Faculty, Masters In Teaching
The Evergreen State College
Olympia, Washington

I came to Evergreen with 10 years of experience as a public school teacher serving in culturally and linguistically diverse schools and communities. These experiences influenced my decision to pursue doctoral studies in education, with an emphasis in curriculum and instruction and the socio-historical foundations of education from the University of Kansas.

Prior to coming to The Evergreen State College, I was a faculty member at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. I was part of a team of teacher educators working on a federally funded grant, Project CAUSE (Change Agents for Urban School Excellence) to redesign a teacher preparation program. This work consists of working with a cohort of preservice teachers in public schools alongside practicing teachers, administrators, and other community stakeholders, with the collective aim of providing authentic experiences, for the cohort by making visible the epistemic practices of what it means to be a professional educator.

The experience of teaching within the context of communities shapes my understanding of learning communities. At the center of my scholarship is the question of how to develop and support preservice teachers’ sense of self-efficacy for working within culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

My degrees are a B.A. in Elementary Education, an Integrated Masters in Humanities and Education both from Rockhurst University, and a PhD from the University of Kansas.