Full CV (see below for selected items)

Education

Doctor of Philosophy, Clemson University, Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design, May 2016

Dissertation Title: “Identity Design: Challenging Archetypes with Feminist Approaches to Video Game Design” 

Video Game Created: “The Blood of the Vampire” (with Marie Jarrell)

Master of Arts, Clemson University Department of English, May 2011

Thesis Title: “Wounded Planet, Wounded People: The Possibility of Ecological Trauma in Mister Pip and the bone people”

Bachelor of Arts, University of North Carolina: Chapel Hill, Department of English, May 2007

Certifications

Quality Matters certification, Applying the QM Rubric, August 2022

Safe Zone Facilitator training, Alma College Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, September 2016

Online Education certification, Clemson University Office of Online Education, 2014

Wilderness Search and Rescue, SARTECH II & III, National Association for Search and Rescue, May 2008

Publications

Forthcoming “There is No Planet B: A Milieu-Specific Analysis of Outer Wilds’ Unstable Spaces.” Ecogames: Playful Perspectives on the Climate Crisis, co-edited by Joost Raessens, Laura op de Beke, Gerald Farca, and Stefan Werning. Expected release date: 2023. https://greenmedia.sites.uu.nl/ecogames-playful-perspectives-on-the-climate-crisis/

Forthcoming. “Giving Pandemic a Face: Ecophobia in A Plague Tale: Innocence.” End-Game: Apocalyptic Video Games, Contemporary Society, and Digital Media Culture. Edited by Lorenzo DiTommaso, James Crossley, Alastair Lockhart, and Rachel Wagner. Video Games and the Humanities. Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 2025.

“The Megamycete at the End of the World: Resident Evil: Village and Gothic Ecophobia.” Gothic Nature, Issue IV, p.240-243, 2023.

“Slow Violence in a Digital World: Tarahumara Apocalypse and Endogenous Meaning in Mulaka.” Ecofictions, Ecorealities and Slow Violence in Latin America and the Latinx World. Routledge, 2020.

“Ecofeminism and Gaia Theory in Horizon Zero Dawn.” TRACE. Special Issue: Ecoplay. October 2018. 

“OOO, It’s Prey!, or How Did They Know I Always Wanted To Be a Coffee Cup?” Textshop Experiments.1 August 2018. 

“Framing The Blood of the Vampire: A Text-Based Game.” NYMG Journal: Feminist Game Studies. 15 April 2018.

“Game Design as Climate Change Activism.” Ecozon@: European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment. Special Issue: Green Video Games. Guest editors Alenda Chang and John Parham, 2017.

“Rise of the Mandalorians: A Star Wars Costuming Fandom Reacts to Intersectional New Canon.” Media Commons: A Digital Scholarly Network. December, 2016.

“Where the Wild Games Are: Ecologies in Latin American Video Games” in Ecomedia: Key Issues. Routledge. Co-author: Thaiane Oliveira. Editors Steven Rust, Salma Monani, and Sean Cubitt. September 2015

Book Review: The Culture of Disaster, Marie-Helene Huet
Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment 2013; doi: 10.1093/isle/ist067

Teaching Experience

Lecturer of Digital Media, Flinders University, 2023-present

My position at Flinders is an even split between research and teaching. For my research, I design interactive experiences using cutting edge technologies and compose text-based scholarly work about design. I teach Interaction Design, Digital Games, and other topics in the Video Editing & Entertainment Design (VEED) Bachelor of Creative Arts program.

Associate Professor of Communication and New Media Studies, Alma College, 2016-2023

In my first year at Alma, I was tasked with redesigning the New Media Studies major to include my areas of expertise in social media, game studies, and ecomedia. Major structure focuses around learning outcomes of knowing, doing, and making, and most courses are collaboration- and project-based. I designed nine new courses and reimagined syllabi for two. (* indicates a course I designed)

Courses Taught

• First-Year Seminar: College and the Good Life
• NMS 101: Introduction to Digital Media
• NMS 130: Interactive Media*
• NMS 253: Ecomedia*
• COM 110: Media Systems and Influence
• NMS 230: Game Design I*
• NMS 233: Tabletop Role-Playing Games*
• COM 253: Environmental Communication
• NMS 280 (topics): Interactive Storytelling*; Social Movements in Social Media*
• NMS 300: Media Theory
• NMS 310: Social Media*
• NMS 330: Game Design II*
• NMS 399: Media Theory II*
• NMS 385: Internship
• NMS 449: Senior Seminar
• NMS 450: Senior Studio
• NMS 500: Honors Thesis

