Academic Background
I am currently completing my Ph.D. in Technical Discourse at East Carolina University. My official status is ABD, and I am scheduled to defend my dissertation in May, 2010. My dissertation focuses upon the visual discourse of U.S. Military video games, exploring the visual rhetorics, discursive structures, and virtual topographies within these psychologically coercive and persuasive virtual gaming environments.
I received a Master of Science degree in Technical Communication from North Carolina State University in 2002. My thesis focused upon a semiotic analysis of e-design web sites through the application of Social Semiotics Theory as it related to persuasively visual web languages.
I received a Bachelor of Arts degree, with a double major in Psychology and Art History from the University of North Carolina in 1998. My studies focused upon cognitive psychology, human computer interactions and semiotic analyses of ancient art, 19th and 20th century art including painting, architecture, and sculpture.
Teaching Experience
From August of 2004 through Spring 2009, I have taught a number of undergraduate classes at East Carolina University including Freshman Composition I and II, Writing for Business and Industry, and an online graduate level course on Professional and Technical Communication.
Writing and Research
My writing and research explores the visual discourse and semiotics of video games created by the United States Military. I am particularly interested in the critical analysis of ideology and psychological persuasion within these gaming environments, where visual discursive practices contribute to shifting notions of Cartesian versus non-Euclidean spaces of control - all in the service of U.S. soldier recruitment and training.
My secondary area of concentration is online pedagogy within the field of Higher Education. I specialize in the development of distance learning instructional materials, including best practices, technology requirements and guidelines for online learning.
Technical and Specialized Skills
I am proficient in a number of programming languages related to web development including html, dhtml, php, and Ajax. I am skilled in the use of graphics / drafting / authoring programs such as Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Photoshop, Pagemaker, Framemaker, InDesign, Camtasia, Microsoft Sharepoint, and Blackboard Academic Suite, amongst others.
I am also an experienced grant writer, having written grant proposals for educational institutions and nonprofit organizations as they applied for federal, private and non-governmental organizational grants.