Hello! I'm a PhD Candidate in the Department of Radio-TV-Film at the University of Texas at Austin where I also earned my MA in Media Studies. I came to Austin after completing my BA in Communications at the University of Oklahoma. As a result I'm a die-hard Sooner fan in a land of Longhorns, but I love Austin in spite of that fact.
I have spent the past 6 years studying and researching the digital lives of children and youth. My Master's thesis was about the way teen girls use their anonymous blogs as a space for identity formation and community building. Currently I'm working on my dissertation which analyzes how teens, parents, and teachers identify, communicate, and negotiate digital media risks - both actual and perceived. Additionally I'm working with Dr. S Craig Watkins on a MacArthur funded ethnographic research project which explores teens' everyday media ecologies. I employ various methodological approaches including qualitative interviewing, focus groups, participant observations, and discursive textual analysis; my work is often situated within a feminist approach to media and culture.
I have been the Lead Instructor for a Communication, Technology & Society undergraduate course and served a as a TA for several classes in the RTF department. Additionally, I was the Co-Coordinating Editor of FlowTV for two years and I'm a former Teen Reporter Program Coordinator for Latinitas Magazine (a digital magazine produced by and for young Latinas in Austin). Currently I'm serving as a graduate student mentor for the College of Communication's Pre-Graduate School Internship.
Outside of school and work I spend the majority of my time watching college football, reading about college football, and counting down the days until college football. But you can also find me training for marathons and working out, attempting not to start kitchen fires while I try out new recipes, hosting and attending beer tastings, catching up on pleasure reading, and exploring Austin with my ridiculous Jack Russell.
