I am a recent transplant to the Pacific Northwest (by way of California and Washington, DC) and a new member of the faculty at Evergreen as of June 2025, where I primarily teach in the Master in Teaching (MiT) program on courses related to multilingual learner education. I recently finished my doctorate at the University of Maryland, where my dissertation investigated how heritage language sustainability and investment emerged in a local, community-based heritage language school through a research-practice partnership (RPP) framework. My larger research interests are in the role of multilingualism in society and education from a language rights perspective, with a specific emphasis on heritage language education of minoritized languages (i.e., less-commonly taught languages).
Education
Ph.D., Applied Linguistics and Language Education, University of Maryland, 2025; M.A., Language, Literacy, and Social Inquiry, University of Maryland, 2025., M.S., Applied Linguistics, Georgetown University, 2015; B.A., Linguistics, San Diego State University, 2012
Teaching Style
My teaching is focused on engaging students and teacher candidates with a holistic approach to multilingual education. In practice, this shows up in two ways: 1) Resonance: by humanizing students through culturally and linguistically sustaining practices, and 2) Criticality: by dismantling both the teacher-centered and ideologically monolingual paradigms in education. I engage my students by having a strong theoretical foundation and practical, hands-on experiences to become educators, advocates, and activists for the multilingual learners and their families in our community.