My Story

Before Auburn...

I attended Texas A&M University all four years for my Bachelors in English (class of 2018). After I received my Bachelors with a certification to teach 4-8th grade English Language Arts, I accepted an English Extensions position in Leander ISD. While I thoroughly enjoyed working with my team and my students there, I wanted to go back to A&M for graduate school. I received my Masters in English in May 2021, and then Garrett (my partner) and I started our PhD programs in that August at Auburn University.

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Currently at Auburn...

We are both third-year PhD candidates in the Agricultural Education program, with Garrett studying Agricultural Education and me studying Agricultural Communication. My research focuses mainly on written communication within Extension and other types of writing within agriculture, but I also have interests in agricultural literacy, workforce preparation of agricultural communication graduates, and writing apprehension.

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In May of 2022, I started my graduate assistantship with University Writing. I worked mostly with graduate students within our graduate writing programs. Notably, however, this assistantship encouraged me to work towards my own professional and academic goals as a student, as well. For example, I was able to specifically work with graduate students in Rural Sociology, Agricultural Economics, Plant Pathology, Poultry Science, Crop Soil Science, and other fields of study within the College of Agriculture. I'm grateful that I was able to see many different disciplinary writing styles, particularly those in agriculture, in this program. Additionally, I was also able to facilitate workshops for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, which has helped me better understand the genres of writing that Extension Agents engage in regularly, informing my own research.

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My current assistantship is as a joint graduate teaching assistant between the College of Agriculture and the College of Education. As the Agriculture Education program is housed within the College of Education at Auburn, and the undergraduate Agricultural Communications and Leadership program is housed in the College of Agriculture, I work between the two. In the College of Education, I assist with research projects and course instruction, and in the College of Agriculture, I assist with Dr. Cletzer in his agricultural communications courses. This assistantship in my final year of my doctoral program has provided me the opportunity to work with more specialized forms of writing, particularly in agriculture.

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Garrett and I plan to graduate with our PhDs this May, and we hope to obtain positions in higher education!