Biography

I earned my A.A. from McHenry County College, a B.S. from Illinois State University, and an M.A. in history as well as certification in secondary education from Northern Illinois University.

For five and a half years I taught high school social studies (e.g. American Government, U.S. History, Sociology, and World Cultures) in a small, rural district near the Illinois-Wisconsin border.  In the summer of 2003, I taught an original course entitled, Race, Sex, and Class, that I designed for the Upward Bound Program at Rock Valley College.

Then, after attending a National Endowment for the Humanities summer seminar at Amherst College in 2005, I returned to Northern the following year to pursue a Ph.D. in political science.  My primary and secondary fields of study were American Government and Public Policy, respectively, and my coursework focused on the major governing institutions (e.g. Judicial Process, Legislative Behavior, and The Presidency).

Throughout my program I worked for the Illinois State Archives in its Illinois Regional Archives Depository system.  As an  intern, I processed patron requests for a variety of public records (e.g. vital, court, land, etc.) and also completed some minor conservation work to make records accessible to researchers.

From 2007 to 2011, I taught United States Government as an adjunct instructor at McHenry County College during the summer semester.  I found this to be an incredibly rewarding experience.  Having the opportunity to give back to a school I graduated from means a lot to me.  I also taught for Lake Land College in the Illinois Department of Corrections, i.e. the Dixon Correctional Center.  Believe it or not, most of the inmates I encountered were grateful for programs that can help them improve their life situation.

This fall I will begin teaching history and political science as a resident faculty member at Mohave Community College in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.   I’m really excited about the opportunity to help build a program and eager to get back into the classroom full time.  Also, sometime in the coming months I will defend my dissertation and graduate.