I am Associate Professor of Writing at Kean University and have been teaching and researching writing since 1990.
My teaching career began in the Preparatory Program of Marmara University, Istanbul (1990-1994), where I taught a mix of reading and writing. Returning to the U.S. to pursue my doctorate, I taught first-year composition to international students and native speakers of English at The University of Texas at Austin (1997-2002). Upon graduating, I began my present position at Kean University (2002-Present), where I teach different writing courses, such as first-year composition, Writing for Cyberspace, and Business & Professional Writing.
My research looks at how people learn in general, and more specifically how they learn to write. It's an unclear process. As Einstein said, "We wouldn't call it research if we knew what we were doing." Thus, much of what I try to do is figuring out how students (and I) learn and trying to formulate a theory to guide my practice. Theories influencing me are radical constructivism, activity theory, and complexity theory. In particular, I have been considering how John Holland's model of complexity theory can be applied practically to describe and promote learning.