Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Matthew Ussia

Departmental Website: http://www.duq.edu/academics/faculty/matthew-ussia

Personal Website: https://www.matthewussia.com

Education

• PhD. English Literature and Criticism, 2012 Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Pennsylvania Dissertation: The Children of Reagan: Troubling Pleasures for the Era of Privatization

• MA., English Literature and Criticism, 2003 Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Pennsylvania

• BA., English Literature; Minors: History, Philosophy, and Fine Art, 1999 Saint Francis University, Loretto, Pennsylvania

• Non-Degree Student, EDUC 595 Teaching Online, 2013 Point Park University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Professional Experience

• Director of First Year Writing, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA 2021-Present.
• Teaching Associate Professor, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, Fall 2013–Present
• Adjunct Associate Professor, Saint Francis University, Loretto, PA,  2023
• Adjunct Instructor of English, Point Park University, Pittsburgh, PA, Fall 2005–Spring 2013
• Professional Tutor, Program for Academic Success, Point Park University, Pittsburgh, PA, Fall 2005–Spring 2013
• Co-Managing Editor, Viewpoint: The Point Park University Undergraduate Research Anthology, Point Park University, Pittsburgh, PA, Fall 2009-Spring 2013
• Assistant Professor of English, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Fall 2012
• Online Writing Advisor, UMUC  Effective Writing Center, University of Maryland University Campus Adelphi, MD, Spring 2004- Fall 2005
• Publishing Assistant, Journal of Materials Research, Materials Research Society, Warrendale, PA, 2001-2002

 Teaching Interests

First year composition; literary theory; contemporary American and global literature; critical university studies; creative writing, ecocriticism, film.

Scholarly Publications

• “Mister Rogers’s Lesson for Democracy,” Mister Rogers and Philosophy. edited by. Eric Mohr and Holly Mohr, Open Court, 2019. pp. 185–93.
• “The Folly of Fallen Futures: Reading and Teaching Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward after The End of History.” Future Humans in Fiction and Film, edited by Louisa MacKay Demerjian and Karen F. Stein, Cambridge Scholars, 2018. pp. 1-15.
• “The People I Have Pretended to Be in Order to Stay in Academia (AKA The Four Types of Denial for Precarious Academics).” Passions: Specialists and Careers. Ed. Christina Artenie and Dannielle Joy Davis, Universitas, 2017. pp. 51-55.
• “Necrophilia on Holiday: Constriction of Discourse and the Male Burden of non-‘Z-men’ in To the Lighthouse’s Mr. Ramsay and Coming Up for Air’s George Bowling.” EAPSU Online: A Journal of Critical and Creative Work. 2 (Fall 2005), 54-72. < http://media.tripod.lycos.com/2845573/1478340.pdf >
• “Book Review: The Philosophy of William James by Richard M. Gale.” Studies in the Humanities. 31 (Dec 2004): 189–91.

Publications in Progress

• The Privatized Person (Completed and under consideration)
• Work Aesthetics (Estimated date of completion 2025)
• Saturday Night on Earth (Estimated date of completion 2024)
• Untitled 3rd Poetry book (Estimated date of completion 2025)
• William James, Punk, and the Secular Mysticism of Popular Music Fandom, a solicited article for Faith and Literature Special Issue on Mysticism (under review).

Accepted Conference Presentations

• TBA (Two Proposals are currently under consideration)

