I bring over ten years of professional experience in higher education. I completed my Ph.D. at Columbia University in May 2005. I was an Assistant Professor of English at Harvard University, a visiting scholar at the National Humanities Center Institute for Advanced Study, and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pittsburgh’s Humanity Center. In addition to essays for Cambridge University Press and Duke University Press, I have written 2 books: God Fearing & Free: A Spiritual History of America’s Cold War (Harvard University Press, 2010), and This Life, This World: New Essays on Marilynne Robinson (Brill, 2015).

I have worked closely with students of all circumstances and skill levels. I designed and taught several classes at Harvard, both lecture-style and more closely supervised seminars. The University of Maryland in Baltimore County, where I teach courses in American Studies, has given me the scope to meet pupils who were the first members of their families to attend college. I have also taught very talented high-school students who are preparing for very competitive colleges. In the summers, I teach college prep, enrichment classes for middle and high school students through the Duke Talent Identification Program.

While serving on committees at Harvard, I learned of the faculty’s priorities and expectations for incoming freshmen, and I used this insight to coach pupils in their first year classes. From writing many letters of recommendation, I have also discovered how to effectively frame students’ accomplishments to make them competitive for internships, professional schools, and consulting positions. Now I want to assist aspiring high school students to realize their ambitions as well.