Teaching

I teach a range of interdisciplinary classes engaging twentieth and twenty-first century American literature and culture.  My regularly taught courses at University of Oregon include Environmental Literature (ENG 230), Nature in Popular Culture (ENVS 410), Diversity Initiatives on Public Lands (ENVS 410) and Introduction to Environmental Studies: Humanities (ENVS 203). I also teach courses in Latinx  Literatures, Immigrant Literatures, Women and Literature, Asian American Literature, and Place and Identity.

At the graduate level, I regularly teach Food Matters, the required interdisciplinary core course of the graduate certificate in Food Studies as well as graduate seminars on Race and the Environment in Literary and Cultural studies and Transnational Environmental Justice Cultural Studies. I also teach ENVS 633, a class that helps graduate students develop thesis proposals.

I am committed to creating community-classroom collaborations that recognize the importance of community-based knowledge and increase community access to academic knowledge production.  Often, these collaborations take the form of service learning.  At Drew University, students in my courses worked with the environmental organization, Bark, a public lands advocacy group focused on Mt. Hood National Forest, Grow It Green, El Comité de Apoyo A Los Trabajadores Agricolas, an organization advocating for farmworkers in New Jersey, and Morristown Neighborhood House where students worked with adult ESOL learners. I was also involved with an annual alternative spring break around Mountain Top Removal. At University of Oregon, students in my courses have partnered with Bark, Opal Environmental Justice Oregon, Beyond Toxics, and Food for Lane County.  I’m excited to continue developing new partnerships and enrich existing community partnerships at University of Oregon.

Drew University students in Professor Wald’s Environmental Writing class at Walden Pond

Drew University Alternative Spring Break to Kentucky.