I am a fifth-year Ph.D. Education candidate at the University of California, Irvine, currently writing my dissertation on international students and their use of institutional Facebook groups. I am interested in issues of support and retention in higher education.
In addition to conducting research, I have taught and worked as a Teaching Assistant and Teaching Associate for various undergraduate education courses at UC Irvine, including Education 334: Literacy and Technology and Education 134: Teaching English Internationally, both of which I have also taught as the primary instructor. I frequently give guest lectures in other classes. Additionally, in 2010/2011, I was selected as one of 16 Pedagogical Fellows at UC Irvine. This practical fellowship allowed me to give teaching workshops and train incoming Ph.D. students on how to become effective Teaching Assistants.
I have also previously taught freshman writing and English language (ESL/EFL) courses at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and Sahmyook University in Seoul, Korea. I have enjoyed tutoring first-generation undergraduate students at the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) at Cal Poly Pomona, and Master’s and Ph.D. students at UC Irvine’s Graduate Resource Center.
Not only are international students my research population; I am also international. In travel writer Pico Iyer’s words, I am a “global soul” (some would call me a Third Culture Kid). Cumulatively, I have lived in five continents and although I have yet to visit South America, I have traveled to 42 countries. After receiving my bachelor’s degree in England, I moved to South Korea to teach English as a foreign language before moving to California to enroll in and complete a Master’s degree in English with emphases in TESL and Rhetoric/Composition at Cal Poly Pomona. I have remained in southern California, the first destination of international students in the U.S., as this is an ideal location for teaching and interviewing international students.
Research-wise, I have presented at CIES (Comparative and International Education Society), TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), CATESOL (California TESOL), and FIGT (Families in Global Transition) conferences, and have also written for International Educator and Language Magazine. Current research of mine has been submitted to the International Journal of Intercultural Communication and the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication.
My personal interests include traveling, photography, videography, reading, writing, hiking, swimming, surfing, rock climbing and cooking vegetarian food. I am also an intrepid user of social media, so feel free to peep my photography on Flickr or follow my tweets on Twitter.
Other Websites:
- My LinkedIn profile page
- My Spotlight feature on UCI’s Department of Education website (September 2009)
- My regular UCI Department of Education webpage
