Educational Background
Where I've Learned & What I've Studied
June 2010-May 2014
BA Ethnic & Gender Studies
Westfield State University
The Ethnic & Gender Studies program at WSU is an interdisciplinary program that values students' lived experiences as sources of embodied knowledge. During my time at WSU I worked with the Queer Straight Alliance in advocating for LGBTQ+ identified community members on and off campus. Additionally, I engaged with various students, faculty, and programs across campus to both increase my broader knowledge and work towards stronger community with others.
At WSU I participated in the Urban Education program, TRiO Student Support Services, and worked with the Reading Writing Center to develop gender-inclusive trainings and resources for students and faculty alike. My capstone project (May 2012) was centered on Gendered Notions of Beauty ideals and on breaking binaries.
August 2015 - July 2017
MA Women's & Gender Studies
University of Northern Iowa
The WGS program at the University of Northern Iowa helped to develop both my research and teaching styles significantly. I learned from amazing faculty about how to engage students both academically and personally. It was during my time in WGS at UNI that I began truly believing my work must have meaning beyond grades and that grades are not what assign meaning to the work I complete.
My thesis project in this program took more of a creative perspective on the standard thesis. I wrote a workbook titled: For 2 or 200: A Workbook for Making a Difference and that can be found on this external link to the University of Northern Iowa Scholar Works Repository.
August 2017 - May 2021
MA Communication Studies
University of Northern Iowa
Joining the Communication Studies Program at UNI was an interesting turn backwards to my time at Westfield State where I had originally been a Communication major. Mostly, I examined issues of communication related to both gender/sexuality and education--particularly using communication to educate and teaching about communication.
I began this program in August 2017 and finished my coursework in May of 2019. During that time I worked on a research paper titled Disclosure of trans and gender variant identities by students to students. This research paper is open access and is available on this external link to the University of Northern Iowa Scholar Works Repository.
I submitted my final paper in January of 2021 and was awarded my degree in May 2021.
August 2019 - Present
PhD Student ASPECT
Virginia Tech
My time at Virginia Tech began in the Sociology PhD program until I was accepted into the Alliance for Social Political Ethical and Cultural Thought (ASPECT) PhD program which is an interdisciplinary, theory-based, PhD program housed in 4 core departments: history; political science; philosophy; and religion and culture. It is in this program that I now study gender, sexuality, and disabilities/ableism.
My dissertation research focuses on what I am calling, a Pedagogy of the Full Self. In this, I use autoethnography, and co-theorizing informed by Queer, Black, and Crip feminisms to determine what bringing one's full self into the room as both teacher and/or student might look like for different people and how doing so as a member of faculty can help build classroom community and enhance student learning.
​
Publications
Brimmer, C. A. (2023, February 13). Decentering whiteness as the Assumed Norm of Feminisms; Or, How Black Feminisms Made Room For Me That “Feminism” Didn’t. In A. Baldwin & N. Bantuo (Eds.), Black Feminist Theorizing Toward Futurity. https://doi.org/10.21061/standpoints.v2
​
Brimmer, Casey Anne. “Kin Are the People Who Still Pick Up the Phone: An Essay on the Social Constructions of Family, Kin, and Self.” SPECTRA 9, no. 1 (2022): pp. 15–19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21061/spectra.v9i1.191