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I am the inaugural Chair and Professor of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at Gonzaga University and Editor of the Journal of International and Intercultural Communication. I was Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Denver from 2006-2019. I served as department chair, associate chair, and director of graduate studies at the University of Denver.  <br> In 2003 I graduated from the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with an emphasis in Performance Studies, and a secondary concentration in queer Latina/o literature and performance.  Prior to earning my doctorate at UNC-CH, I finished undergraduate and master's degrees in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication and Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University. I have published articles in several journal including Text and Performance Quarterly, Critical Studies in Media Communication, Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies, The Communication Review, Communication, Culture, and Critique, Journal of Communication Inquiry, Voces: A Journal of Chicana and Latina Studies (Now Chicana/Latina Studies), Latino Studies, Review of Communication, and the Journal of International and Intercultural Communication. My book Latina/o Communication Studies: Theorizing Performance was published by Peter Lang in 2007 as part of the series on Critical Intercultural Communication edited by Dr. Thomas Nakayama. In 2015 I published Monstrosity, Performance, and Race in Contemporary Culture. I have also co-edited several books. I was awarded the 2009 Lilla A. Heston Award for Outstanding Research in Oral Interpretation and Performance by the National Communication Association. In 2009 I was presented with the Out Through the Mind Award for tenure track faculty at the 4th Annual LGBTQIA Gala at the University of Denver.  In 2010, I was selected by the Latina/o Communication Studies Division and La Raza Caucus of NCA as the Latina/o Communication Studies Scholar of the Year. The same year I was also given the Outstanding Faculty Award by the Center for Multicultural Excellence at the University of Denver. In 2014 I was awarded the Provost's Champion of Change Award for my Social Activism and Advocacy for Inclusive Excellence at the University of Denver. I received the Lambda Award for outstanding contributions to the LGBTQ community from the Caucus on Gay and Lesbian Concerns of the National Communication Association in November 2017. I received the Francine Merritt Award from the Women's Caucus on NCA in November 2018. I received the 2018 Outstanding Article Award, Feminist and Women’s Studies Division of the National Communication Association for “From Failure to Allyship to Feminist Solidarities: Negotiating Our Privileges and Oppressions Across Borders,” a Presidential Citation for Exceptional Commitment to Social Justice and Activism within the National Communication Association, and the 2018 Monograph of the Year Award, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Communication Studies Division of National Communication Association for “Queer Utopias and a (Feminist) Iranian Vampire: A Critical Analysis of Resistive Monstrosity in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night,” co-authored with Shadee Abdi and published in Critical Studies in Media Communication. In November 2019 I received the Faculty Mentorship Award from the Rhetorical and Communication Theory Division of the National Communication Association.

Music, Business, Musical Theatre, Theatre, Education, Conducting, Choral