People

While my official titles are assistant teaching professor and director of clinical mental health, I identify most with being a lifelong learner. My teaching philosophy is rooted in curiosity and humility: I believe growth happens when we remain humble enough to challenge (and rethink) what we know and curious enough to continue learning. In my classroom, I strive to create a space where students can encounter and engage with diverse and opposing viewpoints. I hold a particular interest in collectively deconstructing taken-for-granted assumptions and, more importantly, ask deeper questions about how to live a well-examined life. 

I have long been drawn toward existential questions, and these questions have greatly informed my research quests. Questions include: What constitutes a good life? Does death awareness lead to deeper living, or does it confront us with life’s futility? This quest led to my doctoral dissertation, Understanding Life Through Death: An Interpretive Phenomenological Inquiry of Death Café Attendance. My research examines how awareness of mortality shapes human values, purpose, and connectedness. I like to explore the psychological and existential impact of near-death experiences, death-awareness practices, and communal death-related dialogues (e.g., Death Cafés). More recently, I have also been drawn to the question of what it means to be human in an AI world.