Courses I offer
| Course title | Next offered |
|---|---|
| Hope and Joy in Queer and Trans Lives* FNDS 3602 | Winter 2025 |
| LGBTQ Religious Experience* WGST / SOC 388 | Fall 2025 |
| Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies WGST / ANTH / PSYC / SOC 303 | Currently running |
| Sexualities, Genders, and Bodies* WGST / SOC 366 | Currently running |
| Colonialism, Race, and Sexuality* WGST 488 (capstone) | Fall 2025 |
| Family Diversity and Power* WGST / ANTH / SOC 451 | Winter 2025 |
Teaching approach
- I believe teaching can always improve. I love learning new approaches and welcome student input. Some of the best ideas for course policies and assignments have come from my students.
- Dr. Gloria Jean Watkins, better known by her pen name bell hooks, has had a big influence on me as a teacher. Her book Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (PDF) is one I return to again and again. If you’re going to read one chapter, I recommend chapter five, “Theory as liberatory practice.”
- I believe in welcoming students’ whole selves to the classroom. I also believe in respecting students’ privacy. In my classes, you are always welcome to share about yourself and your life but never have to.
Student research I have supervised
- Foundations in LGBTQ+ studies (winter 2024)
- Non-binary identities (summer 2021)
- Discrimination, concealment, & multiple minority status within LGBTQ+ populations (thesis co-chair, winter 2021)
- LGBTQ+ couple relationships (fall 2020)
- DSM-5 classifications and US trans* communities (summer 2020)
- LGBTQ+ college student experiences at UM-Dearborn (fall 2019)
- Asexuality and ace spectrum identities (summer 2019)
- Queer studies reading group (fall 2018)
- Applying principles of nonviolent communication to intimate relationships (fall 2017)
- Trans men’s experiences coming out to parents (fall 2016)
- Critical disability studies (fall 2016)
- Trans women in the media (summer 2016)
- Black lesbian cultural production (summer 2015)
- Queer Middle Eastern identity and community formations (winter 2015)
- Counseling LGBTQ+ college and university students (winter 2015)
An independent study is an opportunity to work one-on-one with a professor to complete a project or learn more about a specific topic of interest to you. Click here to view the University of Michigan-Dearborn independent study contract.