Saint Louis University: Saint Louis, MO
Ph.D., American Studies (2011)
Dissertation: “Engaging the Public: A Political Theory of Literary Journalism”
University of Saint Thomas: Saint Paul, MN
M.A., English (2003)
Thesis: “Slouching Towards Washington: Myth and Semiology in Joan Didion’s Nonfiction”
University of North Dakota: Grand Forks, ND
B.A., English & Honors, (2001)
Thesis: “A Beat Generation Fable: Queer Performance in On the Road and 1950s America”
PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS
University of North Carolina Wilmington: Wilmington, NC
Assistant Professor of Journalism
Department of English (2020 – Present)
University of Maine: Orono, ME
Assistant Professor & CLAS Honors Preceptor of Journalism
Department of Communication and Journalism & Honors College (2014 – 2018)
University of Notre Dame: South Bend, IN
Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of American Studies &
John W. Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy (2012 – 2014)
Case Western Reserve University: Cleveland, OH
SAGES Teaching Fellow & English Lecturer (2010 – 2012)
WRITING, RESEARCH, AND SCHOLARLY ACTIVITY
CURRENT PROJECTS
Essay Collection: The Speaking Length: Essays and Journalism
This collection of personal essays and narrative journalism examines the collective limits of language and communication. The stories are loosely organized around themes of precarity, aloneness, and compulsion in contemporary America. They examine writers like Joan Didion and David Foster Wallace, and protopunk musician Jonathan Richman. The personal essays are deeply reported narratives examining sacrifice, loss, and regret. The “speaking length” is a musical term that describes a piano string’s vibrations when struck by a hammer. That pulsation recalls the physical sensation of anxiety, but the book’s title also suggests the boundaries inherent in telling our tales. We all tell stories but that doesn’t guarantee shared meaning. The book is modeled on nonfiction collections like Leslie Jamison’s The Empathy Exams, Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts, and Esmé Wang’s The Collected Schizophrenias.
Monograph: The Rest is Silence: The Unexplored Nonfiction of David Foster Wallace
(proposal under review, Bloomsbury Press)
Seventeen scholarly monographs have been published on the work and life of David Foster Wallace. Yet none of these texts focus exclusively, or even primarily, on Wallace’s nonfiction despite him being a three-time finalist for the National Magazine Award, winning once in 2001. This book examines the entirety of Wallace’s nonfiction oeuvre, bringing together wide-ranging fields of study: literary journalism, critical race theory, mathematical logic, cultural studies, existential philosophy, gender and sexuality studies, lexicography, journalism ethics, literary criticism, democracy and the public sphere, genre creation, and DFW Studies itself. These essays survey topics and themes such as: solipsism, consciousness, irony, sincerity, tennis, neoliberalism, the Midwest, biographies, loneliness, entertainment, addiction and 12-step programs, anxiety, postmodernism, and contemporary politics. This book offers a needed and necessary historical corrective to the over-dependence on fiction as the primary field of inquiry in the emerging field of David Foster Wallace Studies.
PUBLICATIONS
Peer-Reviewed
“Hidden in Plain Style: The Anti-Bomb Politics of John Hersey’s Hiroshima”
Journalism History (accepted, pending minor revisions).
“The Last Hurrah: Irony and Absurdism in John Sack’s M”
Literary Journalism Studies, (submitted).
“By Any Other Name: The Case for ‘Literary Journalism”
Literary Journalism Studies, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Fall 2015) 60-89.
“‘Just People’ are Just People: Langston Hughes and the Populist Power of African American Literary Journalism”
Literary Journalism Studies, vol. 5, no.2, (Fall 2013) 15-35.
“The Fine Print: Uncovering the True Story of David Foster Wallace and the ‘Reality Boundary’”
Literary Journalism Studies, vol. 5, no.2, (Fall 2013) 148-161.
(reprinted as “David Foster Wallace and the Nature of Fact” by Longreads, February 15, 2014: https://longreads.com/2014/02/15/david-foster-wallace-and-the-nature-of-fact/)
“Getting Away From It All: The Literary Journalism of David Foster Wallace and Nietzsche’s Concept of Oblivion”
in The Legacy of David Foster Wallace, eds. Samuel Cohen and Lee Konstantinou (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2012) 25-52.
