About
Research-informed practice has inspired me from the beginning of my teacher education. I received my Master of Arts in 2013 and publicly defended my doctoral dissertation in November of 2025 at Tampere University, Finland. I am a researcher and an English and Spanish teacher by profession.
Through my dissertation, I have learned to articulate theoretically complex ideas in a way that is approachable and understandable to funders and the general public, and helpful to language education practitioners. I have specialized in the inclusion of literature in language education, which marries my love of reading and sharing meanings related to reading with language education theory and practice.
Since 2015, I have had the opportunity to serve in different academic associations. Work in these positions of trust has taught me a great deal about administration, public relations, communication and the publishers' role in the academic publishing process.
In 2021, I joined a social academic writing group which met online weekly and was run by two professors at my university. I was eventually invited to join the team of facilitators, which I did for three semesters. I learned how important it is to cultivate communities around writing, and have subsequently included social academic writing into my research portfolio, also.
From 2022 to 2024, I worked as the coordinator of the Success in School Safety (ONNI on turvallinen koulu) -project, led by the University of Turku and funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education. I understood how all teaching and learning starts with a healthy school safety culture. I valued the opportunities to contribute to scholarship on school safety, and gained insight into how large-scale research and development projects are led. I was grateful for the opportunity to use and further hone my skills in research, administration as well as writing for publication and social impact.
I publicly defended my doctoral dissertation on value-laden conceptions of literature in language education at Tampere University on 7 November 2025, and am currently looking for new, meaningful career opportunities as a qualified PhD.
Please see my list of publications here.