TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
My undergraduate study in Latin American & Latino Studies; participation in interdisciplinary field research as a participant in Dickinson College’s Mosaic programs; research, study, and teaching abroad in Argentina, Austria, Dominican Republic, Germany, and Spain; 5+ years of work in the legal field; and graduate training in sociology all inform my teaching philosophy, methods, and the breadth of materials and real world examples I share with my students.
My teaching centers student-led conversations, experiential practice, and social interaction in the classroom. Through critique, debate, discussion, and mini research activities, my students practice making evidence-based arguments, hone their sociological imaginations, and become increasingly sociologically mindful.
My hope is that students studying sociology in my classes use the experience as a springboard for a lifetime of enthusiastic engagement with difficult questions. In every class, principal aims include fostering curiosity about the social world and teaching students how to ask their own questions about the society we live in and their place in it. This means the work we do is always relevant beyond the classroom.
In addition to this discipline-specific focus, my students develop core career competencies in critical and analytical thinking, collaborative learning and teamwork, communication, cultural and global awareness, information literacy, problem solving, professionalism, and technological competency.
EDUCATION
2017
PhD, Sociology
Doctoral thesis: Hicksville: How Silence and Storytelling Re-Shape a Migration Gateway
Columbia University, New York, NY
2010
MPhil, Sociology
Columbia University, New York, NY
2009
MA, Sociology
Columbia University, New York, NY
2005
Professional Certificate in Digital Filmmaking
New York University School of Professional Studies, New York, NY
2001
Bachelor of Arts in Latin American & Latino Studies (Summa Cum Laude)
Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA
I have done coursework, training, and praxis in qualitative methods with a focus on archival methods, digital audio and video, documentary photography, ethnographic methods, oral history, and visual sociological methods at Dickinson College; in the Columbia University departments of sociology, political science, and architecture, planning, and preservation; at the Columbia University Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory and Empirics (INCITE); at the International Center of Photography; and at the New York University School of Professional Studies. I have 4+ years of work experience in legal support. As a legal assistant in the field of immigration law, I handled applications for temporary protected status (TPS), permanent residence under VAWA (the Violence Against Women Act) and NACARA (the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Refugee Act), and political asylum. In doing this work, I practiced and honed the interpretation/translation, active listening, and interviewing skills I use in my work as an oral historian, sociologist, and educator today.
CROSS CULTURAL STUDY
2001-2002
Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
courses in sociology, Italian language, and German-Spanish translation
2001
Dickinson College Global Mosaic Program, Patagonia, Argentina
used archival research, digital video, and oral history to study ethnic and labor relations, migration, and the petroleum industry; directed, co-produced, and edited documentary short on Barrio San Martín titled “Heterogeneity Unites Us”
2000
Institute for the International Education of Students (IES), Vienna, Austria
courses in German language, Central Eastern European and Jewish cultures
1999
Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) /
Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Santiago, Dominican Republic
courses in Afro-Caribbean culture, Dominican society, and rural/urban sociology
1998
Dickinson College American Mosaic Program, Adams County, PA
used ethnography, oral history, and photo elicitation to study Mexican migrant labor, gender, economics, and activism
1998
Universidad de Málaga para Extranjeros, Málaga, Spain
courses in Spanish art and architecture, culture, literature, and politics
My experiences with cross-cultural research and international study have encompassed Afro-Caribbean culture; social themes in the study of Dominican society; central/eastern European and Jewish culture; American fruit growers and Mexican/Latin American migrant labor; migration, ethnic/labor relations and the Argentine petroleum industry; German youth, xenophobia, and national identity; Austrian art and architecture; Spanish art and architecture, culture, literature, and politics; and German, Italian, and Spanish language and translation.
TEACHING in the SOCIAL SCIENCES
2018 - Present
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology, Criminology, and Anthropology
Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY
Faculty Profile - Hofstra University​
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Courses:
Contemporary Society
Research Methods in Sociology
Sociology of Human Rights
Playlist for Revolution
Sociology of Memory
Independent Fieldwork Research Internship at CARECEN
​
Interdisciplinary first-year clusters and Honors College courses co-taught with faculty across the humanities and social sciences:
Journalism, Media, & Society
Gender, Rights, and the Law
Culture & Expression: The City in Modernity
2019-2024
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
Columbia University, New York, NY
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Sociology of Human Rights
2008-2011
Teaching Assistant
Department of Sociology
Barnard College and Columbia University, New York, NY
​
Methods for Social Research
American Society
Food and the Social Order​
Evaluation of Evidence
TEACHING in the ARTS & HUMANITIES
2023 - PRESENT
Co-Owner and Co-Director
VIDA Immersion, Corp., Westbury, NY
​
Curate Cultural Explorer experiences; teach; and develop English, Spanish, and multilingual curricula for immersive hands-on classes and workshops in art history, culture, and the craft, culinary, literary, performance, and visual arts.
