Education: B.A., Penn State University; M.A., Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago
Research interests : social literacies, adolescent literary practices, English education, teaching for social justice, hip hop as cultural practice.
Essays: 2007. Pregnancy, pimps, and "clichéd love things": Writing through gender and sexuality. Written Communication 24 (1).

2007. In press. Nas (chapter on rapper Nasir Jones). Icons of hip-hop . Westport , CT : Greenwood Press.

2006-2007. A love for the thing: The pleasures of rap as a literate discourse. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 50 (4), pp. 270-281.

2006. Are Methods Enough? Situating English Education Programs within the Multiple Settings of Learning to Teach. English Education 38 (4), pp. 312-328. With Randi Dickson, Peter Smagorinsky, et al.

2005-2006. I shine with the rhythm: Rap writing, literate identity, and academic achievement. International Journal of Learning 12 (3), pp. 143-147.

2005. Free style: The role of play in rap composition. Creative engagements: Thinking with children 31 , pp. 103-106 (eBook). Oxford : Inter-disciplinary Press.

2002. The writing on the wall: Attending to self-motivated student literacies. English Education 35 (1), pp. 21-45.

Professional Service : Advisory Board Chair, Wordplay, Baton Rouge, LA.
K-12 Liaison to Louisiana Shakespeare Project
Undergraduate Advisor, LSU English
Associate Editor, International Journal of Learning v. 12.
Manuscript reviewer, English Education.

Awards and honors : Robert Corley Memorial Scholarship, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, UIC, 2003; Rue Bucher Memorial Scholarship, Interdepartmental Award for Qualitative Research, UIC, 2003; Graduate Student Research Bonus in memory of Bernard R. Kogan, Dept. Of English, UIC, 2002; LSU Faculty Research Grant 2006-2007.

Complete CV