Mentor (PI), Alma College iGEM team, 2018-2023

I mentored the International Genetically Engineered Machine team regarding visual and science communication, graphic design, web design, local outreach, and public presentation. The annual competition involves prizes for best wiki, best presentation, best poster, and best outreach in addition to the science-focused awards. Our team makes podcasts related to their content and areas of interest, and at the 2020 virtual competition in November, the team won gold.

Instructor, Lander University, 2011-2016

• ENG 101: Introduction to Composition
• ENG 102: Introduction to Research
• ENG 214: World Literature; themes explored in different semesters: Monsters of Empire; Monsters and Monstrosity; Ecocriticism; Overcoming Trauma

Graduate Teacher of Record, Clemson University, 2010-11 & 2012-2016

• ENG 1030: Accelerated Composition
• ENG 2120: World Literature
• ENG 2150: 20th and 21st Century Literature
• ENG 3140: Technical Writing

Selected Conference Presentations

“Animals in Video Games,” Roundtable at POPMec, August 2022

“Umbilical Haunting: Death Stranding and Geographies of the Sixth Great Extinction,” Speculative Ecomedia stream, August 2021

“Critical Critters: How Audience Engagement Shapes Critical Role,” The Community’s Critical Role in Twitch’s Most Popular D&D Stream, Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) Conference, June 2021

“Shark versus the Fiery Apocalypse: Play as Shark in Maneater and The World of Darkness.” Perishing Twice: Elemental Tensions of Fire and Water in Games. Association for Studies of Literature and Environment 2019

“Quest With Class: Interactive Fictions and Diversity.” Computers & Writing, 2018

“Video Game Design as Cli-Fi—and Activism.” Videogames as Ecomedia. ASLE 2017

“Escort Mission: Navigating the Perils of Gaming with Kids.” Multi-classing IRL: Gamers, Academics, Mothers. Computers & Writing, 2017

“Composing Alternative Identities.” Writing, Rhetoric, and Role-Play: Cultivating Writing Connections through Role Playing Games in the Classroom and the Workplace. Conference on College Composition and Communication 2017

“EcoComposition by Design.” Cultivating Ecocomposition: Enacting, Sustaining, and Innovating Composition Practices in the Anthropocene. CCCC 2017

“Playing Animal.” Beyond the Human: Rhetorics of Defining, Becoming, and Playing “Animal.” Rhetoric Society of America 2016

“Designs That Play: Why Scholars Should Design Video Games.” “Listen!” The Legend of the Social Justice Warrior, or: Games and Social Advocacy. CCCC 2016

“The Siren’s Song: Monstrous Women in Video Games.” Of Dungeon Crawls and Chthonic Uprisings: Unearthing the Ecological Subtexts of Games. ASLE 2015

“The Vampire in the Video Game: Composing Arguments and Teaching With Video Games.” Risky Composition: Game Design as Theory and Pedagogy. Conference on College Composition and Communication 2015

“Play as Pedagogy.” Open Axes. Conference on College Composition and Communication 2014

Administrative Roles

• Chair, Department of Communication and New Media Studies, Alma College, 2022-present
• Quality Matters Coordinator, Alma College, 2022-present
• Editor, OneShot: A Journal of Critical Play and Games
• Division Chair, Arts and Humanities, Alma College, AY 2021-2022
• Chair, Council for Play and Game Studies, Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) 2016-2019
• Chair, Educational Technology Committee, AY 2018-2021
• Chair, Communication Search Committee, Winter 2021
• Conference Coordinator, Carolina Rhetoric Conference (CRC) 2015

Service at Alma College

• Board of Directors, Mission Fulfillment Committee, 2022-present
• Retention Committee, 2022-present
• Educational Technology Committee, 2017-present
• Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board, 2018-2022
• Venture Grant Committee, 2018-2021
• Educational Policy Committee, Fall 2018 (sabbatical replacement) & AY 2021-2022
• King Chavez Parks Mentoring Program, 2017-present
• Multi-directional Mentoring Program, 2018-present