About Me

I started my career as an English professor. I earned my PhD from the University of Virginia, then taught at Rollins College before accepting a position at Fisk University, teaching British literature and directing the university honors program. My wife Kate and I always had an agreement that when I earned tenure, we would reevaluate our lives. Fisk was wonderful, but we had no family in Nashville, which became more difficult when we had kids. So when I was recommended for tenure in the spring of 2020, I decided instead to accept a position with the National Endowment for the Humanities. We moved to the DC area, to be close to Kate’s parents. At NEH I advanced the agency’s educational grantmaking, supporting projects that developed humanities curricula at colleges and universities and provided professional development opportunities for K-12 educators and higher education faculty. In June 2025, NEH staff was reduced by about 70%; mine was among the roles eliminated. In August I joined the University of Maryland’s Professional Writing Program.

2025 had started auspiciously: I published two books that spring (British Children’s Literature of the 19th Century: A Companion and Animating the Victorians: Disney’s Literary History). But the pain of losing my job at NEH was exacerbated in August, when my father passed away. The next month my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. It was a hard few months, and made me rethink my priorities, my career goals, and what I want my next chapter to look like.

In the first half of 2026, I took some time to reflect seriously about my next step. I have done some of that reflecting on this website, and I plan to continue. I might write a memoir about my parents, or continue my research on British literature and adaptation, or do something totally new. And I might share emerging ideas on this website.