Conference Presentations

• “Fred Rogers Outside the Neighborhood: Old Friends . . . New Friends and Rogers’s Relevance to Adulthood” The Work of Fred Rogers: A Cross-Context Conference on Fred’s Legacy in Action Today 2024.
• “Loretto is a Triggering Town: The Poetics of Place and Memory” Writers Conference of Northern Appalachia 2024.
• “Mister Rogers and the Unique Moral Challenges of Modernity” The Work of Fred Rogers: A Conference on his Context and Legacy. Fred Rogers Institute, June 2023.
• Chaired Panel “Resilience and Collective Action Versus the Empowered Neoliberal Self” NeMLA 2023
• “Grit is Bullshit,” NeMLA 2023
• “The Melodramatic Tendencies of White Neoliberal Utopias,” ACLA, 2022.
• “Care, Community Engagement, and Disciplinary Decision Making,” NeMLA, 2022.
• “Work Aesthetics: Small Town Associations to the Authentic and the New American Pastoral,” NeMLA, 2022.
• “’To be Haunted by the Specter of Exclusion’: Teaching Identity in the 21st Century” 2021 Northeast Modern Language Association.
• “Whiteness as the Locus of Authenticity” 2021 Northeast Modern Language Association.
• “The Shattered Eschatology of the Online Era Novel and the Personhood of the New Panopticon” 2021 American Comparative Literature Association Conference
• “Critical Reflective Practice, Inquiry, and the Hidden Curriculum Within” NCTE 2019
• “Teaching with Crass: Suggestions for a Pedagogy of Anarchy” Conference for College Teaching and Learning November 2019
• “There’s a Dissimilation on the Edge of Town: Bruce Springsteen, White Working-Class Mythology, and the Patina of Truth.” 2019 Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture
• “There’s a Dissimilation on the Edge of Town: Bruce Springsteen, Mythology, and the Patina of Truth.” 2019 Northeast Modern Language Association.
• “’Structural Silences’ of the Classroom Space – Examining the Hidden Curriculum” with Dr. Danelle Conner Conference on College Teaching 2018
• “On “Zero-Drag” Students and the Specter of ‘Book Club.’” The Mid-Atlantic Conference on College Composition and Communication. 2018
• “Benevolent Deceptions: Shocking True Stories from Metacognition’s Bait and Switch.” The Mid-Atlantic Conference on College Composition and Communication. 2017
• “Safe Spaces, Punk Spaces, and the Public Sphere.” 2017 Northeast Modern Language Association
• “Of Voyeurism and Exhibitionism: Nakedness, Security, Vulnerability, Intimacy, and the Privatized Person.” 2016 Northeast Modern Language Association
• “Tarantino’s Counterfactual Histories as Weapons against Historical Simplification.” 2015 Northeast Modern Language Association
• “QR Codes in the Syllabus: A Five Part Manifesto” 2015 Northeast Modern Language Association
• “Viewer as Voyeur and Victim: Cautionary Tales of Surveillance from the Former East Germany.” 2014 College English Association: Imaginations
• “Countering the Voices of Neoliberalism Within: Constructing the Limits of the Myth of the Empowered Individual.” 2013 Countering Contingency: Teaching, Scholarship, and Creativity in the Age of the Adjunct
• “Open Secrets of the Supple Suburban Body: Consumerism, Privatization, and the Congregation Copulation Challenge.” 2012 IUP English Graduate Organization Conference Undercurrents Overtones
• “Lost at Home with the Consumerist Mystique: John Cheever, Betty Friedan, and the Limits of Affluence,” 2011 PCEA Conference Narratives of Travel and Navigation: English by Water, Land, and Immigration
• “Responsive Contemporary Critical Pedagogy or Pedagogy of Narcissism?: The Dangers Involved in Teaching the Problems Facing the Youth of Today to the Youth of Today” WVU English Graduate Student Colloquium 2011New Rhetorics: Pedagogy, Literature, and Creative Writing
• “Letters for the Living Lonely: Teaching Composition in an Age of Violence and Isolation.” NCTE 2010 Reading the Past, Writing the Future
