EDUCATION

May 2026. Ph.D., English, University of Iowa

M.S.L.I.S., Drexel University

B.A., English, Temple University

DISSERTATION

Cheaper, Lighter, Faster: Postwar Poetic Media and the Limits of Influence

My dissertation argues that Amiri Baraka, Diane di Prima, and John Giorno were innovative poets, editors, and publishers who broke with established poetic communities to develop their individual voices through groundbreaking media circulation. By rejecting these artistic groups and their implicit social pressures, they regained control of their art – in personal narratives, publication, and distribution. They intentionally selected media that they could use to reject and subvert, what they experienced as, an artificial and exclusive artistic establishment. My project is the first to argue that by employing these media in experimental ways, they honed a poetics that mirrored their lived experience and refused pressures to conform. While facets of their stories have been told before, I argue that it is necessary to return to the conversation since archival evidence reveals a more complicated and nuanced story of these poets’ lives and careers. In these three case studies, I closely examine how the cheap, light, and fast media they employed complicated the use of poetic voice, expanded their audiences, and made poetry available on demand in ways that fundamentally reshaped the second half of twentieth century American poetry.

CERTIFICATES, AWARDS, AND FELLOWSHIPS

2025-2026. Affiliation, Department of English, University of Pennsylvania

Spring 2026. Ballard and Seashore Dissertation Fellowship, University of Iowa

2023. Certificate in Book Studies/Book Arts and Technologies, University of Iowa

2022. W. R. Irwin Teaching Award, University of Iowa

Certificate, Full Stack Developer, New York Code and Design Academy. 

PUBLICATIONS

2019. “Between Catalogues and Colophons: Reading the Printing History of the Gotham Book Mart,” Wise Men Fished Here: A Centennial Exhibition in Honor of the Gotham Book Mart, 1920-2020.

PRESENTATIONS

November 2025. “The Loba Howls through the Bardo.” Palimpsests: Memory and Oblivion, Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association, San Francisco.

June 2025. “Poetry Power to the People: John Giorno’s You Got to Burn to Shine,” Embracing the Tangible: Fostering Interdisciplinary Connections in Book Art, College Book Art Association Conference, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

October 2024. “Ganpi Paper’s Radical Cultural Influence,” New Altitudes, North American Hand Papermakers Conference, University of Denver.

April 2022. “Divesting the Self, Embodying the Collective: A Diffusionist Reading of A Scots Quair,” Craft Critique Culture Conference: Margins, Marginalia, Marginalized, University of Iowa

February 28 – March 1, 2019. “Between Catalogues and Colophons: Reading the Printing History of the Gotham Book Mart,” Modernism – Materiality – Meaning: A Conference to Honor the Kislak Center’s Gotham Book Mart Centennial Exhibition, University of Pennsylvania.  

TEACHING

University of Iowa

September 2021 – May 2025. ENGL 1200: Interpretation of Literature, “Shifting Realities” 

TEACHING AS AN ASSISTANT (TA) 

University of Iowa

September 2020 – May 2021. ENGL 2010: Foundations of the English Major

September 2020 – December 2020. ENGL 3287: Shakespeare: Poetry, Power, and Politics on Stage

WORK AND LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE:

May 2021 – May 2024. Curatorial Assistant, University of Iowa Special Collections, Iowa City, IA

April 2019 – July 2020. Program Associate, Rare Book School, Charlottesville, VA

January 2014 – October 2016; August 2017 – April 2019. Reading Room Coordinator, Kislak Center for Special Collections, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Projects:

Gotham Book Mart Archives:

• Assisted curator in organizing 2019 show on Gotham Book Mart Archives, and created the first complete bibliography of published works from the GBM. Also oversaw a student worker who is completing pre-processing work on the GBM Archives and interfaced with a post-doc to ensure that she had access GBM Archival material.

• Produced catalog essay regarding the Gotham Book Mart’s publication history and book historical implications that was published February 2019. Also presented a lecture on the same topic for the exhibition’s opening.

Mark Adams Collection:

• Pre-cataloging listing, instructing and managing student workers on process, liaising with curator and donor to ensure that process was going smoothly.
• Listed more than four thousand items which are now housed in the Kislak Center.

Publication: “Gotham Book Mart as Publisher.” February 2019.

Presentation: Modernism – Materiality – Meaning : A Conference to Honor the Kislak Center’s Gotham Book Mart Centennial Exhibition. “Between Catalogues and Colophons: Reading the Printing History of the Gotham Book Mart” (Working title). February 28 – March 1, 2019.

Websites:

Laurie Wagman Collection: 

• Built a digital archive for materials surrounding the American Family Theater Company in concert with the collection’s curator and the Digitization Specialist. Intended for use by children, parents, and teachers. Website used a combination of HTML, CSS, SASS, JavaScript, and jQuery.

Artists’ Book Collection:
• Description of the holdings of Artists’ Books at the Kislak Center for Special Collections and the Fisher Fine Arts Library. Built on a Drupal platform.

Gotham Book Mart Collection:
• Description of the holdings of archival collections regarding the Gotham Book Mart at the Kislak Center for Special Collections. Built on a Drupal platform.

September 2017 – April 2019. Job Library Assistant, Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

October 2016 – June 2017. Associate Front End Developer, David’s Bridal, Conshohocken, PA

January 2013 – May 2013. Marketing Intern, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, PA

September 2011 – December 2011. Research Intern, Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, London, UK