I am an Assistant Professor of Politics and Law at Rhodes College where I teach courses in American politics, public policy, and qualitative and interpretive methods. I am also a Faculty Fellow with the Institute for Race and Social Transformation at Rhodes, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Previously, I was an American Studies Dissertation Fellow at The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, where I completed my Ph.D. My dissertation, “Addiction” in U.S. Political Culture, received the Stephen E. Bronner Dissertation Award from the American Political Science Association Caucus for Critical Political Science. My latest work, “What Does Addiction Mean in US Policy Debates? A Case Study of the ‘Welfare Addict,’” is now out in New Political Science.

My research investigates the cultural resonances of key terms deployed by political actors in pursuit of their policy goals. Crossing subfield boundaries, I use ordinary language analysis to consider how American political culture influences public policy development.

I am an affiliated faculty member in the Africana Studies Program and the Gender and Sexuality Studies Program at Rhodes. Prior to my time at Rhodes, I taught courses in American politics, public policy, and political culture at Baruch College and Brooklyn College, CUNY. I have also developed syllabi for courses in qualitative and interpretive methods and thematic topics that cross subfield boundaries.

See my CV, research, teaching, and service pages to learn more about me and my work.