• “Posthuman Homes from the Pad to the Pod: Douglas Coupland’s Novels and the Possibilities for Being Environmentally Grounded within Manufactured Spaces.” EAPSU 2010 A River Runs Through Us: Exploring the Poetics of Place
• “Stage Space, Sexting, and Commodity Fetishism: Strindberg’s Miss Julie as Prototype for the Contemporary Renegotiation of the Private Sphere” IUP GSA/EGO 2010 Investments and Interests: Multicultures, Histories, and Opportunities in the 21^st Century
• “Children of Reagan: Troubling Pleasures for the Era of Privatization” NEERO 2010
• “Indifference and the Death of the Enlightenment as Sellable, Teachable Moments in the College Literature Classroom.” NCTE 2009 Once and Future Classics: Reading Between the Lines
• “From Plan 9 from Outer Space to Road House to The Room: What Three of the Worst Movies Ever Made Reveal About the Shifting Nature of the American Public Sphere” EAPSU 2009 Making Our World: Language, Literacy and Culture
• “From Brothels and Weed to Firebirds and Ice Cream: Pleasure as the Blinding/Designing Force behind Critiques of American Materialism” CEA/PCEA 2009 Design
• “Down from the Ivory Tower and into a Broken Little Yellow Van: Non-Academic Portrayals of Academics in Three Contemporary Independent Films.” EAPSU 2008 (Re) Connections: Bridging Boundaries and Creating Byways
• “The Fear of Undomesticated Space: The Suburbs, Torture Porn, and the University as Public Space for the Man without Content”: EAPSU 2007 Conference: Literature and Performance
• “’You Mean I Gotta Read All this Junk!’: What The Da Vinci Code Means for the Future of College English, and Strategies for Escaping the Oppression of Consumer Pleasure”: PCEA 2007 Conference: Paths to Freedom
• “’A Grim Day for Robotkind. Eh, but We Can Always Build More Killbots’: How Futurama Illustrates the Positive Possibilities of Progressive Posthumanism”: EAPSU 2006 Conference: Literature, Writing, and the Natural World
• “College English is Not Dead; However, it Probably Deserves to Die: Labor, Cultural Capital, the Professional Unconscious, and the Role of the English Department in the Great Academic Kleptocracy”: PCEA 2006 Conference: Forging Connections: The Past Meets the Future
• “What Was Shaft?: The Problem of Naming a Series of Films Starring African Americans”: PCEA 2005 Conference: Mighty Swords & Mightier Pens: Evocations of War in Literature, Film, and Composition
• “The Merz of My Mind: A Collection of Creative Works”: PCEA 2005 Conference Mighty Swords & Mightier Pens: Evocations of War in Literature, Film, and Composition
• “Michael Moore as the Anti-Faust: Guerrilla Filmmaking, Interviewing, and Questioning as an Answer to Exploitation De-Personified by Spatialization”: 2005 IUP EGO/GSA Conference: Transforming our World and Work: A Graduate Conference Highlighting the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities
• “Necrophilia on Holiday: Constriction of Discourse and the Male Burden of non-“Z-men” in To the Lighthouse’s Mr. Ramsay and Coming Up for Air’s George Bowling”: EAPSU 2004 Conference: Counternarratives: Retelling the Value of English Studies
• “Embracing Excrement as a Report of How It Is: Beckett’s Use of Feces as a Metaphor for the Performative Denial of Time and Memory Found Within How It Is”: PCEA 2004 Conference: All Aboard!: New Directions in Literature, Film, and Pedagogy
• “Deconstructing Scotch Bottom and the Russian Valley: Urban Space, Time, Linguistics, and the Immigrant Experience in the 15207 Zip Code”: 2004 IUP EGO/GSA Conference: All Together Now: Culture and Society on an (Inter)national Stage
• “Henry Rollins’ Get in the Van as Contemporary Conversion Narrative and Account of the Preaching of a Secular Gospel”: EAPSU 2003 Conference: Communities and Conncections
• “Mamet’s Mythological Supermen and the Death and Seduction of Mortals”: PCEA 2003 Conference: Envisioning a New World: Literature, Film, and Composition in Our Times
• “Society, Art, and Resistance: The Life and Work of GG Allin”: EAPSU 2002 Conference: Local Colors