(reviewed; revised and expanded manuscript based on 2009 peer-reviewed article)
“Getting Away From It All: The Literary Journalism of David Foster Wallace and Nietzsche’s Concept of Oblivion”
Literary Journalism Studies, vol. 1, no.2, (Fall 2009) 89-105.
Public Writing
“The Speaking Length” Longreads, November 19, 2019
(https://longreads.com/2019/11/19/the-speaking-length/)
“Something Like Springtime” Popula, November 11, 2018
(revised and expanded from “Jonathan Richman Lays Low in the Midcoast”
https://popula.com/2018/11/11/something-like-springtime/)
“Jonathan Richman Lays Low in the Midcoast” DownEast Magazine, June 2018, 85-86.
“Derivative Sport: The Journalistic Legacy of David Foster Wallace” Longreads,
December 7, 2017 https://longreads.com/2017/12/07/derivative-sport/
(reprinted by Literary Journalism Studies, vol.10, no.1, (Spring 2018) 175-197.)
“It Was Like Nothing Else in My Life Up to Now” in Haunted By Waters: The Future of Memory and the Red River Flood of 1997, ed. David Haeselin (Grand Forks: The Digital Press @ the University of North Dakota, 2017) 167-182.
(article commissioned; reprinted by Longreads, May 15, 2017
https://longreads.com/2017/05/15/it-was-like-nothing-else-in-my-life-up-to-now/)
“A Shot in the Arm” Longreads, February 9, 2017
(reprinted in Literature: The Human Experience, 13th ed., Macmillan, 2018)
“Joan Didion’s Journey Through New Journalism and Personal Heartache; A Review of The Last Love Song: A Biography of Joan Didion” Washington Post, August 28, 2015.
(article commissioned)
“Annotation Tuesday! (Back-to-School Edition) Josh Roiland and His ‘Literary Journalism in America’ Syllabus” Nieman Storyboard, August 25, 2015.
http://niemanstoryboard.org/stories/annotation-tuesday-literary-journalism-in-america/
“Spiritually Midwestern: What Middle America Meant to David Foster Wallace” A24 Films / The End of the Tour, August 7, 2017.
(article commissioned)
“Why’s This So Good? No. 87: Hunter S. Thompson and the Kentucky Derby”
Nieman Storyboard, November 12, 2013.
AWARDS
Longreads — Best of 2017: 25 Most Popular Exclusives of the Year, “A Shot in the Arm” (#20), December 2017
Pushcart Prize Nominee — Nominated by Longreads (“A Shot in the Arm”) 2017
Longreads — Best of 2014: 10 Most Popular Exclusives of the Year, “David Foster Wallace and the Nature of Fact” (#9), December 2014
Literary Journalism Studies — Article of the Year, “‘Just People’ are Just People: Langston Hughes and the Populist Power of African American Literary Journalism,” December 2014
International Association for Literary Journalism Studies — Inaugural President’s Panel Selection, “Reading True Stories: Undergraduate Experiences With Literary Journalism” (Panel Organizer), May 2012
Case Western Reserve University — Nominee, Carl F. Wittke Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, May 2012
University of North Dakota — Starcher Award, Best Undergraduate Thesis, May 2001
Society of Professional Journalists — Mark of Excellence: Best All-Around Non-Daily Student Newspaper (National), May 1999.
