CV

Page contains selections – full CV available upon request.

Education

(in progress) Ph.D. English, Old Dominion University (August 2021-Present), Concentrations: literary and cultural studies; technology and media studies

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

“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).

Press and Media

“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. 

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

Conference Presentations

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

(Upcoming) “Networks of Witches: The Technopagan Contribution to Early Internet Occult Spaces” Northeast Modern Language Association Conference, 2023. (Session co-chair)

“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” Pop Culture Association / American Culture Association Conference, 2022. (Session chair)

“‛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.

Invited Talks

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

Honors and Awards

Travel award, Northeast Modern Language Association Graduate Student Caucus (2023)

Circus & Allied Arts Collection Fellowship, Milner Library at Illinois State University, awarded $1,500 funding for circus research project (2022)

(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)

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)

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