About Me

I am an Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at Wellesley College where I also direct the Knapp Social Science Center and co-direct with Laura Grattan (Political Science) the Anti-Carceral Co+Laboratory (ACC), an innovative hub we co-founded that amplifies the expertise of women, girls, non-binary and gender-expansive folks impacted by criminalization in Massachusetts.

My research focuses on the sociolegal and intersectional effects of carceral control in the United States. I have long examined how calls to care give rise to policies, technologies, and governance arrangements that extend carceral control within and beyond the criminal legal system. My current work explores the impact of carceral policies and strategies billed as therapeutic, trauma-informed alternatives to punishment.

The thread that links my research, teaching, and engaged work is a commitment to centering the expertise and visionary organizing work of impacted communities leading efforts to reimagine justice, safety, care, and healing beyond carceral violence.

In 2022-23, I was an External Fellow of the Humanities Center at the University of Rochester. I was also an External Faculty Fellow at Rice University and a postdoctoral fellow at USC. My work has been supported by the Mellon Foundation and the Fulbright program in the Netherlands, where I was a research affiliate of Utrecht University. I received my PhD from UCLA’s Department of Gender Studies.