EDUCATION
2016 Ph.D., Communication Studies, McGill University
-
Thesis: Stars, Nobodies, and Other Apparitions: Cameo Roles in Hollywood Film and Television; Supervisor: Will Straw
2009 M.A., Cinema Studies, University of Toronto
2007 B.A., English and Cinema Studies, University of Toronto
PUBLICATIONS
Book
​
Stars and Silhouettes: the History of the Cameo Role in Hollywood. Wayne State University Press, October 2020.
Peer-reviewed journal articles
"Bad Blood: Serial Killers, True Crime, and the Racial Imaginary in Shadow of a Doubt" Canadian Journal of FIlm Studies 33.1 (2024): 1-24.
​
"Top 10 Everything: WatchMojo and the monetization of fan culture on YouTube." Cinephile 14.1 (2020)
​
"Now You've Got the Shiveries: Affect, Intimacy, and the ASMR Whisper Community." Television & New Media 16.8 (December 2015): 683-700.
“From the Ground Up: Transforming the Inside Out LGBT Film and Video Festival of Toronto.” Canadian Journal of Film Studies 21.1 (Spring 2012): 38-57.
“The Body of the Machine: Computer Interfaces in American Popular Cinema Since 1982.” Projections 5.2 (Winter 2011): 75-95.
Book Chapters
​
"Farming, Unedited: Failure, Humor, and Fortitude in Instagram’s Agricultural Underground.” Food Instagram: Identity, Influence, and Negotiation. Emily Contois and Zenia Kish. University of lllinois Press, 2022.
​
Other Writing
​
Co-author, Media Inclusion Working Group Report, Film Studies Association of Canada, May 2021.
​
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
​
2025 Assistant Professor, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC
​
2024 Full Graduate Faculty, MA Human Rights and Social Justice, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC
2020 Assistant Teaching Professor, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC
​
2017-19 Sessional lecturer, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
2014-15 Visiting scholar, Visual Studies Research Institute, University of Southern California
​
2008-9 Research assistant, Kay Armatage, University of Toronto
​​
​
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
​
FIST240 Media Industries, FIST340 Media Audiences, ENGL230 Approaches to Media Studies, ENGL112 Strategies in University Writing: Emerging Technologies, FIST100 Introduction to Film Studies, FIST430A Studies in Authorship: Hitchcock (UBC)
​
CMNS3550 Media and Public Relations, CMNS3500 Special Topics in Social Media, CMNS3540 Media and the Environment, CMNS4240 Strategies in Crisis Communication, CMNS3240 Advanced Professional Communication, ENGL1100 Introduction to University Writing, ENGL2190 Adventure in Film and Literature, CMNS3800 Communication and New Media, ENGL4780 Minor Characters in Film and Literature, CMNS3400 Women in Film, CMNS4280 Capstone Portfolio, CMNS1160 Intro to Communication (TRU)
​
AWARDS AND HONOURS
​
2025 Graduate Research Assistant Fund, TRU, $5000
​
2023 Research Training Recognition Fund, TRU, $7000
​
2021-24 SSHRC Insight Development Grant, "Seeing the Trees: Conflict and Conservation in B.C.
Forestry Training Films," $35,000
​
2021 Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Fund, TRU, $3000
​
2021-22 TRU Internal Research Fund, "Unearthing Forest Film Archives," $5000
​
2020 SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship, "Politics and Pedagogy in Forestry Training Films 1960-2000 (declined)
​
2018-9 UBC Faculty Association Travel Grants, UBC
2016 Media@McGill Advanced Dissertation Grant, McGill University
2016 Graduate Excellence Award, McGill University
2014 Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement, SSHRC
2013 Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship, SSHRC
2012 Graduate Excellence Award, McGill University
2008 Cinema Studies Institute Bursary, University of Toronto
CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION
Papers presented
​
2025 "This video will be periodically updated: Road Deactivation (1996), waste, and no-longer-useful cinema." Northeast Historic Film Society Summer Symposium. July 17-19.
2024 "Dialogues of sustainability in films of the forest products industry." Canadian Communication Association Conference Montreal. June 18-21.
