I am a PhD student in Urban Studies at Portland State University, where I investigate how place, memory, and equity are valued in mitigation planning. I consider myself an interdisciplinary scholar, as my interests intersect across the fields of humanistic geography, social heritage, and inclusionary planning. 

Interests: My work aims to unpack the meanings people attribute to local environments, to understand how those meanings are a result of historic processes, and to illuminate how systemic ideologies work to limit imagination and agency on the way to decision making.

My dissertation research will analyze how small business owners experience mitigation planning in Portland, Oregon. I will seek to understand how their narratives perceive and value relationships to place (past, present, and future), as well as how these narratives transform policy and process. My research will apply qualitative methods in the spirit of critical ethnography, complemented by mapping, storytelling, and image. 

Teaching:  I am dedicated to cultivating a teaching practice grounded in a critical pedagogy, where students try out reflective practices, practice speaking freely, and develop counter-narratives to hegemony. I try to ground my approach in trauma informed practices, universal design, and critical thinking. 

Positionality: Storytelling is at the core of my work and has always been the best means for me to connect to others. Story is how we relate to one another, it is the thread that through each of us confirms our humanity.

My interpretations of others’ stories is biased by my own experiences. I grew up poor in a mostly white town, with parents fighting to establish themselves as middle class. My privilege as a white cis woman has been leveraged to gain access to college and graduate school with little exposure to discrimination or prejudice. I am a first-generation student, often working multiple jobs and taking on massive debt to try to continue my parent’s struggle toward stability and comfort. I am drawn to stories that bear resemblance to the tired, resilient, creative adaptability required to survive in America today.