Faculty and Staff Directory

Introduction

I love television. I love film. I love music, theater, advertising, architecture, theme parks, festivals and parades. My fascination with these and other aspects of our culture is what drives most of my professional work.

As a scholar and teacher I explore ideas and meanings in popular culture as they circulate among different media formats, including film, television and advertising, primarily in the context of the United States. I am particularly interested in the ways that our understandings of social identity (gender, sexuality, race, class, nation) are reflected in and shaped by popular media. I am also intrigued by the relationships between media and built environments such as cities and suburbs. I have a professional background in video and film production, and this experience shapes all aspects of my work.

My research and teaching are situated within a cultural studies framework. As such, I am committed to the critical examination of the trends of mass-disseminated popular media and the seemingly mundane patterns of everyday life, as I believe that this examination can help us to better understand who we are as individuals and as a society.

Current Research

My recent and current research covers a broad range of topics, from contemporary prestige television to star personas in classical Hollywood cinema. Much of my work examines media content that is created by, for, and about LGBTQ individuals. I am currently writing a book about the TV series Ugly Betty, exploring questions related to style and aesthetics as well as representations of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and citizenship.

Scholarly Interests

Media production/production studies, videographic criticism, media and popular culture, gender and sexuality studies, media history, media and cultural geography/space, suburban studies, improvisational theater

Teaching

I teach courses that ask students to examine and produce various kinds of media. In general, the content of the courses is driven by the desire to understand how meanings are generated and circulated through audio-visual media in our culture. Past courses at UW Tacoma include:

• TARTS 320 - Improvisational Theater and Performance in Everyday Life
• TCOM 201 – Media and Society
• TCOM 247 – Television Studies
• TCOM 347 – TV Criticism and Application
• TCOM 351 – Video Production
• TCOM 440 – Advertising and Consumer Culture
• TCOM 471 - Advanced Video Production
• TCOM 499 – Special Topics: Media and Culture of the 1980s
• TFILM 272 – Film Studies
• TFILM 483 – Film Directors (Tim Burton, David Lynch)
• TFILM 488 – Gender and Sexuality in Film 

Affiliations

• Society for Cinema and Media Studies
• University Film and Video Association
• Popular Culture Association
• Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

Academic Service

I try to support Tacoma's Grand Cinema and the local film community in general by helping to organize screenings, leading discussions and judging film festivals and competitions.