FELLOWSHIPS and GRANTS
Bangor Savings Bank Faculty Development Fund (Awarded: $2000)
Project: Present “Hidden in Plain Style: The Anti-Bomb Politics of John Hersey’s Hiroshima” & “The Last Hurrah: Irony and Absurdism in John Sack’s M” at International Association for Literary Journalism Studies Conference, Halifax, Nova Scotia — May 2017
UMaine Humanities Center, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, and Honors College
(Awarded: $1700)
Project: Alan Miller Fund for Excellence in Journalism, Visiting Journalists Katie Mettler and Jessica Contrera, Washington Post — March 2017
University of Maine, CLAS Conference Travel Grant (Awarded: $600)
Project: Present “The Sound and the Fury: Rock and Roll Literary Journalism” at International Conference on Narrative, Lexington, KY — March 2017
National Endowment for the Humanities (Awarded: $275,000)
Maine State Library, Peggy Kane, P.I. and Grant Administrator
Project: Digitization of Historic Maine Newspapers (100,000 total pages)
Member, NEH Digitization Grant Advisory Panel — May 2016
Maine Humanities Council (Awarded: $3,000)
Project: Pulitzer Week — Three Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists (Amy Ellis Nutt, Kathleen Kingsbury, and Jim Sheeler) visited campus, attended classes, and gave lectures — March 2016
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowship (Awarded: $2100)
Project: Summer Institute: “City of Print: New York and the Periodical Press” — June 14-26, 2015 (Declined)
University of Maine, CLAS Conference Travel Grant (Awarded: $600)
Project: Present “Derivative Sport: The Journalistic Legacy of David Foster Wallace” at David Foster Wallace Conference, Normal, IL — May 28-30, 2015
University of Maine Humanities Center Fellowship (Awarded: $2500)
Project: Research in the David Foster Wallace Archive for book project: The Rest is Silence: The Unexplored Nonfiction of David Foster Wallace — November 2014
UMaine CLAS Pre-Tenure Faculty Research and Creative Activity Fellowship
(Awarded: Course Release)
Project: Grant application to become a 2015 Harvard Nieman Foundation Fellow — November 2014
University of Texas, Harry Ransom Center Fellowship (Awarded: $2000)
Project: Research in the David Foster Wallace Archive for book project: The Rest is Silence: The Unexplored Nonfiction of David Foster Wallace — November 2014
University of Notre Dame, Henkels Lecture Grant (Awarded: $5,000)
Project: Visiting lecture by John Jeremiah Sullivan, two-time National Magazine Award winner, Southern Editor Paris Review — January 2014
University of Notre Dame, Henkels Lecture Grant (Awarded: $2,065)
Project: Visiting lecture by Jim Sheeler, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Department of English, Case Western Reserve University — October 2012
University of Notre Dame, Large Teaching Grant (Awarded: $9,140)
College of Arts and Letters, Department of American Studies, Gallivan Program for Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy
Project: Purchase 15 iPads for students in my courses “Journalism and American Democracy” and “The Future of News” — August 2012
Case Western Reserve University, SAGES Travel Grant (Awarded: $1,500)
Project: Undergraduate Panel at International Association for Literary Journalism Scholarship conference — May 2012
Case Western Reserve University, SOURCE Travel Grant (Awarded: $1,000)
Project: Undergraduate Panel at International Association for Literary Journalism Scholarship conference — May 2012
Case Western Reserve University, Baker-Nord Center Travel Grant (Awarded: $1,000)
Project: Undergraduate Panel at International Association for Literary Journalism Scholarship conference — May 2012
INVITED TALKS, PANELS, & GUEST LECTURES
Department of English, Pacific Union College, Angwin, CA
“Personal Essays, Public Audiences” (online) — November 6, 2019
Department of English, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND
“Writing for Digital Environments” — March 19, 2019
“Writing, Editing, & Publishing Online” — March 20, 2019
Avondale College of Higher Education, Cooranbong, Australia
“Global Voices in Literature: David Foster Wallace” (online) — October 15, 2018
Hutchinson Center, University of Maine, Belfast, ME
“The Importance of News Media Literacy” — July 10, 2017
Biannual Convention of State Board of League of Women Voters, Brunswick, ME
