About Me
I have worked in higher education in a variety of roles for more than 20 years, beginning with my fresh-out-of-college Interim Directorship of a Women's Resource Center and staff member at an Educational Technology Center, both at Bowdoin College. In the decades that followed, I've held project and grant management roles at the University of Southern Maine, teaching and administrative support roles at Northwestern University, student affairs and teaching roles at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, faculty and advising at Farmingdale State College, teaching consulting at the University of Minnesota, and, now leadership in academic effectiveness at Saint Paul College. In addition to my Bachelor's degree from Bowdoin, I earned my first Master's degree in American and New England Studies from the University of Southern Maine in 2010, and my PhD in sociology from Northwestern in 2017. You can find the details of my work outlined on my CV.
I'm proud of having worked in a broad array of capacities and institutions across higher education, and throughout this work, I have been guided by three key principles. You'll see each of these principles threaded throughout my teaching, consulting, and research work.
Equity
While an equitable approach to teaching is not new, there seems to be an increased emphasis on (and criticism of) terminology and principles like diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice, along with anti-racist and other critical pedagogies.
Key questions I ask to inform my approach to equity in teaching and research are:
What does "equity" mean in this context? What frameworks are being used to understand inequities that persist here?
Who is missing from this conversation and from this space?
How does my background inform who and what I see and what I miss?
Humility
I approach my work with humility, always asking what I can learn from an experience. Even as I'm called to be an "expert" in much of my work, this expertise is always tempered with the recognition that students and participants have much to teach me, and to teach each other.
Key questions I ask about my teaching work are:
What specific skills and knowledge do I bring to this teaching context? What are the limits of of my skills and knowledge here?
How can I amplify the knowledge, skills, and experiences students and participants bring to our work?
How can I frame this course, workshop, program, or experience to provide space for conversation or to adjust our trajectory?
Boundaries
As public higher education in the U.S. continues to be systematically defunded, those of us who work in academia are pressured to do more and to be more, to our communities, to our students,and to our institutions.
Key questions I ask in my consulting work are:
How can we engage in our work in a sustainable way?
What kinds of boundaries and efficiencies allow us to do the most meaningful work?
How can we work together to create a academic culture of slowness that values who we are as whole human beings?