She received a Ph.D. from the School of Journalism & Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Master of Journalism from Temple University, and an A.B. from Dartmouth College. Her research interests lie in the areas of race/ethnicity, gender and religion in relation to nation, citizenship and the public sphere. Current research critically examines media coverage of the national debate on the Muslim veil in France, studying the emergent narratives on French identity, secularism, Islam, race and citizenship in news coverage and ethnographic data. She is currently working on a book manuscript based on this research.