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I first realized an interest in rhetoric and composition when working at my university’s Writing Center as an undergraduate at Northern Kentucky University. For three semesters, I was also an embedded tutor in our First Year Writing courses, and because of that, I knew I wanted to be teaching that course. Alongside that work, I had the opportunity to work on a community-based research project about creative placemaking in the Greater Cincinnati area. Engaging in that project from the start through publication reiterated to me that I wanted to do research alongside the meaningful work of teaching writing.

In my two years at Oregon State University, I practiced and became interested in the work of Writing Program Administration, both in mentoring as a Composition Assistant for the Writing Program and as the Graduate Teaching Assistant for the Writing Intensive Curriculum.

I began my PhD in Rhetoric and Composition at Purdue in Fall 2020, where I have taught in and conducted assessment for the Introductory Composition program. I began data collection for my dissertation study, which examines how writing programs supported their faculty during the March 2020 emergency switch to remote teaching, in Fall 2021, and advanced to candidacy after my dissertation prospectus defense in January 2023.

Now, I am in the middle of my third year at Purdue. This year, I am Assistant Director for our Introductory Composition Program, where I support writing teachers, conduct assessment, and program professional development. I am beginning to share pieces of my dissertation study in publications, including a recent piece in Computers and Composition Online, and at conferences. I was recently awarded the Crouse Promising Scholar in Professional Writing scholarship and the department’s Quintilian Award for Teaching.

As a graduate student, I try to keep a work-life balance by making time for meeting other graduate students, enjoying board game nights, and sitting around campfires with friends. In 2022, I got a lot better at reading for fun, and I’ve set a more ambitious goal of 75 books for 2023.

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How to pronounce my name: mə-‘ɹɪ-sə jɜ-‘ɹeɪ-si or jɜ-‘rɑ-tʃe (hear)

My pronouns: she/her/hers

I study at Purdue University, which sits on the ancestral homelands of the Bodéwadmik (Potawatomi), Lenape (Delaware), Myaamia (Miami), and Shawnee People; they are the past, present, and future caretakers of this land. Click here to find out more about the harmful history of land-grant (or “land-grab”) universities.