The College of

Arts and Sciences

 

MFA, Creative Writing and Environment, Iowa State University

BLS, Iowa State University

 

Areas of Interest & Expertise

• Creative Nonfiction

• Poetry

• Fiction

• Oral Literature

• African-American Literature

• Environmental Literature

• African-American History

• U.S. Women's History

• History of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Medicine

• 19th and 20th Century Social, Cultural, and Intellectual History

Recent Courses Taught

• ENGL 1113: Composition I

Iowa State University

• ENGL 150: Critical Thinking and Communication

• ENGL 250: Written, Oral, Visual, and Electronic Composition

• ENGL 207: Introduction to Creative Writing

Selected Publications

Poetry

• “Ain’t What She Used To Be,” The Radical Notion Issue Nine, Spring/Summer 2023

• “To Glory,” Sinister Wisdom 125, Summer 2022

• “Magical Kitchens,” Awake, Lucky Jefferson, 2021

Fiction

• “Starchild,” South Florida Poetry Journal, 2021

Selected Conference Presentations

• Off Our Curved Black Backs: Black Women Are Not Your Mammy, Jezebel, or Sapphire Stereotypes, 2023 Thomas L. Hill Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity

• Off Our Curved Black Backs: Black Women Are Not Your Mammy, Jezebel, or Sapphire Stereotypes, 2022, 7^th Annual International Gender and Sexuality Studies Conference

Professional Appointments & Professional Service

• Museum Intern, Greenwood Rising, 2024

• President, Black Graduate Student Association, Iowa State University, 2022-2023

• Student Steward, Everett Casey Nature Center & Reserve, Iowa State University, 2022-2023

• Founder, Griot Gang, 2021-present

• Book Reviewer and Column Contributor, Pennsylvania Diversity Network’s Valley Gay Press, 2007-2013

Awards and Recognition

• Outstanding Service by a Graduate Student, Iowa State University, Spring 2023

• The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Region 5 Certificate of Merit for Playwriting, Spring 2022

Current Research

I am currently examining the history of the African American experience with mental health care in the United States. I particularly focus on the enigma of mental illness prejudice and discrimination alongside the deinstitutionalization of mental health care during the 1990s.

 

As the Greenwood Rising museum intern, I am analyzing events surrounding, prior to, and following the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in relation to greater context.