My personal and professional roots are in the Pacific northwest of Canada. I did my dissertation on the Gitksan language (Tsimshianic) at the University of British Columbia. I am currently an assistant professor in the Department of English at Arizona State University. Although my professional home is in an English department, my work is focussed on the documentation, revitalization, and maintenance of endangered indigenous languages, primarily in the Americas and Oceania. I have a special interest in exploring how everyday technology and contemporary media can be used as a tool for language documentation and engaging the language learner, as well as developing teaching resources in these areas. My research as a linguist involves the theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of meaning (semantics and pragmatics). I have a number of currently active language documentation and research projects that brings my interests together.
Being situated in Arizona, I have experience working with the indigenous communities and languages in the southwestern United States. In addition to my various research projects in linguistics, I am also active in outreach, teaching and developing curricula for the American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI), an independent program within the College of Education at the University of Arizona. AILDI is one of the longest continually running organizations dedicated to providing critical training to indigenous language educators and community activists in linguistics, language and technology, language maintenance, revitalization, and policy.
2018-present: Assistant Professor (TT), Arizona State University
2013-present: Executive Committee, American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI) Department of Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies, University of Arizona
2016-2017: Visiting Lecturer (Assistant Professor), University of Auckland, New Zealand
2015-2016: Program Coordinator (Interim), Native American Masters Program (NAMA)
2013-2016: Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Arizona, USA
2012-2013: Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Toronto, Canada
2009-2012: Post-doctoral Researcher, Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, The Netherlands
PhD. Linguistics, 2010 (University of British Columbia);
Dissertation: “Epistemic Modality and Evidentiality in Gitksan at the Semantics-Pragmatics Interface”
B.Mus. (Major: music theory; Minor: Russian literature), 1999 (University of British Columbia)
TESOL Teaching Diploma, 2001 (Vancouver Community College)