“How to Understand the News” (panel) — May 20, 2017
League of Women Voters Downeast, Ellsworth, ME
“Fake News: Who Can You Trust” (panel) — April 21, 2017
University of Maine, Orono, ME
“Keep Calm and Click On: Understanding the News Media in Turbulent Times” — April 12, 2017
Bangor Public Library, Bangor, ME
“Fake News: Lecture and Panel Discussion” (panel) — March 28, 2017
Maine Calling, Maine Public Broadcasting Network, Portland, ME
“Fake News” — December 9, 2016
Avondale College of Higher Education, Cooranbong, Australia
“Consider David Foster Wallace” (online) — October 20, 2016
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
“Hidden in Plain Style: The Anti-Bomb Politics of John Hersey’s Hiroshima”
International Association for Literary Journalism Studies, Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 2017
“The Last Hurrah: Irony and Absurdism in John Sack’s M”
International Association for Literary Journalism Studies, Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 2017
“The Sound and the Fury: Discordant Themes in Rock n Roll Literary Journalism”
International Society for the Study of Narrative, Lexington, KY, March 2017
Panel: “Honors and the Cult of Personality: Exploring the Ethics of Undergraduate Mentorship and Research”
National Collegiate Honors Council, Seattle, October 2016 (online)
“The Forever War as Transnational Literary Journalism”
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Minneapolis, August
“Journalists Without Borders: Comparative Coverage of the War on Terror”
co-authored with Lindsay Morton, Avondale College, Australia
American Comparative Literature Association, Cambridge, MA, March 2016
“Very Recent History: The Lasting Legacy and Influence of David Foster Wallace’s Journalism”
Joint Journalism and Communication History Conference, New York, March 2016
“A Trivial Pursuit?: Exploring Creative Alternatives to the Paper Writing Process”
co-authored with Gwendolyn Walsh (undergraduate student)
National Collegiate Honors Council, Chicago, IL, November 2015
Panel: “David Foster Wallace and the Art of Aversion: Digital Intimacy, Conversion Narratives, and His Literary Disciples”
David Foster Wallace Conference, Bloomington-Normal, IL, May 2015
“Derivative Sport: The Literary Legacy of David Foster Wallace”
International Association for Literary Journalism Studies, Minneapolis, May 2015
“The Name Game: Ditching ‘Longform’ for ‘Literary Journalism’”
Joint Journalism and Communication History Conference, New York, March 2015
“The Rest Is Silence: The Unexplored Nonfiction of David Foster Wallace”
David Foster Wallace Conference, Bloomington-Normal, IL, May 2014
“Long in the Time of Short: The Rise of Digital Storytelling Platforms and Literary Journalism Curation”
Panel Organizer: “Literary Journalism in the Digital Age”
International Association for Literary Journalism Studies, Paris, May 2014
“The Things They Chronicled: Vietnam and the Narrative Heart of Literary Journalism”
American Comparative Literature Association, New York City, March 2014
“Hidden in Plain Style: John Hersey and the Anti-Bomb Politics of Hiroshima”
Panel Organizer: “Taking the Marks Off: Literary Journalism and the Politics of Transparency” (three panels)
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, Washington D.C., August 2013
“More than a Place on the Map: The Political Geography of Joan Didion’s California”
American Comparative Literature Association, Toronto, April 2013
“Integrating iPads: Using Digital Media to Teach Journalism and American Democracy”
Digital Humanities Caucus: American Studies Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico, November 2012
“A Fourth Way to Tell the Story: Ethnography in Literary Journalism and Anthropology”
co-authored with Allison V. Schlosser
International Association for Literary Journalism Studies, Toronto, May 2012
“Reading True Stories: Undergraduate Experiences With Literary Journalism”
Panel Organizer: “Reading True Stories: Undergraduate Experiences With Literary Journalism”
International Association for Literary Journalism Studies, Toronto, May 2012
“The Elements of Literary Journalism: (Un)Conventional Characteristics and Their Contribution to Democratic Discourse”
Panel Organizer: “Literary Journalism: Telling Stories, Defining Citizenship” (two panels)
