Insofar as I'd consider myself to do something which could be labeled as 'public scholarship', it's for two reasons: (1) I do not limit the intellectual work I do to traditional academic settings, and (2) I continue to organize alongside my academic career.
I taught a course on Human Nature for two semesters at the Indiana Women's Prison as part of the Bard Prison Initiative, a degree-granting program which offered my students at the IWP a two-year reduction on their sentences upon completion of the degree.
APA Blog Member Interview (It's not really public scholarship, but I talk a bit about my work and some books I like!)
APA Blog on COVID-19 and responsibility
Currently, I'm a proud member of SFUFA, my faculty union at Simon Fraser University. I am also a proud member of SFU's Faculty for Palestine group.
As a grad student, I was an active member, organizer, and eventually the Organizing Coordinator for the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition.
I also worked as a union organizer with the United Electrical Workers. As part of my work with UE, I was involved in organizing union drives and union elections at the University of Chicago and Northwestern.
Recently, I've given talks at Indiana University (as part of the IGWC's Labor Spring) and Bowling Green State University (as part of their Class Con) on organizing. I continue to informally assist in organizing efforts in Indiana and beyond. Feel free to contact me if you're interested in organizing your academic workplace and not sure where to start.
I've also got a paper in the New Labor Forum on the role of graduate student workers in organizing in the U.S. South, a place with little enabling legislation for public sector workers. This is collaborative work with Sam Smucker. Email me for a copy.
Here are some of the interviews and podcasts about organizing in which I'm featured:
The Chronicle: Will Graduate-Student Unions Change Everything?
Hoos Left Podcast: Rad Grads (video interview available here)
WishTV: How graduate workers at Indiana University hope to expand their calls for better pay
The Guardian: US graduate students protest against low pay while universities profit from their work
The Indiana Daily Student: Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition to strike starting Wednesday
The Herald Times: Indiana Graduate Workers Strike for Union Recognition, Living Wage
The Herald Times: Indiana University grad workers are pledging to strike this fall. Here's why
I also spent a couple years in Luxembourg, where I worked as an instructor and was part of a group advocating for better student learning conditions. Here are some pieces about that work:
Lëtzebuerger Land: À qui est Belval? (French)
Luxemburger Wort: Der Kampf um Campus Belval (German)
100komma7: Wiem gehéiert de Campus Belval? (Text in Luxembourgish, audio interview in English)
The picture on this page is from the IGWC's Spring 2024 strike at Indiana University. In our Spring 2022 strike, we won 45% wage increases. When I started grad school in 2018, the base pay was about $15k, and I paid around $1.4k back to the university in fees. When I left, the base pay was $23k and there were no more fees -- all thanks to the IGWC.