Education 
2006   Ph.D., English. Stony Brook University, New York

1999   B.A., English. City College of New York, New York, New York   


Academic Positions 
Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia, PA.     2012- present
Associate Professor, English. 2015- Present
Director, Africana Studies Program. 2013- 2015
Assistant Professor, English. 2012- 2015

Allegheny College   2006- 2012
Director, Black Studies Program. 2008- 2012
Assistant Professor, English.  2007- 2012
Visiting Assistant Professor, English.  2006 – 2007

 Grants, Awards and Honors  
2014    Faculty Merit Award for Teaching Excellence, Saint Joseph's University
2013    Board of Faculty Review Summer Research Grant, Saint Joseph's University
2012    NEH Institute on Contemporary African American Literature
2012    Yale/CIC Slave Narrative Seminar 
2011    Pre-tenure Sabbatical Award, Allegheny College
2011    Academic Support Award, Allegheny College
2010    Charles Coffin & Ann S. Fritts ‘76 Dean’s Discretionary Fund                                   
2010    Woodrow Wilson Career Enhancement Fellowship for Junior Faculty, Honorable Mention
2009    Academic Summer Support Award, Allegheny College                                                           
2008    Demmeler Grant for Innovation in Teaching (w. M. S. Caballero), Allegheny College
2008    Diversity Scholar in Residence, Allegheny College      
2007    Stackpole Hall Foundation Grant for Sister Circle (w. M. Morris), Allegheny College
2006    W. Burghardt Turner Dissertation Fellowship, Stony Brook University                      
2005    Visiting Scholar, Department of English, Allegheny College
2005    Africana Studies Library Research and Publication Grant, Stony Brook University
2005    W. Burghardt Turner Award for Academic Excellence, Stony Brook University
2003    W. Burghardt Turner Summer Research Grant, Stony Brook University
2000    W. Burghardt Turner Fellowship, Stony Brook University (5 years)


Publications 
2014   Practice and Performance: Teaching Urban Fiction at the Less-Than Liberal Arts. 

           Hybrid Pedagogy. 17 April.
2012   Tipping on a Tightrope: Divas in African American Literature . New York: Peter Lang.
           [Reviewed by: Disability Studies Quarterly, Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture             and Society, and  CLA Journal]
 2010  Toni Morrison’s Beloved: Origins. Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and                              Letters. 33.3 (2010): 892-894. 

Work in progress 
Eliza Doolittle Ain't Got Nothing on Joseline Hernandez: Ignorance and the Ratchet in Love and Hip Hop Atlanta. (R&R) 

Neo-Slave Narratives of Whites (article)

Ntozake Shange and Motherhood in For Colored Girls and Liliane: Resurrection of the Daughter (article)

The Magical Negress in Book and Film (book length project)

Invited Presentations
2014    “Rescuing the Diva” African American Theory Course.  Bates University, March 11
2013    "Divas in African American Literature." University of Montana, February 21
2011    “How the Harlem Renaissance was Born.” Jamestown High School, March 25
2011    “I am My Sister’s Keeper.” Anna Maria College, March 19
2009    “The Diva Phenomenon.” Anna Maria College, October 29
2009    “Locating the Diva in African American Literature.”Clark College, October 28
2008    “Doing the Right Thing?: Spike Lee’s She Hate Me." Earlham College, February 18