2002
Team Leader
Project Weltoffenheit
Osternienburg, Germany​​
2000
Assistant English-Language Teacher
Akademisches Gymnasium
Vienna, Austria​
2000-2001
1998-1999
Board Member & Coordinator
Zatae Longsdorff Center for Women
Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA​
1999
Administrative & Program Services Volunteer
Rural Opportunities Inc.
Aspers, PA
AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS, & GRANTS
2023-2024
​Hofstra University's Rabinowitz Honors College Undergraduate Research Assistantship Program (supervised Hofstra University honors college senior at all stages of research from literature review to IRB application, and oral history interviews for the Interreligious Social Interaction Project)
2021
Hofstra University's Rabinowitz Honors College Undergraduate Research Assistantship Program (supervised Hofstra University honors college senior conducting archival research and oral histories for "Race" and "Riots" in American Memory project
(see Research Assistants Gain Career Skills | News | Hofstra University, New York)
2019
Hofstra University Center for "Race", Culture, and Social Justice Faculty Summer Research Grant for research on "Race" and "Riots" in American Memory
2007-2012
​Paul F. Lazarsfeld Fellowship, Department of Sociology, Columbia University
2001-2002
J. William Fulbright Fellowship for research on German youth, xenophobia, and national identity, Leipzig, Germany
2001
Phi Beta Kappa Honorary Society
2001
​Dickinson College Alumni Council Senior Honors Award for efforts with long-term benefits to the Carlisle and Dickinson College communities
2001
Award for Outstanding Commitment to Diversity Education at Dickinson College
Exhibits, Presentations, and ScreeningS
2025
served on conference planning committee and present on "Designing for Connection: Extending the Classroom into the Campus and Community." Panel on "Designing for Impact: Intentional Structures that Stand the Test of Time", Inaugural Adjunct Academy: Teaching, Engaging & Connecting, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY
2023
​Panel on "Classroom Discourse and Participation: Reflection on Class Activity, Discourse, and Conversation," Hofstra University Office of the Provost Teaching & Learning Conference, Hempstead, NY
2021
​""Race" and "Riots" in American Media and Memory." Oral History Association Annual Meeting
2021
""Race" and "Riots" in American Memory." Center for "Race", Culture, and Social Justice, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY
2015
"Reflections on Method and Educational Philosophy", 20th Anniversary of American and Global Mosaics, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA
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2015
"Wreaths, Rocks, and "Wrong" Tales." Roundtable on "Social Movements: Crossing Borders." Eastern Sociological Society Annual Meeting, New York, NY
2014
"Established-Newcomer Encounter and the Archaeology of Lost Narratives." Oral History Network Panel on "Migration: Memories & Perceptions." European Social Science History Conference, Vienna, Austria.
2010
“Taste Astoria! Crossing Culinary Boundaries in the Multicultural City. “Let’s Eat” Juried Art Competition. The Long Island Museum, Stony Brook, NY.
2009
“Encountering the Multicultural City: Astoria, Queens, NYC” documentary short screened. “Diversity in Place: Making Documentaries on the Multicultural City”, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Honolulu, HI.
2003
​"Youth in Leipzig and German Identity: "Well, we were born here, but we're not fascist or anything." Eastern Sociology Society Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA
1999
​"Women Building Relationships through Storytelling." Community Studies Center Conference, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA
1998
"Mi Nombre es Belén, una Fotohistoria." Exhibit on Changing Communities in Adams County, PA: Work, Ethnicity, and Apples", Weiss Center for the Arts, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.
Projects
Race, Riots,
and Memory​​
"Race", "Riots", and the Memory of Civil-Rights Era Protest in a New York Suburb
Hicksville
​"Culture, Memory, and Small Town "Wrong" Tales: How we use tool kits to rewrite history"
FORGOTTEN
NEIGHBORHOODS
"Excavating Forgotten Ethnic Neighborhoods: At the Junction of Oral History and Archive"
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"Small Town Chinatown News: Reception, Visibility, and Harassment in the early 20th Century"
PLACE & GRIEF
"Bulldozing Broadway: How Societies Grieve Lost Places"