Biography

Kayla is a doctoral candidate in medieval literature, with a focus in early medieval England and Old English poetry. Her dissertation, currently titled “Wif, Cwen, Ides: The Cultural Construction of Women and Femininity in Early Medieval England,” explores how early English culture conceived, perceived, and constructed concepts of gender and womanhood through investigation of vernacular works across literary, historical, ecclesiastical, and legal spheres. She is also interested in Digital Humanities and public scholarship, and has several digital projects in progress.

Kayla currently teaches first-year composition as a Graduate Teaching Associate in the English department. She has worked as a research assistant with Dr. Misty Anderson on the Restoration and 18th-Century (R/18) Collective website and database project in 2020. She has also served as editorial assistant for the Burney Journal in 2021-2022, under general editor Dr. Hilary Havens; in this position, she supported the review and publication of a recent journal issue and worked to digitize all prior issues of the journal. As a result of this work, the Burney Journal is now fully available online in open access format.

Education

Master of Arts, English studies, Western Washington University, 2014

Bachelor of Arts, English literature, Western Washington University, 2012

Publications

"'Fully His Entente': The Allegory of Chaucer's Pandarus." Hortulus vol. 14, no. 2, 2018.