As a scholar whose work focuses on the interplay between words and images, I am passionate about advancing literacy, both verbal and visual, in my students. I tutor art history and English at a broad range of levels, and love both as they are two aspects of communication for me: understanding what you see and describing it, among other things, in conversation and writing. I feel particularly strongly about visual literacy and believe it's a vital, but unestimated skill in our present culture, increasingly dominated by images. I received my Bachelor of Arts from The Catholic University of America with a major in History, minors in Classical Civilizations and Art History, and a strong concentration in Italian language, literature, and culture. Both my Master of Arts (University of Delaware) and PhD (University of Maryland, College Park) are in art history. In teaching and tutoring, which I've done in one form or another over the last 25 years, I believe in meeting students where they are and encouraging them to greater success by asking questions to expand their consideration of the materials and using analogies to what they know to bridge the gap to what they are learning. When I'm not teaching, I love movies and TV, visiting art museums and taking architectural tours, and making delicious meals.