I am a teacher, writer, scholar, advocate for the humanities, and Professor of English at The City University of New York (CUNY)—Lehman College and the Graduate Center. Archival research from the early twentieth century and ethnographic research from this century come together in my most recent book about American higher education, The Composition Commons: Writing A New Idea of the University. The Composition Commons illustrates how the college writing class once did and can again create shared knowledge and community across difference. I occasionally post short essays and bits of my next project, a memoir, on my blog.  Thanks for visiting.

Recent Writing

The Composition Commons. Book published in Feb 2024.

Write More, Worry Less. Essay about reading and social media published in Campus News

Commonplacing Curricula and the University We Need Now. Essay published in Keats-Shelley Association of America

Humanities, Redefined. Letter published in The New Yorker

From Crisis to Composition. Essay published in InsideHigherEd