I am a biracial, transracial adoptee and first generation faculty of color. I care very deeply about adoptee experiences, Indigenous rights, and social/environmental justice; I consider myself a critically engaged activist scholar. My journey through higher education cuts across several large, albeit very different state university systems. I earned my B.A. in History and Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh, M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies from the University of Wisconsin, and Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California, Riverside and I am a product of a public secondary schools. Prior to joining the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at CSUF, I taught at a small liberal arts college in Arkansas. I enjoy cafes and equitable specialty coffee culture, birdwatching, and exploring the Los Angeles River by bike and foot (Instagram: @lbcbirdsofthelariver). My co-species is a rescue named Wilbur T. Wonderdog (Instagram @wilbur.t.wonderdog).

academic appointments

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FULLERTON | 2021 - PRESENT

Associate Professor, Anthropology

california state university, fullerton | 2015 - 2021

Assistant Professor, Anthropology

hendrix college | 2014 - 2015

Luce-ASIANetwork Teaching Postdoctoral Fellow

education

ph.d. in Anthropology | university of california, riverside

m.a. in southeast asian studies | university of wisconsin, madison

b.a. in history & political science | university of pittsburgh

research interests

environment | agriculture | coffee | climate change | expertise | precarity

social and environmental justice | citizen science | environmental activism | birding

Southeast Asia | Vietnam | California

pedagogy | teaching and learning anthropology | service learning and international education