium, 2023.

“Networks of Witches: The Technopagan Contribution to Early Internet Occult Spaces” Northeast Modern Language Association Conference, 2023.

“Perpetual Care: Examining Circus Memorialization” Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association Conference, 2022.

“Eva Clark: Transforming Lore and Legacy” Circus Historical Society Convention, 2022.

“Circus Authors’ Roundtable: Research and Writing Circus History Articles and Books,” Circus Historical Society Convention, 2022.

“Iron-Jawed Aeronauts: Exploring the Fame and Flight of the Curzon Sisters” Popular Culture / American Culture Association Conference, 2022. 

“‛Wear Something Black’: American Horror Story’s Homage to Mary Oneida Toups and Witchcraft in New Orleans” Northeast Modern Language Association, Baltimore, MD, 2022.

“Mercy Brown is Still Undead: The Lasting Cultural Appeal of ‘America’s First Vampire’” Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association Conference, 2021.

“More Than a Two-Headed Girl: Millie Christine, the Hilton Sisters, and American Horror Story’s Depiction of Conjoined Twins” University of Texas Permian Basin’s Annual Halloween Conference, 2021.

“Re-Introducing Aerialist Eva Clark: How We Abolished 114 Years of Lore” Circus Historical Society Annual Convention, Trumbull, CT, 2021. (Cancelled due to COVID-19)

“Digitizing a Century-Old Murder to Reclaim a Legacy” The Society for the Study of Southern Literature Conference, Fayetteville, AR, 2020. (Cancelled due to COVID-19)

“‘Fair Aerialist in Danger’: Eva Clark’s Troubling Legacy Within the Collective Memory” Biennial Conference of the Southern American Studies Association; Emory University, 2019.

“Ghosts and Goophers: Agency Through Superstition in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Charles Chesnutt’s ‘The Goophered Grapevine’” Biennial Conference of the Southern American Studies Association; College of William and Mary, 2017.

“Revising Harper Lee: Editorial Impact on Go Set a Watchman and To Kill a Mockingbird” 22nd Southern Writers/Southern Writing Graduate Conference, University of Mississippi, 2016.

“A Perilous Journey: Eudora Welty’s Use of the Slave Narrative Tradition in ‘A Worn Path’” Graduate Student Intersections Conference for Departments of English and History; Virginia Commonwealth University, 2016.

Panels Chaired / Co-Chaired

(Upcoming) The Name of the Witch, Northeast Modern Language Association Conference (2026). (Session co-chair)

This Magick Moment: Revolutionary Witchcraft and Cultural Change, Northeast Modern Language Association Conference, 2025. (Two-part session co-chair)

Witch Stories: An Examination of Revisionist History and Legacy, Northeast Modern Language Association Conference, 2024. (Two-part session co-chair)

Recasting the Bygone Witch: Examining Strength in Preservation, Northeast Modern Language Association Conference, 2023. (Two-part session co-chair)

Women’s Studies I: History, Popular Culture Association National Conference, 2022.

Invited Talks

“A Prolific Tradition of Strength and Grace: Iron Jaw Women” Lifelong Learning Institute, Furman University, 2024.

“Changing the Legacy of Eva Clark” Lifelong Learning Institute, Furman University, 2022.

Teaching Experience

Adjunct instructor: Northern Virginia Community College (Loudoun Campus), Sterling, VA (2021-2022)

• ENG-111 College Composition I
• ENG-112 College Composition II

Adjunct instructor: Pensacola State College, Pensacola, FL (2019-2021)

• ENC-1101 English Composition I
• ENC-1102 English Composition II
• AML-2020 American Lit. from 1870

Adjunct professor: Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, Terre Haute, IN (2018-2021)

• EN-211 Introduction to Literature
• EN-111 English Composition and Research Writing
• EN-320 Advanced Studies in Poetry

Professional Experience

Communications Specialist (7/2020 – 6/2022)
Contracted work on faculty communications and marketing for Virginia Commonwealth University. Responsibilities include copyediting, web, design, and communications strategy.

Copyeditor: Metropolitan Universities Journal (9/2019 – 1/2022)
Copyediting peer-reviewed academic journal articles for MUJ, a quarterly journal which is affiliated with the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities.

Executive Search Communications Specialist (1/2020 – 7/2020)
Contracted work on academic executive searches for Virginia Commonwealth University. Responsibilities include creating/maintaining candidate websites, writing and proofreading recruitment materials, and crafting communications plans for internal/external partners.

Senior Communications Administrator: VCU Office of the Provost (5/2015 – 12/2019, Telework 2017-2019)
Primary responsibilities include strategy for the Office of the Provost and Vice Provost offices, curation of university-wide academic and faculty communications strategies, social media planning and execution, website development and content writing, PR, and graphic design.

Senior Account Manager: VCU Division of University Relations (11/2013 – 5/2015)
Primary responsibilities included client contact, project management, billing, reporting, and overall university-level marketing strategy for vice presidential and presidential initiatives.

Account Executive: Charles Ryan Associates (10/2011 – 11/2013)
Responsibilities included client/campaign management, engagement and digital reporting, social media strategies, HTML emails, and copy-editing. Clients included hospitality and tourism.

Business Specialist, Personal Trainer, Mac Specialist: Apple Retail (10/2007 – 10/2011)
Primary responsibilities included large-scale B2B sales and strategies, client management, one-on-one and large class training sessions, sales, and workshop facilitation.

Freelance Work and Community Writing

• Webmaster, the Official Website of William Styron, william-styron.com (2018 – present)
• Book Reviewer, Phi Kappa Phi Forum magazine summer issue (2018)
• Contributing writer: VCU Alumni Magazine, Shafer Court Connections (2015)
• Featured writer: Our Health magazine (2013-2014)
• Contributing and featured writer: Richmond GRID magazine (2012-2015)

Service

Community Advisory Board member, VCU Humanities Research Center (2024 – present)
Media Director, English Graduate Organization, Old Dominion University (2023)
Graduate Student Advisory Board member and secretary, Popular Culture Association (2022 – 2025)
Trustee and digital marketing chair, Circus Historical Society (2021 – 2024)
Vice President for Public Relations, VCU Phi Kappa Phi executive committee (2017 – 2022)
Student Scholarship Essay Review, VCU chapter of Phi Kappa Phi (2020)
VCU Common Book Program Committee, collateral designer, session facilitator (2015 – 2019)

Professional Activities and Social Affiliations

Southern American Studies Association, F. Scott Fitzgerald Society, Atwood Society, Society for the Study of Southern Literature, American Studies Association, Circus Historical Society, Pop Culture Association, Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association, American Circus Alliance