 Symposium Presentations

• “The Melodramatic Tendencies of White Nationalist Utopias,” Duquesne English Department Colloquium, Sept 2022
• “The Privatized Person” Duquesne English Department Colloquium, Sept 2021
• “Debunking Myths about Teaching Writing-Enhanced Courses” Duquesne University Center for Teaching Excellence, 23 Feb 2022
• “Antiracist Pedagogy” UCOR In-Service Day Fall 2020
• “Decomposition for Fun and Teaching Grammar: A Sample Lesson of a Peer-Review Exercise Designed to Get Students Arguing About What’s in a Style Guide” In-Service Day Fall 2019
• “Transferability as Meaningful Teaching” UCOR In-Service Day Fall 2018
• “The Infinite Terror of Open Spaces” Center for Qualitative and Interpretive Research, Duquesne University. October 27, 2017
• “Teaching with Heuristics” UCOR In-Service Day Fall 2017
• “Safe Spaces, Punk Spaces, and the Public Sphere.” AAUP Event Series: The New American University, “Academic Freedom, Civility, and the American University,” Spring 2017
•  “The Folly of Fallen Futures: Reading and Teaching Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward after “The End of History.” Duquesne University English Department Colloquium, Fall 2016

Creative Writing Monographs

• The Red Glass Cat, Alien Buddha Press, 2021.

Individual Creative Works Published

• “Paper Mines” and “Steve” North of Oxford, July 2024.
• “The Flying Man” Madswirl. 24 June 2024.
• “Summer in Greenfield,” Waffles In’caffinated,” and “At the Corner of Tunsall St.” Northern Appalachia Review Vol 5. March 2024.
• “What We Have is a Whole Miserable Subculture,” Trailer Park Quarterly Vol 14. Fall 2023
• “The Closest I Ever Got to Murdering Someone,” Trailer Park Quarterly Vol 13. Spring 2023
• “Man With Gun Man is Bookstore is Not Armed,” Lexicon Fall 2022 and Spring 2023
• “Box Seat Video Cresson, PA” and “We Need to Talk About Ohio,” Northern Appalachia Review, Volume 4, Number 1. 2023
• “Emily” Voices from the Writer’s Place Audio Book, 2023
• “The Game” North of Oxford, October 2022.
• “Out to Lunch” and “What Diane Said to Me on My First Day”, Trailer Park Quarterly, May 2022.
• “To the Couple I Saw Riding a Bicycle on Morewood Avenue”, Lexicon, Fall 2021.
• “Stepping in Dog Shit at 5:12 AM While Naked at 43”, “Up Yours Robert Hayden”, and The Gift”, Anti-Heroin Chic, Fall 2021
• “Happiness Is,” Voices from the Writers Place: Authors Reading Their Work, Summer 2021.
• “Happiness Is,” Lexicon, Spring 2021.
• “St. John Minadeo,” Poem of the Week 3 February to 10 February 2021, Sampsonia Way and City of Asylum All Pittsburghers are Poets Series.
• “Voting Biden,” Winedrunk Sidewalk. 20 January 2021.
• “What it is Like to Lose a Parent to Fox News.” Winedrunk Sidewalk: Shipwrecked in Trumpland. 29 December 2020.
• “Forward,” “Tuners on 22,” and “When the Hyperboys Meet at the Satanic Coffee Shop” Recasting Masculinity. Ed. Cedric Rudolph, Matthew Ussia, and RK Taylor. The Beautiful Cadaver Project Social Justice Anthologies, 2020.
• “A Falcon,” “Cadmium, an Ode.” and “Howard’s Park Place Pub” 365 Days: A Poetry Anthology Volume 3. Ed. James Benger, Dan Pohl, and Diane Wahto.  The 365 Days Poets, 2020.
• “Meanings of the Word ‘Urban’” Winedrunk Sidewalk: Shipwrecked in Trumpland. 29 May 2020.
• “Leakers: A Covid Poem” The Pandemic Issue #3 North of Oxford 24 Apr 2020.
• “At the Moment He was Conceived” Open Mic of the Air Podcast 3 Apr 2020.
• “Johnstown Sleeps” Winedrunk Sidewalk: Shipwrecked in Trumpland. 16 Feb 2020.
• “The Great Cancellation (For Mark Fisher)” Winedrunk Sidewalk: Shipwrecked in Trumpland. 11 Feb 2020.
• “The Responsibility of Intellectuals” Ekphrastic Review: Cristobal Rojas. 19 Jul 2019.
• “They Already Built the Wall” and “The Morning after Antwon Rose was Murdered by a White Police Officer” The Dreamers Anthology: Writing Inspired by the Lives of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Anne Frank. Beautiful Cadaver Project, 2019.
• “The Most Powerful Hobby.” Winedrunk Sidewalk: Shipwrecked in Trumpland. 17 Dec. 2018.
• “St. John Minadeo.” Winedrunk Sidewalk: Shipwrecked in Trumpland. 27 Jan. 2018.
• “Beaver Fever.” Winedrunk Sidewalk: Shipwrecked in Trumpland. 19 Jan. 2018.
• “Watching It’s a Wonderful Life in 2017.” Winedrunk Sidewalk: Shipwrecked in Trumpland. 7 Jan. 2018.
• “They Already Built the Wall.” Winedrunk Sidewalk: Shipwrecked in Trumpland. 26 Jan. 2017.

