Education
University of Toronto, 2020-present
Ph.D. candidate in Political Science, Political Theory & International Relations subfields
Dissertation: "Body and Self in the Thought of Freud, Hobbes, and Thucydides"
Supervisors: Emily Nacol & Clifford Orwin
University of Toronto, 2019-2020
Master of Arts in Political Science, Political Theory Subfield
Christopher Newport University, 2015-2019
Bachelor of Arts, Summa Cum Laude
American Studies & Interdisciplinary Studies
Minors in Leadership Studies & Greek Studies
Areas of Specialization and Academic Interests
History of Political Thought
Psychoanalytic Political Theory
Leadership Studies
Publications
“Private Bodies, Public Lives: Learning from and Leading Through the Outbreak Narrative.” In
Exploring Personhood in Contemporary Times: From Leadership to Philosophy. Edited
by Lemuel W. Watson. Charlotte, North Carolina: Information Age Publishing, 2023. (Invited)
White, Jonathan, Glenn, Daniel, and Wagner, Rachel. “We Didn’t Start the Fire: the Unknown
History of Flag Desecration.” The Federal Lawyer 66, (2017): 66-73. (Invited)
Select Conference Participation
Forthcoming. " “Thomas Hobbes’s ‘Body-Self’ and the Fear Behind the Fear of Death.” The Western
Political Science Association. April, 2026.
Forthcoming. “The Fear Behind the Fear of Death in Hobbes’s Leviathan.” The Midwest Political Science
Association. April, 2026.
“Ambivalence as a Virtue: Freud, Kafka, and Zappa on Leading Together through Ambiguous Contexts.”
Panel Presenter. The International Leadership Association. October, 2025.
“A Battle Between Body & Mind: Thomas Hobbes’ Politics of Preservation.” The Prairie Political
Science Association. September, 2025.
“A Good Grief: Toward a Freudian Political Theory.” The American Political Science Association.
September, 2025.
“Thomas Hobbes on the Human Body and the Politics of Preservation”
The Midwest Political Science Association, April 2025.
“Losing Ourselves: A Freudian Approach to Political Theory as Mourning”
The Midwest Political Science Association, April 2025
The Prairie Political ScienceAssociation, September 2024
“An Object of Love and Hate: Sigmund Freud on the Psychic Consequences of the Body”
The Association for Political Theory, November 2024
The Midwest Political Science Association, April 2024
“Sigmund Freud and the Human Soul: Psychoanalysis as a Continuation of the Socratic Project”
The Midwest Political Science Association, April, 2024
“The I in Oedipus: Sigmund Freud as a Reader of Ancient Texts"
The Association for Core Texts and Courses, April 2024
“The Human Body and the Limits of the Periclean Politics of Pursuit”
The International Leadership Association, October 2023
The American Political Science Association, September 2024
“Wisdom and its Companion Virtues of Leadership.” Panel presenter. The International Leadership
Association. October 14, 2022.
“Private Vocation vs. Public Action: Leadership Lessons from the Erotic Philosopher and the Knight of
Faith.” With Samuel Swenson-Reinhold. International Leadership Association. October 22, 2021.
“The Blind Leading the Blind: Plagues, Personhood & Leadership in Saramago’s Blindness”
The International Leadership Association’s Philosophy, Religion, and Worldviews Member
Community, March 2021
Workshop Presentations
“Thomas Hobbes’s ‘Body-Self’ and the Fear Behind the Fear of Death.” Political Theory Research
Workshop. The University of Toronto. November, 2025.
“Grasping for More: Psychic Consequences of the Human Body in Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War.”
Ancient Political Philosophy Workshop. The University of Toronto. April, 2024.
“Mourning Immortality: Sigmund Freud and the Problem of the Body’s Privacy, Vulnerability, and
Mortality.” Political Theory Research Workshop. The University of Toronto. November, 2023.
Working Papers
“The Fear Behind the Fear of Death in Leviathan”
“A Good Grief: Freud’s Riddle of Mourning”
“A City of Former Selves: Toward a Freudian Approach to Political Subjectivity"
“Sigmund Freud and the Human Soul: Psychoanalysis as a Continuation of the Socratic Project”
Teaching Experience at the University of Toronto
Undergraduate Course Instructor, St. George Campus
POL200: Visions of the Just/Good Society, Summer 2025
POL402:What’s Love Got To Do With It? Eros & Citizenship, Summer 2024
Head Teaching Assistant, St. George Campus
POL109:Might and Right:Power & Justice in International Relations, Winter 2024, Fall 2024, Winter
2025, Fall 2025,Winter 2026
Teaching Assistant, St. George Campus
POL109:Might and Right:Power & Justice in International Relations, Fall 2023
POL200: Political Theory: Visions of the Just/Good Society, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2023-24
Teaching Assistant, University of Toronto Mississauga
POL200: Political Theory: Visions of the Just/Good Society, Summer 2022, 2022-23
POL401: Senior Major Research Paper, 2021-22
Teaching Assistant, University of Toronto Scarborough
POLb30: Law, Justice and Rights, Summer 2022
Leadership and Service
2026 Global Conference Planning Committee Member, The International Leadership Association
Co-Chair & Founder, Women's Caucus Student Safety Commission, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, 2025-26
Political Theory Research Workshop Convener, University of Toronto, 2023-24, 2024-25
Political Theory Student Representative, University of Toronto, 2022-23, 2023-24
Mini-Conference Chair, "Precedent for the Unprecedented: Ancient Thought & Post-Plague Politics,” American Political Science Association, 2022
Awards and Honors
University of Toronto Fellowship, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 2020-2025
Department of Political Science Graduate Program Award, UofT, 2020-2025
Pratt & Sandbrook International Graduate Student Scholarship in Political Science, 2024
Doctoral Recruitment Award, UofT Department of Political Science, 2020
Robert W. Sledge Fellowship, Alpha Chi National Honor Society, 2019
Service Distinction Leader, Christopher Newport University, 2019
The Perkins Leadership Achievement Award for Excellence in Scholarship,
Christopher Newport University Department of Leadership and American Studies, 2019
The Colvin Prize for Best Essay in Leadership, Christopher Newport University Department of
Leadership and American Studies, 2019
Dean’s Service Award, Christopher Newport University, 2019
Professional Affiliations
The International Leadership Association
The American Political Science Association
The Midwest Political Science Association
The Association for Political Theory