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, St. Louis, August 2011
“African American Newspapers and Literary Journalism’s Populist Impulse”
Panel Organizer: “Observe and Interpret: Literary Journalism and the Politics of Reform”
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication—Southeast Colloquium, Columbia, SC, March 2011
“Rwanda, Genocide, and the Perils of Objectivity”
NonFictioNow Conference, Iowa City, November 2010
“Engaging the Public: Toward a Political Theory of Literary Journalism”
International Association for Literary Journalism Studies, London, May 2010
“War Stories: Reading Narrative in John Sack’s M”
American Culture / Popular Culture Association, Saint Louis, March 2010
“Or Does It Explode?: Langston Hughes On the Racial Significance of the Spanish Civil War”
International Association for Literary Journalism Studies, Chicago, May 2009
“Getting Away From It All: The Literary Journalism of David Foster Wallace and Nietzsche’s Concept of Oblivion”
American Comparative Literature Association, Cambridge, MA, March 2009
“Reclaiming Authority: Salvador’s Disillusion with Official Sources and Solutions”
International Association for Literary Journalism Studies, Lisbon, May 2008
“Marketing Democracy: Merging the Public and Private in Postmodern Politics”
Mid-American American Studies Association, St. Louis, April 2006
“Emersonian Liberalism: Progressive Problems of Race and White Privilege”
Mid-American American Studies Association, Minneapolis, April 2005
TEACHING — COURSES DESIGNED & TAUGHT
University of Maine — Assistant Professor & CLAS-Honors Preceptor
Department of Communication and Journalism & Honors College
Graduate Courses
CMJ 598: Journalism and American Democracy
Undergraduate Courses
CMJ 111: Introduction to Journalism
CMJ 237: Journalism Across Platforms
CMJ 351: Multimedia Production
CMJ 391/ENG 309: Literary Journalism in America
HON 111: Civilization I
HON 112: Civilization II
HON 211: Civilization III
HON 212: Civilization IV
HON 318: Consider David Foster Wallace
University of Notre Dame — Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of American Studies & Program in Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy
Undergraduate Courses
AMST 30178: Literary Journalism in America
AMST 30188: Journalism and American Democracy
JED 30103: Writing Literary Journalism
AMST 30179: The Future of News
AMST 30189: The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture
Case Western Reserve University — SAGES Teaching Fellow
Seminar Approach to General Education and Scholarship
Undergraduate Courses
USSY 287: Literary Journalism in America
Saint Louis University — Graduate Student Instructor
Department of American Studies
Undergraduate Courses
AMST 201: Introduction to American Studies
AMST 393/POL 393: Journalism and American Democracy
Fontbonne University — Adjunct Instructor
Department of English & Department of American Studies
Undergraduate Courses
ENG 095: College Writing Skills
ACS 100: Introduction to American Cultural Studies
ENG 101: Writing About Experience & Identity
ENG 102: Writing About Consumer Culture
ENG 102: Writing About Media & Culture
ENG 102: Writing About Health & Medicine
ENG 260: American Literary Tradition: To Whitman
University of Saint Thomas — Adjunct Instructor
Department of English
Undergraduate Courses
ENG 111: Critical Reading & Writing: Fiction & Nonfiction
ENG 112: Critical Reading & Writing: Poetry & Drama
University of North Dakota — Undergraduate Co-Instructor
Honors College
Undergraduate Courses
HON 101: Introduction to Humanities
HON 301: Films of Stanley Kubrick
ADVISING
Ph.D. Dissertation (committee member)
Pascal Sigg, University of Zurich, “The Responders: The New Humanist Literary Journalism of the 21st Century” (ongoing)
Ryan Marnane, Salve Regina University, “Consider the Audio Book: Sound Studies and David Foster Wallace’s Literary Journalism” (2018)
M.A. Thesis (advisor)
Kyle Hadyniak, University of Maine, “Historic Vacation: The Imagined Community of
Obama’s Cuba Trip” (2016)
M.A. Thesis (committee member)
Quang Ngo, University of Maine, “Heteronormativity and Representation of Gay Sexuality in HBO’s Looking” (2015)
Honors Thesis (advisor)
Emily McNair, University of Maine, “Dropping the Gloves: Fighting for Varsity Status Under
