About
A sociologist who stays close to the lived experience behind the data.
I am an Associate Professor of Sociology at Kent State University at Ashtabula, a first-generation college graduate, and a mother of three. Those identities do not sit apart from my work; they shape the questions I ask and the way I work with students, institutions, and communities.
My work
I am a sociological social psychologist. My scholarship examines identity, emotion, family and caregiving, mental health, neurodiversity, and the everyday structures of academic institutions. Across those areas, I keep returning to the same concern: institutions often require us to navigate systems that were not designed with the complexity of our lives in mind.
Teaching is central to that work. I design courses around relational trust, transparency, reflection, and meaningful application. In 2025, Kent State recognized that work with the Glenn Frank Distinguished Teaching Award, the highest teaching award at the university.
I also facilitate sensemaking, evaluation, and collaborative design work in higher education. This applied work draws on sociology rather than sitting outside it: institutions are social systems, and durable change depends on understanding relationships, roles, power, culture, and the shared meanings that guide action.
Education
- Ph.D., Sociology, Kent State University, 2012
- M.A., Social Sciences, Pennsylvania Western University at Edinboro, 2005
- B.A., Sociology, Pennsylvania Western University at Edinboro, 2003
- Weatherhead Coaching Certificate, Case Western Reserve University, 2024
- Online and Blended Teaching and Learning Postgraduate Certificate, Kent State University, 2021
Selected leadership
- Founder, Ph.D. Mamas, an international community of more than 20,000 academic mothers
- Editorial Board, Teaching Sociology
- University Teaching Council, Kent State University
- President, League of Women Voters of Ashtabula County
- Founder, IntegratED Coaching and Consulting