I earned my secondary degree in English from CSU in 1991 to allow me to more effectively teach communication.  My overarching interest in effective communication stemmed from having taught disadvantaged high school students in Chicago both English and math.  I taught at CSU for several years before applying my teaching interests with local businesses incorporating technology.  Now, after teaching continuously at CSU since 1998, I continue to actively investigate and use composition theory while teaching upper-division courses, most notably Writing in the Sciences.  My professional passion just now is STEM communication and I live out this passion by inspiring undergraduate and graduate scientists to communicate effectively in different contexts.  A recently compiled Rhetorical Readings for the Science Writer, a text that, as I explain in the Introduction, “supports scientists as they answer the calls to communicate their science.”

As a long-time instructor in the English Department, I have other work that motivates me as I teach.  I consciously tap into what student-veterans offer to the courses they take here at CSU.  I like working individually with student-veterans to help them figure how they can best use their military experiences to write/communicate more effectively in their classes.  And, I have supported initiatives such as CSU Ready, working with high school English teachers in the Fort Collins community as they prepare their students for studies at the University.

Helping my students improve their lives by becoming effective communicators in academic and public contexts has been the driving force behind my decades of teaching.