Title IX—The Rise of Women’s Ice Hockey at the University of Maine” (2015)
Danielle Walczak, University of Maine, Journalism & Honors, “Forward Not Back: Young
People’s Search for Community and Farming in Maine” (2014)
Kate Spies, University of Maine, “Coming To” (2014)
Patric Skigen, University of Maine, “Issue by Issue, State by State” (2014)
Honors Thesis (committee member)
Katrina Lapham, University of Maine, “The Effect of Voice Gender and Spoken Messages in
Augmented Interactions” (2017)
James Robe, University of Maine, “Fostering Scientific Discourse Through the Development of an Online Journal” (2017)
Taylor Cunningham, University of Maine, “Persuading the Secret: In Search of Maine’s Hermits” (2016)
Alan Bennett, University of Maine, “Extra! Extra! This Just Thin: Identifying and Evaluating
Framing of Obesity-Related News Coverage in Maine” (2016)
Shelby Hartin, University of Maine, “Ideologies of Empire: Dominant Narratives of Definitive Literature during King Leopold II’s Rule in the Congo” (2015)
Ty Bolte, University of Maine, “Vision Problems in Ecuador; Developing a Clinical Tool to Test Visual Acuity in Rural Populations” (2015)
Margaret Handelman, University of Notre Dame, “Headlines and Hashtags: The Story of Michael Brown and Ferguson” (2015)
Mike Vangel, University of Notre Dame, “Delta Sound: The Modern Search for Authentic Blues” (2014)
Sarah Cahalan, University of Notre Dame, “Everbody’s Serious but Me: Humor at Time and in the American Upper Class” (2014)
Ben Zelmer, University of Notre Dame, “Selling Mystique, Tradition, and Nostalgia in Big Time College Football” (2013)
Lauren Kelly, University of Notre Dame, “Media Darlings: Feminism and Female Murderers in the 1990s” (2013)
SERVICE
Professional Journals
Referee, Recherches en Communication (2018)
Referee, Literary Journalism Studies (2010-present)
Referee, Gastronomica (2017)
Referee, Journalism History (2014)
Board Membership
Gannett House, Maine First Amendment Museum, Board Member, 2016-2018.
International Association for Literary Journalism Studies
Research Chair, 2014-2017
Social Media Chair, 2014-2015
AEJMC Coordinating Committee Chair, 2012-2014
Graduate Student Chair, 2009-2012
University of Maine
Department of Communication and Journalism
Extracurricular Literary Journalism Reading Group Coordinator, 2017-2018
Event coordinator, Alan Miller Fund for Excellence in Journalism, March 2017
Event co-coordinator, Alan Miller Fund for Excellence in Journalism, March 2016
Event co-coordinator, Alan Miller Fund for Excellence in Journalism, March 2015
Department Chair Review Committee (member), 2015
Journalism & Mass Communication Job Search Committee (member), 2014-2015.
Honors College
Honors 170 Course Coordinator, 2017
Honors 211 / 212 Course Coordinator, 2016-2017
Honors Council (member), 2016-2017
Honors Associate Hiring Committee (member), 2016-2017
Curriculum Committee (member), 2014-2017
Writing Committee (member), 2015-2017
Lecture Best Practices Committee (member), 2015-2017
University of Notre Dame
Department of American Studies
Faculty Advisor, American Studies Club, 2012-2014.
Extracurricular Literary Journalism Reading Group Coordinator, 2012-2014
Case Western Reserve University
Extracurricular Literary Journalism Reading Group Coordinator, 2010-2012
Saint Louis University
Department of American Studies
Saint Louis University Humanities Forum, cofounder and department representative, 2008-2009 Graduate Student Liaison, 2008-2009
Journalist Forum on Press and Democracy, organizer and moderator, 2008
University of Saint Thomas
Department of English
Center for Writing Graduate Representative, 2003-2004
Community
Penobscot Valley Senior College, Volunteer Instructor, “Journalism and American Democracy” Spring 2017
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
International Association for Literary Journalism Studies (IALJS)
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (AEJMC)
American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA)
REFERENCES
Dr. Erika Doss, Professor, Department of American Studies, University of Notre Dame:
Dr. David Dowling, Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication,
University of Iowa: david-dowling@uiowa.edu
James Sheeler, Shirley Wormser Professor of Journalism and Media Writing, Case Western Reserve University: james.sheeler@case.edu
Josh Roiland 