​
2022 "Progress, Precarity, Propaganda: B.C. Resource Communities in Forestry Films,
1970-2000.” Film Studies Association of Canada Conference. Virtual. May 11-15.
​
2022 "Farm Fails: Private Insta Knowledge Communities." Society of Cinema and Media Studies Conference. Chicago (virtual). March 31-April 3.
​
2021 "Bad Blood: Serial Killers, True Crime and the Racial Imaginary in Shadow of a Doubt." Film Studies Association of Canada Conference, University of Alberta (virtual). June 1-3.
​
2021 Presentation of the Report from the Media Inclusion Working Group. Film Studies Association of Canada Conference, University of Alberta (virtual). June 1-3.
​
2021 "Seeing the Trees: Politics and Pedagogy in British Columbian Forestry Training Films." Society of Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Denver (virtual), March 17-21.
​
2019 "Seeing the Trees: Politics and Pedagogy in Forestry Training Films 1960-2000." Film Studies Association of Canada Conference, Vancouver, June 4-6.
2018 "Compilation Videos: YouTube and the Fan-Driven Future of Film History." Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Toronto, March 17-19.
2017 "Casting Cameos: Social Relationships and Free Agency in the Late Studio Era." Workshop on Extras, Bit Players and Historical Consultants, Filmuniversität Babelsberg, Potsdam, Germany, July 17-18.
2015 "Detail and Ground: The Cameo Role and the Decline of the Studio System." Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Montreal, March 24-29.
2013 "Now You've Got the Shiveries: Affect, Intimacy, and the ASMR Whisper Community." Art History and Communication Studies Graduate Student Conference, McGill University, April 26.
2009 “I Can Has Box Office: Looking Back at the Animal Gaze.” Cinema Studies Institute Graduate Colloquium, University of Toronto, March 26-27.
​
Seminars and Workshops
2024 "Copyright Codes of Best Practice for Media Reuse." Canadian Communication Association Conference, Montreal, June 18-21.
2024 "Copyright Codes of Best Practice for Media Reuse." Film and Media Studies Association of Canada Conference, Montreal, June 14-16.
​
2019 "The Content Era." Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Seattle, March 13-17.
​
INVITED AND PUBLIC LECTURES
​
2020 "The History of the Cameo Role," Tap into Research webseries, TRU
​
2020 The Cameo and the American Film Industry, COM100 Understanding Media, American University.
2018 Haters Back Off and Transmedia Storytelling, FIST240 Media Industries, Prof. Ernest Mathijs, UBC
2017-18 Watchmojo and Fan Audiences, FIST340 Media Audiences, Prof. Ernest Mathijs, UBC
​
MENTORSHIP
​
2025 Graduate Supervision, Nisha Puthur Gopalakrishnan, MA Human Rights and Social Justice, TRU. Thesis film: Distant Rainbows: The Experience of Transgender Individuals in Kerala
2021-2 Coordinator, Journalism, Communication, and New Media Program Peer Mentorship Program
2020-1 TRU Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship, supervisor
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
​
2024 Intro to Secwepemcstín (42 hours), TRU
2024 Intercultural Education completion certificate (12 hours), CELT, TRU
​
2022 TRU Learning from the Land Indigenization and Decolonization Land Based Education Immersion Retreat, Wells Gray Education and Research Station, May 26-29.
2021 Assessment and Evaluation of Learning Certificate, CELT, TRU
​
2020 Learning Tech Certificate of Digital Competency, TRU
​
2018 Instructional Skills Workshop Certification, UBC
SERVICE TO PROFESSION
​
2022-4 Media Access and Copyright Working Group, Film Studies Association of Canada
​
2021 Media Inclusion Working Group, Film Studies Association of Canada
​
2016-25 Journal and book manuscript review
​
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
2019 Volunteer, Cambie Park Community Garden
2016 Chair of the organizing committee, Journées de la Culture, Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal
2012 Federal Volunteer Service Year, Wilhelm-Hauff-Schule, Stuttgart, Germany
​
LANGUAGES
English, French, German
​