Hello! Karibu! It's wonderful to connect with you.
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As Dean of Social Sciences at Cypress College, I support students, faculty, and staff in our collective mission to make higher education affordable, accessible, and engaging. I'm a proud community college educator and advocate for Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC), Open Educational Resources (OER), and culturally responsive teaching. I have previously taught at a multiple institutions, including Santa Monica College, Swarthmore College, and Middlebury College. I love online teaching and learning!
📌 I collaborate and lead with a focus on equity, justice, and local community engagement. I am an award-winning specialist in online teaching and in designing and delivering workplace professional development. 📌 Currently, in additional to my full-time responsibilities, I contribute as a professional development facilitator with CVC @ONE -- the California Virtual Campus - Online Network of Educators, and as an Adjunct Lecturer in Linguistics at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). |
November 2023: "The Gift of Reading" - Celebrating a local community partnership and book donation at Cypress College with Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. Sorority, Orange County Alumni Chapter and the Legacy Umoja Program.
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I'm a linguistic anthropologist and applied linguist by training, with a focus on language, race, pedagogy, and popular culture. I have expertise in workplace diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), change management, multi-sited ethnography, intercultural communication, classroom observation, and stakeholder engagement.
In 2021, I was awarded a Verilogue research grant on racial equity in healthcare with co-author Debi Thomas, MD.
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In my research, I use methods of observation, description, and analysis, I join with people in real life and on the Internet--in their homes, and places of work and learning--to understand who they are and how they see the world.
📌 Languages I research and study: Swahili, Spanish, Arabic, African American Language (AAL), Pohnpeian.  Click for more!
My forthcoming book is an ode to the politics of viral Black language and identity: Zombies Speak Swahili: Race, Horror, and Sci-Fi from Mexico to Tanzania and Hollywood (Oxford University Press).
I'm also lead editor of the 2019 multi-disciplinary anthology on race and the body, Embodied Difference: Divergent Bodies in Public Discourse (Lexington).
#LanguageStory is a video series and blog I created to discuss people-centered perspectives on communication, intercultural learning, and the impact of anthropological research. |