Creative Writing Works Accepted for Publication

• “That Night on Wopsy Mountain Overlook” Trailer Park Quarterly Summer 2024
• “St. John Minadeo”, “When I Met Phil”, and “I Once Bought an Old House in Greenfield” The Gulf Tower Forecasts Rain. Main Street Rag and City of Asylum 2025.
• “Boxers” “Dick Talks to Me About Seeing Death Wish for the First Time” “When I Learned About Dignity” “Midwest Summer Travel Tips” “The Song Tiger Tank by the Band Speedy Ortiz” 365 Poems Anthology
• “Arriving in Westmont,” Keystone: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania, Penn State UP, 2025.

Creative Readings

• Hemmingway’s Summer Poetry Series, 11 July 2023.
• The Pit Reading Series 20 Jul 2022.
• An Evening of Poetry with Local Author Charlie Brice, Riverstone Books 13 Jul 2022.
• Uprooted Book Launch, White Whale Books 9 Nov, 2021.
• Hemmingway’s Summer Poetry Series, 15 June 2021.
• Fr. Bede Hines TOR Memorial Reading, 7 April 2021.

 Public Appearances & Podcasts

• “The Nowness of the Art of Adam Rousseau” Hypochondriac Affections: Paintings & Drawings from 2022. Government Center, Pittsburgh, PA, Dec 2022.
• “Old Schwab Hall” The Spiffemol Industries Radio Hour. Jalopy Theatre Brooklyn, NY and streaming. 30 October 2022.
• Infernal Racket, Lecture and Live Musical Score, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art Loretto. 1 October 2022.
• Mister Rogers and Philosophy, Wolf-Kuhn Ethics Institute, St. Francis University, 28 Oct. 2021.
• Songs of Selah, Podcast. 22 March 2021.
• What Would Mister Rogers Do? Podcast.  The Wolf-Kuhn Ethics Institute at St. Francis University, 2020.
• Keynote Address. “Whiteness as the Locus of Authenticity,” Online International Symposium on Insights and Challenges in Linguistics, Translation and Literature. Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan. 25 March 2021.
• “The Coming and Going of Age.” Vox Popcast, June 2018.
• Discussion Leader/Co-Host. The Bridge Reading Series, 2018.

