Personal Bio

Professional Experiences

I am an avid reader, lover of the arts, and enthusiastic gardener.   Since my teens I have had a deep interest in social justice and politics (former League of Women Voters president). I am the mother of two wonderful kids: Rob, a student in environmental students at Oregon State, and Carrie, an attorney in the Hennepin County (Minneapolis) public defender's office.  I live with a feisty black schnauzer named Dot (after the author Dorothy Parker).  My childhood home was Jeffersonville, Indiana (a suburb of Louisville, Kentucky), but I have lived in Florida, Iceland, and North Dakota.  Most of my life, however, was lived at the tip of beautiful Lake Superior, near Duluth.  Minneapolis, which boasts the most book stores and theaters per capita in the U.S., is now my home.
 

I developed the writing center at Saint Mary's, Twin Cities campus, where I teach workshops for graduate writers.  I also directed a writing center at the University of Wisconsin-Superior and taught basic English.  Much of writing consultation has been with students from such countries as Somalia, India, Colombia, Taiwan, Russia, Egypt, Japan, Congo, El Salvador, Sri Lanka, Laos, Liberia, China, and Albania. 

I began as an English major, but completed a bachelor in education (University of North Dakota) and a master in adult education (University of Wisconsin-Superior).  I am currently in doctoral study at Saint Mary's University.  I recently completed a chapter entitled "Writing Centers for Graduate Students" (with Helen Snively, Harvard, and Traci Freeman, UC Berkeley) for Writing Center Director's Resource (Byron Stay, Ed.) in publication.