Bio: As Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Letters at Michigan State University, I work with the Dean to support Chairs and Program Directors in the area of innovative undergraduate curricular initiatives and personnel. Most significantly, the implementation of the Culture of Care initiative, evaluation procedures, College-wide administrator and faculty development initiatives, and creating habits of diversity, equity, and inclusion across the College. People first. From staff, to part-time lecturer, to student, to pre-tenure, to full professor and even those administrators.

A Professor of German Studies with a past dual appointment in an International Studies program, my interests are inherently global and interdisciplinary. My work has focused on literary history and film in the area of utopian/dystopian studies and comparative science fiction of the Cold War. Recently, I co-edited Science Fiction Circuits of the South and East with Anindita Banerjee (2018). Current interests include the future of AI in teaching and learning, women in leadership in higher education, and recent portrayals of fascism in science fiction/dystopian media. Consider submitting a proposal to publish in my book series World Science Fiction Studies with Peter Lang Oxford. I am proud to serve as the Vice President of the Science Fiction Research Association 2019-2022 and to host the Society for Utopian Studies conference 2019 in East Lansing from October 17-19, 2019. I was a Professor of German and Eastern European Studies at Illinois Wesleyan University from 2001-2015.