About me

Valerie is a PhD student in the English Department's Technical Communication and Rhetoric program at Texas Tech University. Her research lies at the intersection of gender and technology. Her focus on human-computer interaction explores the ways in which feminist rhetorics in user-centered design can minimize algorithmic bias. She aims to provide practical insights for designing less oppressive algorithms, especially concerning how digital systems structure user interactions.  

Valerie holds a bachelor's degree in English Literature with a minor in Anthropology from CSUS, a master's in English Composition and Rhetoric from CSUS, a master's in Business Administration specializing in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Enterprise from Louisiana State University, Shreveport, and a master's in Communication Studies.

As an adjunct professor, she teaches multiple academic and technical writing courses at Folsom Lake College and Sacramento State University and business courses at Cosumnes River College. She enjoys learning from her students.

Valerie insists she doesn't have any free time, but the time she does have, she spends mostly overthinking, hanging with her dogs Dolly Parton, Apollo Moondust, and Rooney, as in Wayne Rooney—Glory, Glory Man United—, and watching soccer.