About Me
Originally from the Northern KY area (right across the Ohio River from Cincinnati), I moved to Louisville, KY to attend the University of Louisville where I studied Biology and Philosophy. After developing a genuine love for the study of Philosophy, I entered a Bioethics Masters program at U of L, before transferring to the University of Colorado, Boulder to complete an MA in Philosophy and Graduate Certificate in Women and Gender Studies. I then entered a PhD program in Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, where I was also a member of the Rotman Institute of Philosophy and previously part of the Time to Attach research team. During my graduate studies, I served in an elected position on the Graduate Student Council of the American Philosophical Association for a two year term, where I also served as secretary. Upon completion of my doctoral studies, I was awarded the prestigious Canadian Governors' General Gold Medal.
As of Fall 2021, I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Oklahoma State University. In Fall 2022 and Spring 2023, I will be a research fellow with the OSU Humanities Initiative working on issues in the digital humanities. I will also be beginning an appointed position on the American Philosophical Association's Committee on LGBTQ+ People in the Profession, beginning summer 2022.
A recent profile is available here: Faculty Spotlight.
My research falls primarily within the following areas:
Feminist Philosophy, Bioethics, Philosophy of Illness, Social and Political Philosophy, LGBTQ+ Philosophy, Digital Ethics and AI.
I also have research interests in:
Animal Ethics, Family and Reproductive Ethics, Psychiatric Ethics, Epistemology of Testimony, Aesthetics, Philosophy of Film, and Ancient Philosophy (especially Aristotle).
Outside of reading, writing, and teaching philosophy, my passions involve craft beer (occasionally dabbling in brewing), following politics way too closely, and traveling around the world (especially to see live music). I am also an avid consumer of podcasts, a lifelong Star Wars nerd, a horror film aficionado, and a very proud cat mama.
Questions of Interest:
What limits (if any) can we justify imposing on "free speech" policies? What are the appropriate aims and scope of such policies?
Is it legal discrimination to deny adoptive parents the same benefits as biological parents? If so, how do we conceptualize that discrimination and how do we rectify it?
What are "microaggressions," and what sorts of harms do they cause to their recipients?
Can we attribute moral responsibility for complicity in structural injustice(s), even where an agent hasn't casually contributed to the injustice (or, when their casual contribution is difficult or impossible to trace)?
Why are bisexual people routinely excluded from LGBTQ+ activism, and how do these erasures and exclusions harm bi-identified people? How can we identify practices that contribute to bisexual erasure and what can we do to undermine them?
What sorts of oppressive epistemic practices are at work in the #MeToo movement, and what impact do they have on victim/survivors and their decisions whether or not to bring forward testimonies of sexual violation?
How should we understand the moral relationships between human and non-human animals?
Is virtue possible for oppressed people? Are virtue friendships possible across oppression?
Education:
Western University | 2017-2021
PhD, Philosophy
University of Colorado, Boulder | 2016-2017
MA in Philosophy, Graduate Certificate in Women and Gender Studies
University of Louisville | 2010-2015
BA in Biology, BA in Philosophy
Minors in Psychology, Humanities, Women and Gender Studies