I'm a Continuing Lecturer in the Professional Writing Program at Purdue. The courses I teach reflect my interests in professional writing, teaching with technology, document design, web design, digital culture, visual rhetoric, travel writing, journalism and the new media, and discourse communities.

Creativity is an essential component within the courses I teach. For example, I require my students to complete at least one design-based writing project. Why? Because each student can apply his or her writing and critical thinking skills to the task of planning and designing a basic document that functions at once as a classroom companion piece and as a real-world application of key rhetorical concepts.

In addition to my teaching duties, I was on the planning committee for last year's Computers and Writing conference that caters to, you guessed it, teachers of writing. I also volunteer for a number of nonprofit organizations in Indianapolis.

Want to know more? Take a peek at my curriculum vitae or my just-started teaching blog !

I'm originally from Griffith, IN, a town of about 18,000 in the northwest corner of the state. I have a love-hate relationship with NW Indiana: I find the area incredibly stifling because of its lack of culture and diversity; however, this feeling of discomfort, and the inspiration I get from wandering the beaches of Lake Michigan in the winter, are behind many of the ideas that make my professional and creative work interesting and distinctive.

My college days were spent at Ball State, where I met a number of fascinating people from lots of different groups: fellow residence-hall denizens, journalism colleagues, the punk/alternative crowd, the GLBT community, English department folks, and some writers, artists and musicians. I tended to stay away from the fraternity/sorority scene and other "traditional" campus organizations -- unless I dealt with them in my capacity as a reporter for the Ball State Daily News, the Orient yearbook, and expo magazine.

Then I did graduate school, first at Indiana State and then at Southern Illinois. A few years ago, I spent some time as a foreign exchange student in Ireland -- an experience that was more formative than the combination of all that preceded it.

After I returned from Ireland, a group of fellow grad students and I organized a graduate Irish studies conference at SIU. I volunteered to do publicity, including a website, for the conference. At the time, I knew nothing about how to put together a simple web page, let alone a whole site. But I knew I really wanted to! All I needed was an HTML book, and a project with which to learn. That site wasn't too bad for a first effort, and I've been designing websites -- and teaching others how to do so -- ever since.

The house in Griffith, circa 1985

Maud, my muse. When she's not getting a drink from the bathroom faucet, chances are she's perched on top of my computer's display. She likes to watch me write.

While I love my work, probably to the point of being a bit of a workaholic, I do have a life after hours! Besides working on recreational websites, I like to cook for myself or with friends, write fiction and creative nonfiction, take in some experimental theater and independent film every so often, travel, work out, get out in nature to hike and camp, and check out the little towns nearby.

Since I'm a fan of electronic music, I love to go dancing in Indianapolis. I also like to hang out in cafes, especially those where whoever's in charge of the music likes world beat. Bookstores and eclectic shops also clamor for my attention -- and money!

Last, but certainly not least, I enjoy spending time with my best girl. Maud's not the most sociable kitty in the world, but she'd be very miffed if I forgot to mention her.