She came to Iowa State University in 2006 after completing her graduate schooling at The Ohio State University (Masters degree, 2001; Ph.D., 2006). A specialist of French and Francophone Cinemas, her early research focused mostly on the re/presentation of women (housewives, working mothers, revolutionaries) in women’s contemporary filmmaking and lifewriting in France, Algeria, and Tunisia. More recently, her agenda has expanded to the study of trans/national cinema through the theoretical lenses of Star Studies and Cinematic Comedy. Her research takes into account cinematographic constructions and performances of gender, subjectivity, identity, ethnicity and “nation,” and citizenship through women’s filmmaking, comedy,and stardom.