Diversity Statement

I consider myself to be primarily an Integrative Sociolinguist by trade, and a generalist equity practitioner and academic by practice: my formal qualifications encompass the study of language and people (UNSW, 2008-2012, BA Ling/Psych), as well as the biotechnology and microbiology of the world around us (CSU, 2013-2017, BMedSci Biotech, Hons. Microbiology).

I have had a long-term continuing interest in physics and biology, and my teaching experience covers: History (Medieval, Modern & Media); Sociology (Health speciality), Literacy (Academic & Digital); Anatomy & Physiology (Cardiovascular and First Year Generalist); Microbiology (Agricultural, Industrial & First Year Generalist); Australian Politics (Generalist); Environmental and Health Sciences (Generalist).

I have been teaching at Charles Sturt University since July 2015, and during my time as a sessional academic, I have been involved in teaching and learning communities of practice, and focus on creating equitable educational outcomes by integrating methods such as implicit streaming (structurally shown in Figure 1).

I have been involved in union politics in a branch executive representative role, as well as gaining a membership level understanding of the Socialist Alternative (2008), the Greens (2011) and the Labor party (2012-2013). Cumulatively, I have a decade of experience in hospitality and customer service roles, have worked within and alongside the Australian manufacturing industries of plywood, chemicals, pulp and paper and tanneries.

These are my professional accomplishments. My personal experiences are part of a well-documented life. I have run a micro business, and one that turns over 6 figures, and yet I have also been a participant in Australia's welfare system. I have been a dole recipient and a single parent. I have existed within Australia's world as both male and female presenting. I have experienced exclusion and inclusion, and I have experiences of multiple mental health concerns. I have actively searched out experiences to fill my life with and I am one of my family's story-keepers. These experiences allow me to bring perspectives to academia that cannot be ethical to research in a targeted fashion. After all, you cannot ask someone to learn or research society through a choice in life pathway, but when it has happened, it opens new ways of understanding. 

My experiences are influenced and biased by my heritage (North American, British) and my life story (adoptee, early emancipation, neurodivergent, gifted, gay and trans) under capitalism in Australia. I have lived in this country since 1991, in both regional and urban communities and the extent of the changes I have observed in my lifetime are truly a credit to the Australian people and values of inclusion and mateship. I endeavour with all resources I create and use educationally to include and prioritise voices from communities themselves, lifting lived experience to ensure that the nuance of theory encompasses what is, rather than what might, should or could be.