Conference Papers
2015 "The Muse, Requiem for a Magical Negress: Ikea and the Commercialization of Black Women." College Language Association, April 8- 11.
2014 "Who's Pimping Who?: Reality Television and the Black Body." Annual Popular Culture Conference
2013   "Teaching Unique: Urban Fiction in the College Classroom."  College Language Association Conference, April 10- 13
2012    “Amy Denver and Skeeter: Questionable Revision of White Woman as Slaveholder.” Midwest Popular Culture Association Conference, October 12- 14.
2011    “Sister Circle and Brother to Brother: Successes and Challenges for an ongoing Retention Program for Underrepresented Men and Women of Color at a Selective Liberal Arts College”. International Conference on New Horizons in Education, June 8- 10.
2010    “Sister Circle: Retaining Underrepresented Women of Color at Predominately White Institutions”. AAUP 2010 Conference: State of Higher Education, June 9- 12.
2010    “Down and Out in Sugar Loaf: The Reel Housewives of Atlanta”. Annual Popular Culture Conference, March 31 - April 3.
2010    “Sisters United: Moving ALANA Women from Insight to Foresight”. Annual Association of College Professionals Conference, March 20- 24.
2009    “Uplifted out of DuBois: Ntozake Shange and the Talented Tenth” Annual African Literature Association Conference, April 15- 19.
2009    “Mystical Mammies and Séance Sisters: Examining the Magical Negress”. Chair and participant. Annual Popular     Culture Conference, April 8- 12.
2008    “I Too Sing America: The Human Stain as a Cautionary Tale of Manifest Destiny”. International Conference on Narrative, May 1- 4.)
2008    “Cop Out: Dexter ‘does’ Multicultural Feminism”. Annual Popular Culture Conference, March 19- 23.)
2007    “Sci-Fi Mammy?: Children of Men as Film and Text”. Annual Popular Culture Conference, April 4- 7.
2006    “Meeting at the Movies: Teaching Oprah Winfrey Presents Their Eyes Were Watching God.”  Race and Pedagogy National Conference.  September 14- 16.
2006    “A Woman’s Concerns: Janie Crawford as a Political Voice.”National Association of African American Studies. February 13- 18.
2005    “Outing Woman Love: The Color Purple from Book to Screen.”Annual African Literature Association. April 6- 9. 2004    “Authentic Blackness: A Harlem Renaissance Notion.”Temples of Tomorrow on Harlem Renaissance, May  7- 8.     
2004    “Revisioning Halle Berry or How Hollywood Reshaped the Tragic Mulatta.” Chair and participant. Annual African Literature Association. April 14- 18.
2004    “Valuing Identity: ‘Blackness’ as Commodity in Nella Larsen’s Quicksand.”Annual MELUS Conference, Transfronterismo. March 10- 13.
2001    “Rethinking Caribbean British Writers.” Rethinking African Diasporic Literature Conference. Stony Brook University, October 11- 13.
2001    “Refusing to ‘Write Black’: Caribbean Descended Black British Writers Imagining Whiteness.”  PostColonialismS/Political CorrectnesseS Conference, April 12 – 14.

Teaching Experience 
21st Century Black Women's Literature
African American Literature
Black Popular Culture
Black Women Writing
Caribbean Literature in English
Coming of Age in the City
Craft of Language
Defining the Diva
Digging for Britain: Black British Literature
Great Books of the Black Experience 
Introduction to Black Studies
Lost in Translation: Black Texts from Book to Screen
Major American Authors
Passing Narratives in Black Literature
Texts and Contexts
The Girls Dem Suga’: Reading Women Across the African Diaspora
The Harlem Renaissance
The Post-Soul Imagination

Academic Service (selected)
Instructor, Ignatain College Connection, Saint Joseph's University, 2013, 2014, 2015
Participant, Running Start Program, Saint Joseph's University, 2013, 2014, 2015
Member, Diversity Commission, Saint Joseph's University, 2013-2014
Panelist, President and Dean's Colloquium Series on Emancipation Narratives, Saint Joseph's University, 2013
Diversity and Internationalization Implementation Team, Allegheny College, 2011
Search Committee for Diversity Scholar, Allegheny College, 2006 and 2010
Allegheny Faculty Lecture Series Coordinator, Allegheny College, 2008- 2011
Diversity Mentor, Allegheny College, 2007- 2012
Black Studies Film Series, Coordinator, Allegheny College, 2006 – 2008
Sister Circle, Chief Facilitator Allegheny College, 2006- 2012

National  Service (selected)
Panel Reviewer, NEH Humanities Initiatives for Faculty at Minority-Serving Institutions, 2013
Reviewer, Hypatia, 2013

Organizations & Professional Affiliations
African Literature Association 
College Language Association
Modern Language Association of America                             
Popular Culture Association
The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S.