Hi there, I am Kyle, but please feel free to call me Dr.
I'm a doctor of thought and language; I can diagnose ailing expression and provide care for your words.
While I'm no brain surgeon in the literal sense, I've been told I have a way of treating texts with surgical precision. And I love what I do.
How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.
—Henry David Thoreau
I am a teacher at heart and soul.
I apply an evolving definition of what it means to teach, with deep reverence and a sense of responsibiity to that word. It's not only my job; it's my vocation — a "calling" (in the nerdiest, most from-the-Latin-vocare, to call, type of way).
I went to school for writing
First, I wanted to learn how to write creatively (poetry) after I fell in love with Keats and The Beats. After undergrad where I studied writing and classical civ, I turned down an offer to get an MFA in poetry... because of that thing Thoreau said over a hundred years ago (quoted above). It's funny to reflect back over a decade later ... that's real: at the time, I turned down the offer because I didn't think I'd "stood up" to live enough yet.
In 2013, I decided to cut my teeth on listening to and learning from the masters in the field — scholars who understood the techniques and techicalities and could write about writing. I moved across the country, discovered the joys and agonies of winter weather, and earned my Master's (MA) in literature in 2015.
In the process, I discovered I didn't love writing about poems nearly as much as I liked writing them; however, I also found a real fulfillment in helping others bring their own language to life.
I taught college for the first time at age 24
The humility teaching taught me helped me "stand up" in ways that were so much more fulfilling than penning an irreverent stanza at 3am on a Tuesday (although, I won't lie to you, I still do that, too).
After two years teaching at a four-year university and a community college (I escaped winter for a brief moment), I went back to the tower for a doctoral degree. This time, I focused on research and developed expertise in helping others learn writing (a focus on Rhetoric and Composition, also known as Writing Studies, in the fields of writing assessment, curriculum, and pedagogy). It's safe to say I covered my letters: I exhausted the subject as much as it would allow, and in turn (I say this fondly), it exhausted me. While it still, on occasion, does that (exhaust me), it is also still as fulfilling as it ever was to learn, create, and "make it new." I'm not sure I've stood up to live yet, but I stand up every day in whatever ways I can for what means something to me... and I think the "me" who heeded a dead poet would be proud of the person I've become and the joy I continue to discover in this craft and in my vocation.
After two years teaching at a four-year university and a community college (I escaped winter for a brief moment), I went back to the tower for a doctoral degree. This time, I focused on research and developed expertise in helping others learn writing (a focus on Rhetoric and Composition, also known as Writing Studies, in the fields of writing assessment, curriculum, and pedagogy). It's safe to say I covered my letters: I exhausted the subject as much as it would allow, and in turn (I say this fondly), it exhausted me. While it still, on occasion, does that (exhaust me), it is also still as fulfilling as it ever was to learn, create, and "make it new." I'm not sure I've stood up to live yet, but I stand up every day in whatever ways I can for what means something to me... and I think the "me" who heeded a dead poet would be proud of the person I've become and the joy I continue to discover in this craft and in my vocation.
In the simplest terms, my mission is to help people understand each other... to facilitate what I call shared understanding
As of December 2024, I've taught writing, research, and literature at multiple higher ed institutions in the United States.
I took a detour for a few years and spent some time working in industry —specifically in edtech, where I worked with C-suite executives (Chief Marketing Officers) and managed online communities that helped me understand learning beyond traditional approaches to education. (As it turns out, rhetoric is a pretty useful area of expertise when it comes to things like marketing.)
I followed that experience with full-time employment at a nonprofit consultancy dedicated to helping industry-leading corporations and businesses better support neurodiverse employees (Neurodiversity In The Workplace). In my role at NITW, I built a regional model for a community of practice for neuroinclusive employer support based in Greater Boston. Through my work with corporate partners who wanted to transform their organization's culture and provide better support for different minds, I gained invaluable experience that afforded more insight into how to bridge higher education and workforce needs.
Today, I want to take the unique mix of experiences I've had across sectors and learning environments (workplaces, I strongly believe, are learning environments, too), and teach others (as I stay learning) how to apply the insights and strategies I've developed through these different lenses. I like to say what I'm good at is translating across aisles (or, if you prefer the fancy term, discourse communities).
If there's anything I understand today that I didn't when I started down this path, it's that the call is coming from inside the house. I feel fortunate every day to have a chance to answer instead of sending it straight to voicemail.
People like numbers, so here are a few.
10+ years
Teaching experience at colleges & universities
1,400+
Students enrolled in my courses since 2015
32
Post-pandemic sections of First-Year Writing
$1.4 million
Estimated impact of coaching & consulting on executive clients' revenue and retention
unfathomable
Word count of every letter I've ever put to pages between teaching, research, consulting, course materials... My head is spinning just trying to imagine how many words that is.