teaching
With some of my students, last day of classes.
Left: Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, July 2022, ‘MA, Feminist Ecocinema’
Right: University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, May 2023, ‘BA, Introduction to Film Studies’
I love teaching, and have loved working with students in Canada, England, Scotland, the US, Australia, and Europe. When designing and instructing courses, I include opportunities when possible for students to explore theoretical questions through practical experimentation. Our focus remains on the process and making of a work (usually in the post-production phase). Instead of attempting to apply abstract concepts to an audiovisual essay or experimental film, my students think through their selected media.
As the youngest child of working-class immigrants in Canada, the first in my immediate and extended family to pursue postgraduate studies, and as a woman with trajectories that diverge from the ‘norms’ of the culture in which I was born, I attempt to listen to and accommodate all students.
what
o film and screen studies
o documentary studies (especially personal and found footage filmmaking and transnational experimental works); essayistic, (auto)biographical film and media writing
o feminist ecocinema and moving-image portraiture
o film-philosophy; contemporary socio-political thought
o screen affect, trauma, memory studies
o screen & disability studies
o screen & gender and sexuality studies
o theoretical, analytical, historical cultural studies
o theory and history of analogue & digital moving images
o transnational cinemas
o history and survey of Hollywood, and American independent cinemas; French cinema; Italian postwar cinema; Sub-Saharan African cinema
where
Film Studies Assistant Professor/Interim 2023 Director, Department of Visual & Performing Arts, UCCS.
Courses, Spring 2023:
1) ‘Introduction to Film Studies’
2) ‘Film Studies Capstone'
3) 'Political Cinema'
Courses, Fall 2023:
4) ‘Feminist Ecocinema’
5) ‘Transnational Cinema’
6) 'Introduction to Film Studies'
Courses, Spring 2024:
6) 'Disability, Deafness, and the Body Onscreen'
7) 'Introduction to Film Studies'
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
MA and BA studies course convener/instructor, Media and Cultural Studies Institute, from October 2021 onwards.
MA courses, Fall/Winter 2021/22:
1) ‘Political Cinema’
2) ‘Cinematic (Self)Portraiture: Feminist Perception and the Moving Image’
MA & BA courses, Summer 2022:
3) ‘Screen Ethics’ (BA)
4) ‘Feminist Ecocinema’ (MA)
University of Cologne
Guest Lecturer, Departments of American Literary and Cultural Studies, and Romance Studies.
Lectures offered, from January 2019 (ongoing), for the following courses:
1) ‘Screening Affect’ (2019)
2) ‘Mediamerica’ (2019)
3) ‘Black (Self)Imaging: African Americans in American Film & TV’ (2019)
4) ‘She is a Camera’ (2020)
5) ‘Celluloid America’ (2020)
6) ‘Melodrama: USA/MÉXICO’ (2020)
7) ‘American Thought(s)’ (2021)
8) ‘Luminous America: Serene and Quiet Days’ (2021)
9) ‘Queering the Screen: LGBTIA+ Representations in American Cinema & Television’ (2022)
Guest Speaker / Lecturer, July 2018:
1) Four morning lectures for the program "Alain Resnais: The Size of Love Itself." Scheduled alongside Cristina Álvarez López & Adrian Martin’s afternoon lectures on Brian De Palma.
Senior Lecturer (Module Convener & Designer | Film Seminar Leader | Dissertation Supervisor), 2016-18:
1) ‘Criticism, Analysis, Theory.’ Core module. (120 first year undergraduate students)
2) ‘Transnational Cinema.’ (25 second year undergraduate students)
3) ‘Dissertation Research & Methods.’ (nine third year undergraduate students)
4) ‘Film and Philosophy.’ Theory/Practice core module. (120 second year undergraduate students)
5) ‘History of the Moving Image: Future Cinema.’ Theory/Practice core module. (120 first year students)
6) ‘Dissertation Research & Methods II.’ (supervisor, nine students)
Postdoctoral Fellow | Lecturer of Visual Culture & the Moving Image, Centre for Modernism Studies in Australia (CMSA), March 2015-June 2016:
1) ‘Introduction to Film Studies.’ Core module. Tutorial Leader (50 first year undergraduate students)
2) ‘Advanced Topics in Film Theory.’ Capstone Course Convener; Designer; Instructor (31 third year students)
Carol G. Lederer Postdoctoral Fellow, Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women.
Fellow of the ‘Economies of Perception’ Pembroke Seminar.
Course Convener | Instructor for the Pembroke Center, Gender and Sexuality Studies Concentration.
Course cross-listed with the Department of Modern Culture and Media, 2012-13:
1) ‘Sensing Time: Affect and the Moving Image.’ Graduate and undergraduate film theory,
film-philosophy & theory-practice seminar (20 undergraduate & graduate Brown students with Rhode Island School of Design students)
University of Cologne
Workshop Guest Lecturer, April 2011. Guest Lecturer, Department of American Literary and Cultural Studies, June 2016:
1) ‘Deleuze and Cinema’
2) ‘Feminist (Auto-)Portraiture and the Moving Image through Todd Haynes’ Carol (2015)’
University of Aberdeen
During doctoral studies - Predoctoral Film Teaching Fellow. Film theory, history, philosophy. School of Language and Literature, 2009-10:
1) ‘Cinema and the Invention of Modern Life.’ Course Convener, Lecturer (alongside K. Groo), Tutorial Leader. Core film history and theory course. (100+ students)
2) ‘Introduction to Film and the Cinematic Experience.’ Lecturer (alongside K. Groo). 1st year core and introductory film studies course. (130+ students)
3) ‘Cinema and Crisis.’ Course Co-designer, Lecturer (alongside Nikolaj Lübecker), Tutorial Leader. 2nd year core world cinema and theory undergraduate course. (100+ students)
4) ‘Time and the Image.’ Course Convener; Designer; Instructor. 3rd/4th year advanced film theory and film-philosophy undergraduate seminar. (8 students)
University of Cambridge
During doctoral studies - Undergraduate Student Supervisor | Mentor. Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages, 2006-08:
1) ‘Modern European Cinema, CS6 Module.’ 3rd/4th year European cinema studies, continental philosophy and literary theory undergraduate course.
York University Canada
During MA studies - Graduate Teaching Assistant. Department of Film and Video, 2003-04:
1) ‘Introduction to Film.’ Tutorial leader for Michael Zryd, two classes of 30 students. 1st year core and introductory film studies course.
York University Canada
During MA studies - Graduate Student Instructor. English Language Institute, 2002-03:
1) English as a Second Language. One-on-one and small group mentor/liaison for incoming international university students
York University Canada
During Bachelor of Education studies - Assistant Instructor. Faculties of Education and Fine Arts, and the Toronto District School Board. Dual degree program and teacher training practicum placement, 2000:
1) Grade 7/8 Advanced French Immersion Class. (Obtained combined grade of A+ for teaching from York University coursework and practicum placement in the Toronto District School Board)
Discover Ability Incorporated Canada
Instructor & Arts Curriculum Advisor, 1999-2000:
1) daily creative writing, music & theatre sessions with students ages 3-13