phd
phd
I am studying for my PhD in Education with a concentration in Higher Education at George Mason University and am currently ABD (all but dissertation), meaning that I have passed all of my coursework, portfolio reviews, and dissertation proposal.
I am defending my dissertation, which is entitled Teaching Through Connection: Librarians as Colleagues, Partners, and Scholars, on August 31, 2026. This dissertation consists of three manuscripts, which are:
an interpretive phenomenology studying librarians' acquisition of teaching skills via experiential learning,
a qualitative case study examining librarian-faculty partnerships as interdisciplinary co-teaching, and
a narrative literature review bringing together the fields of library instruction and the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL).
I completed the coursework phase of my program in fall 2025. While my PhD does not include formal specializations beyond the concentration, areas I focused on during my coursework included:
the role of librarians in the classroom,
the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL),
alternative methods of scholarly communication,
technology in higher education, and
qualitative research methods.
EDRS 810: Problems and Methods in Education Research
EDRS 811: Quantitative Methods in Educational Research
EDRS 812: Qualitative Methods in Educational Research
EDRS 814: Anti-Colonial Methodologies
EDRS 818: Critical Discourse Analysis in Education Research
EDUC 800: Ways of Knowing
HE 703: Higher Education in the Digital Age
HE 704: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
HE 707: Scholarly Digital Storytelling
HE 712: Assessment and Program Evaluation in Higher Education
HE 721: History of Higher Education
HE 792: Advanced Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (special topic)
HE 886: Coteaching Higher Education in the Digital Age (internship)
HE 886: Asynchronous Curriculum Development for LGBTQ+ Resources Center (internship)
HE 897: Librarians' Engagement in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (independent study)