Teaching Experience

• Duquesne University, BRDG 101 Writing and Analysis—1 Section
• Duquesne University, UCOR 101 Thinking and Writing —17 Sections.
• Duquesne University, UCOR 102 Imaginative Literature and Critical Thinking —30 Sections
• Duquesne University, IHP 104/HONR 101 Honors Seminar —10 Sections
• Duquesne University, ENGL 228 21^st Century Graphic Novels & Visual Narrative —3 sections
• Duquesne University, ENGL 434 W Literary Theory —2 Sections
• Duquesne University, ENGL 330W Fiction Workshop I—4 Sections
• Duquesne University, ENGL 331W Poetry Workshop I—3 Sections
• Duquesne University, ENGL 205 Teaching in Film–1 Section
• Duquesne University, ENGL 212 American Underground —1 Section
• Duquesne University, ENGL 101 Multi-Genre Creative Writing—1 Section
• Duquesne University, IHP 104 Honors Seminar —9 Sections
• Duquesne University, IHP 105: The Shock of Modernity —1 Section
• Saint Francis University, WRIT 220, Poetry Workshop —1 Section
• Saint Francis University, LIT 417, Literary Theory- 1 Section
• Saint Francis University, Summer Academy Poetry Workshop—1 Section
• Point Park University, ENGL 150 Composition I —8 Sections
• Point Park University, ENGL 150 Composition I Honors —4 Sections
• Point Park University, ENGL 151 Composition II —7 Sections
• Point Park University, ENGL 151 Composition II Honors—9 Sections
• Point Park University, ENGL 250 World Literature I — 4 Sections
• Point Park University, ENGL 250 World Literature I Honors — 3 Sections
• Point Park University, ENGL 251 World Literature II — 2 Sections
• Point Park University, ENGL 251 World Literature II Honors — 1 Section
• Point Park University, ENGL 121 Effective Speech— 12 Sections
• Point Park University, HUMA 090 Study Skills—2 Sections
• Indiana University of Pennsylvania, ENGL 101 Composition I —3 Sections
• Indiana University of Pennsylvania, ENGL 202 Composition II—1 Section

 Service

• Bridges Steering Committee, Duquesne University, September 2021 to Present
• Alumni Board of Directors, St. Francis University, October 2021 to October 2024
• Chair Communications Committee, Alumni Board of Directors, St. Francis University, Spring 2023 to Present
• McAnulty College Tenure and Promotion Committee Non-Tenure Track Representative 2019-2021
• Member, Duquesne University First Year Writing Committee, Fall 2013–Spring 2015, Fall 2017­-Present.
• Faculty Senate, Fall 2018–Spring 2020.
• Artes Learning Community, 2021-Present
• Faculty Senate Sub-Committee on Diversity and Inclusion, Fall 2019–2021
• English Department Guest Speaker Committee, Fall 2020¬–Present
• Founder and Steward English Department Composition and Pedagogy Reading Group, Spring 2019–Present.
• English Department Ad Hoc Strategic Planning Committee, Fall 2019–Spring 2020.
• English Department Ad Hoc Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Fall 2019.
• Teaching Assistant Mentor, Fall 2018, Fall 2019.
• Core Curriculum Design Day Winning Team Captain, Spring 2019.
• Director, Narratio Learning Community, Fall 2014–Spring 2016.
• Steering Committee, Pittsburgh Adjunct Discussion Group, Spring 2013–Spring 2014
• Instructor, Point Park University iPad in the Classroom Pilot Program, Fall 2011-Spring 2012
• Reviewer, Point Park University Writing Program Portfolio Review, Fall 2005-Spring 2013
• Volunteer, Urban League of Pittsburgh Charter School, Fall 2006
• Participant, Point Park University Faculty Development Blackboard Training, Fall 2005
• Site Coordinator, 2006 Pennsylvania College English Association Conference
• Program Contributor, 2005 Jimmy Stewart Days Film Guide

Creative Writing Coaching and Editing Experience

• Reader/Peer Reviewer, Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Fall 2022.
• Co-Editor Recasting Masculinity, Beautiful Cadaver Project Social Justice Anthologies, 2020.
• Co-Editior The Dreamers Anthology: Writing Inspired by the Lives of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Anne Frank. Beautiful Cadaver Project, 2019.
• Book Coach, Janette Schafer, Mother’s Unbearable Itch and Something Here Will Grow, Summer 2018—2020.
• Book Coach, Derek M. Zanetti, Existentialism: The Musical, 2013; Remembering Everything, 2015; The Rod of Correction, 2018–Present.
• Writing Coach, Beyond Damaged. Blog, 2020.
• Discussion Leader, The Bridge Reading Series, 2018.

