The College of

Arts and Sciences

 

MA in Film Studies, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada 
BA in Film Studies, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

 

Areas of Interest & Expertise

• Silent cinema

• Early Hollywood

• Stardom, celebrity, fame

• Representations of ethnic masculinity in film and popular culture

• Visual rhetoric

Recent Courses Taught

• ENGL 2453: Introduction to Film and Television

• ENGL 3323: Technical Writing

Selected Publications

• Book review of The Terministic Screen: Rhetorical Perspectives on Film (Ed. David Blakesley). KB Journal (The Journal of the Kenneth Burke Society) 11.2 (Spring 2016)

• Editor-in-Chief, Cinephile (UBC Film Studies Journal), Vol. 7, Issue 1, "Reassessing Anime" (2011)

• Editorial Board Member, Cinephile, Vol. 8, Issue 1, "The Voice-Over" (2012); Vol. 7, Issue 2, "Contemporary Realism" (2011/12); and Vol. 6, Issue 2, "Horror Ad Nauseam" (2010)

Selected Conference Presentations & Chairing Duties

• “Feline Fandom: Online Tributes to the Late Grumpy Cat (2012-2019).” Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association. Pittsburgh, PA. Nov. 2019.

• Chair, “Marginal Audiences and Fandom.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies. Seattle, WA. Mar. 2019.

• "On the Ways of Improving the Uptake of Suggestions and Increasing Elasticity in Online Writing Center Sessions." Co-presented with Olga Muranova, Svetlana Koltovskaia, and Michol Miller. South Central Writing Center Association Conference. The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and Temple College. Belton, TX. Feb. 2019. 

• "Elvis Presley, Death, and the Graceland Cam." Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association. Baltimore, MD. Nov. 2018. 

• "The Tom Mix Museum: Archiving Stardom in Small-Town Oklahoma." Society for Cinema and Media Studies. Toronto, Canada. Mar. 2018.

• "The President William Howard Taft Monument at Arlington National Cemetery: (Re)visiting James Earle Fraser's Commemorative Stele." Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association. Indianapolis, IN. Mar. 2018. (accepted)
  

• "Sitcom Celebrity." "What about TV acting?" Roundtable Speaker. Flow. Austin, TX. Sept. 2016.

• "Vegas Vision: The Las Vegas Strip and the Rhetorical 'Crisis' of Brightness." Western States Rhetoric and Literacy Conference. Reno, NV. Nov. 2014. (accepted)

• "The Big Lebowski and the Intinerantetual Cult Film." Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association. Chicago, IL. Apr. 2014.

• "Touristic Deathgazing: Dark Fan Tourism, Memorial Culture, and Mobile Posthumous Celebrity Worship." Society for Cinema and Media Studies. Seattle, WA. Mar. 2014.

• “Rocky Horror Redux: Subcultural Liveness and The Performative Pilgrim.” Film Studies Association of Canada (FSAC) Graduate Student Colloquium. The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. Feb. 2012.

Professional Appointments

• Research & Professional Development Liaison, OSU Writing Center (Spring 2017-present) (CFP and conference alerts archiving, CSM meeting reading preparation, APA formatting refresher)

• Supervisor, OSU Writing Center West (Agriculture Hall), Fall 2016-Fall 2017

• Film Director/Videographer, OSU Writing Center Promotional Videos for Website, Summer 2016

• Consultant, OSU Writing Center, Fall 2013-present

• Co-leader, "Feminism in the Writing Center" Inquiry Group, OSU Writing Center, Spring 2017

• Co-leader, "Gender Studies" Inquiry Group, OSU Writing Center, Fall 2017

• Leader, "(Inter)national Identity" Inquiry Group, OSU Writing Center, Spring 2018

• Reader, The Library of Congress (Washington, D.C.), Sept. 2017-Sept. 2019

Awards and Recognition

• Houston-Truax-Wentz Travel Award (Oct. 2017)

• Oklahoma State University Graduate College Fellowship (Sept. 2013)

• Golden Key Honor Society (Nov. 2011)

Professional Memberships

• Domitor

• Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association

• The Society of Media and Cinema Studies

• SCMS Scholarly Interest Groups: Classical Hollywood, Comedy and Humor Studies, Fan and Audience Studies, Silent Cinema

• SCMS Caucus: Latino/a

Current Research

Dissertation: “The Parvenu Paradigm of Early Hollywood: Renegotiating the “Star” Labeling via Discursive and Comparative Specters of Ethnic Male Performativity.”

 

Using a combination of archival research, racial/ethnic theory, and textual analysis, I aim to retell the history of how ethnic male stars such as Sessue Hayakawa, Rudolph Valentino, and Ramon Novarro became mass media parvenus instead of stars classically defined through the “white,” “American,” and highly homogenous star system of early Hollywood. In sum, the project reexamines the emergence and commercialization of the ethnic male star by way of a comparative approach to the cultural diversity of early Hollywood discourse. 

Why OSU?

As an international graduate student, I find that OSU’s program in screen studies champions interdisciplinary approaches to research on film, television, and new media. I am continually impressed by the excellent instruction, guidance, expertise, and concern for the betterment of my writing and research by the faculty.