About

I’m Aspen Ballas, a first-year graduate student in English and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where, I teach English composition and rhetoric. Additionally, I teach online courses in the arts and humanities at Northern New Mexico College, where I’ve served on the Faculty Senate and won Adjunct Faculty of the Year in 2025.

After receiving my BA in philosophy with a minor in film and media studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver, I attended the University of Colorado, Denver, where I earned my MH with an emphasis in film and media. These foundations reinforced my curiosity for interdisciplinary research methods. My research interests include film and media, comedy, horror, and critical theory and aesthetics of race and class. More broadly, my research explores the effect that genres and mediums have on narratives.

I was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. In addition to reading and writing, I love nature, gardening, baking, tennis, yoga, basketball, watching movies, playing video games, hip-hop, and family.