 Workshops Attended

• Generative AI in the Classroom, Duquesne University Center for Teaching Excellence, Fall 2023.
• Maximizing the Potential of ChatGPT in the Classroom, Center for Teaching Excellence, Spring 2023.
• Returning to Your Writing Post-Pandemic, Center for Teaching Excellence, Spring 2021
• Building a Bridge, Center for Teaching Excellence, Spring 2021
• What Inclusive Instructors Do, Center for Teaching Excellence, Spring 2021
• Discussion of Readings: Race and Pedagogy, Center for Teaching Excellence, Fall 2020.
• Do No Harm: Writing about Journeys Not Your Own with Deesha Philyaw, Chatham MFA Free Summer Workshops, Summer 2020.
• Navigating the Literary Magazine Landscape, Chatham MFA Free Summer Workshops, Summer 2020.
• Objects in Fiction Writing, Chatham MFA Free Summer Workshops, Summer 2020.
• Structuring Remote Teamwork for Student Engagement, Duquesne University Office of Educational Technology, Summer 2020.
• Tips for Online & Remote Teaching, Duquesne University Office of Educational Technology, Summer 2020.
• Supporting Student Success, Duquesne University Office of Educational Technology, Summer 2020.
•  Beyond the Lecture: Engaging Students with Zoom, Duquesne University Office of Educational Technology, Summer 2020.
• Writing the Query Letter that Gets You Noticed, Chatham MFA Free Summer Workshops, Summer 2020
• Reckless Restraint, A Revision Workshop, Chatham MFA Free Summer Workshops, Summer 2020
• Gender Inclusivity from the First Day of Class, Center for Teaching Excellence, Fall 2019.
• Overcoming Student Learning Bottlenecks Book Study, Center for Teaching Excellence, 2018–2019.
• Teaching for the Common Good, Center for Catholic Faith and Culture, Summer 2018.
• Student Learning and Mental Health, Center for Teaching Excellence, Fall 2018.
• Contemplative Pedagogy Book Study, Center for Teaching Excellence, Fall 2018.
• (How) Should We Teach Grammar?: Strategies for Responding to Sentence-Level Writing Mistakes, Center for Teaching Excellence, Spring 2018.
• Writing and Information Literacy Frameworks: Intersections for Lifelong Learning, Center for Teaching Excellence, Fall 2017.
• Raising Your Scholarly Profile, Center for Teaching Excellence, Fall 2017.
• Working with ESL Students, Center for Teaching Excellence, Spring 2016.
• Transparent Design Workshop, Center for Teaching Excellence, Spring 2016.
• Responding to 5 Common Student Writing Struggles, Center for Teaching Excellence, Fall 2015.

 Additional Conferences and Symposiums Attended

• MLA 2009
• NCTE 2008: Because Shift Happens: Teaching in the 21^st Century
• New England Educational Research Organization 2009 Conference
• Association of Teacher Educators 2008 Summer Conference: The Global Imperative: Educating and Assessing the Whole Child, Teachers, and Community
• “Keys to Success” Workshop: Duquesne University Michael Weber Learning Skills Center May 14, 2008
• Point Park University Childhood and Society Symposium 2007: Bipolar Children: Cutting Edge Controversy, Insight and Research

 Professional Association Memberships

• Northeast Modern Language Association
• American Comparative Literature Association
• National Council of Teachers of English

 Honors and Awards

• “Ten Most Read of North of Oxford 2022” The Game, December 2022.
• Margaret M. Tobin Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research Paper: First Place 1998, First Place 1999, Third Place 1999
• Gunard B. Carelson Creative Writing Award: First and Fifth Place 1996, Fifth Place 1999
• Weixel Award for Outstanding Underclassman English Major: 1998