Teaching

I have been a teaching assistant during two years of my graduate studies. As one of six GTA's in a Cultural Anthropology survey class, I led two discussion sections every Friday for approximately 15 students each. I graded their papers and assisted with grading exams. I also prepared and presented the class lecture on Race and on Medical Anthropology.

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I also assisted in two seminars, in which I did not teach, but graded undergraduate papers for everything except content, kept office hours for student assistance, and performed various tasks as the professor found need. The assessments received for this work were entirely positive.

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Writing

In 2012, my professor, Patti Giuffre, encouraged me to prepare and submit my class paper for publication to the peer-reviewed online journal Sociological Insight. It was published there as "Covering the Peace Movement: How Three U.S. Newspapers Portray Pacifists and Peace Activism,"in May 2013.

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As an intern in Texas State's Center for Social Inquiry, I contributed to a needs assessment study by editing and formatting the report.

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In 2017, I submitted a blog post to Anthropology News entitled “Misconceptions about Health Disparities in the US,” which they published that April.

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Research

Content Analysis - During my Senior year at Texas State University, I carried out a content analysis of newspaper reporting on peace activism. Building on theories of framing and social representation, I studied references to elements of the peace movement in three major U.S. newspapers during the nineteen months of The United States’ troop surge in Afghanistan. The framing of a social movement in public discourse can either facilitate acceptance or mobilize opposition amongst the larger population.

My analysis showed that there was a difference in tone across newspapers and a difference in frequency across both newspapers and time. Overall, the reporting tended to be supportive, especially when the story was about an individual pacifist or activist.

This research was presented at the Center for Peace Studies & Violence Prevention Symposium on Non-violence at Virginia Tech in November 2012.

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Scripted interviews, semi-scripted interviews, unobstrusive observation, domain analysis - In the summer of 2014, I did my fieldwork among males in the 19-25 year-old age range, in the Roanoke Valley of Virginia. I used cultural consensus methods to elicit a model of life goals that young men believe are appropriate to pursue during their transition into adulthood. This research relates to the mental health of today’s youth and the relevance of modern American cultural practices to young men’s preparation for adult life.

The primary purpose of this study was to collect evidence on the question of whether young men share a model of what they are expected to do during a period of transition from adolescence to adulthood. A shared model was found, which included pursuit of education and careers, developing character traits, avoiding the pitfalls of crime and unplanned fatherhood, and enjoying life.

This research was presented as a poster at the 2015 meeting of The Society for Applied Anthropology, and orally at the AAA 115th Annual Meeting in Minneapolis.

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