About
I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. I graduated with a BA in English and Italian Studies from Wellesley College in 2011. After living in New York City for a year, I moved to Los Angeles and received my PhD in English with a concentration in Gender Studies from UCLA in 2019. In addition to my research and teaching, I played flute and sang alto with the UCLA Early Music Ensemble (specializing in pre-1800 European music) and was a volunteer tutor with 826LA, a non-profit supporting students in creative and expository writing. I now work as an assistant professor at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. In my spare time I enjoy hiking in the mountains, going to museums and the theater, and reading detective fiction. Favorite travel experiences include hiking the Italian Partisans’ Freedom Trail in Abruzzo, spending my birthday at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, seeing La Bohème at Australia’s Sydney Opera House, and riding in a hot air balloon in Cappadocia, Turkey. Like many Italian Americans, I enjoy good food, good conversation, and a good drink.
At the ancient Greek ruins of Priene in southwestern Turkey.
In the cloisters of the Arab Normal monastery St. John of the Hermits in Palermo, Sicily.
Il Sentiero della Libertà (Freedom Trail) in Abruzzo, Italy