Her dissertation and research focused on the political economy of live rock performance, constructions of authenticity, protest rock, mediaphemes, and “liveness” as cultural constructions. She teaches courses on television production, popular music and media studies, minorities in the mass media, principles of mass communication, and the political economy of media. She received her PhD and MA in Communication Studies from the University of Minnesota and her BA in Political Science from the University of Toronto. Her edited collection with co-editor Mark Pedelty of the University of Minnesota, entitled Political Rock, was released in July 2013 from Ashgate Press.