About

Howdy! Hello! My name is Russell and I'm a few different things. I grew up on a goat farm in Ripley, TN - where my philosopher/carpenter father and teacher/tinkerer mother gave me plenty of opportunities to screw up and figure things out. I got an undergraduate degree in Psychology at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, TN - and pursued a PhD in Psychology at the University of Memphis. After some twists and turns, I followed my advisor Dr. Danielle McNamara to Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ - and decided to stop at a Masters in Psychology after studying reading comprehension, writing expertise, and gamification during my time in the SoLET Lab. I then went on to work for Maricopa Community College as well as St. Francis Xavier School - teaching psychology and digital literacy skills, respectively. After more moving and changing, I worked at Mississippi State teaching psychology, and after some soul-searching and not soul-finding in high school job interviews - I decided to pivot a little more towards public education in the form of library science. So there I was, the Data Services Librarian and Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University for Women, still trying to find some sort of way that I can help dismantle those systems that make life so depressingly difficult, and now I'm a substitute librarian in Washington. Time to start fresh I guess! It's going to take a lot of time, but I've got experience doing improv comedy so I'm used to putting in work that feels pointless but has a goal and spirit. I remain confused as to why everyone spells my name with 1 L.