(B.A., English, Amherst College; M.A., English, University of Virginia)

During the 2009-2010 school year, Phil taught a seminar in Penn's Critical Writing Program on the cultural afterlives of Abraham Lincoln, and in Summer 2011, he taught a course—cross-listed between the English Department and Cinema Studies Program—entitled, The Sacred Screen: Religion and World Cinema.

In 2010-2011, Phil was an Andrew W. Mellon Graduate Research Fellow at the Penn Humanities Forum, and he is the recipient of a GAPSA Provost's Award for Interdisciplinary Innovation for 2011.

During the 2011-2012 school year, Phil co-coordinated Penn's American Literature Seminar, served as a Critical Writing Program teaching mentor, and was the graduate coordinator for the writing component of Penn's Pre-Freshman Program.

He has been awarded the Penn Dissertation Completion Fellowship for 2012-2013, and he is the recipient of the SAS Dean's Scholar Award for 2013.