The short story:

After over twenty years in academia, I retired from my position as Associate Dean of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Minnesota, where I am now professor emerita. These days, I freelance as a writer, editor, yoga teacher, design workshops and facilitate events.

A little more background:

Over the past two decades, I’ve engaged in multiple community partnerships to uplift and share local Black histories, support BIPOC writers, share accessible yoga practices, curate panels, host conferences and facilitate intergenerational story sharing. I have written multiple books and articles on media, race, gender, and politics, including Dispatches from the Color Line (2007) and The Post-Racial Mystique (2014), and the edited collection Dangerous Discourses: Feminism, Gun Violence & Civic Life (2016).

I earned my PhD in Communication Studies from Northwestern University. Prior to finishing the PhD, I was a doctoral fellow in the Center for Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara (1998-99). In 1999, I began my first faculty position at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and in 2007 I moved to the University of Minnesota. I live in St. Paul, where I am pursuing advanced training in yoga therapy. I am always on the lookout for interesting birds.