I am a sociology professor with well over two decades of fulltime higher education experience. I was born and raised in the Upper Midwest, 13th of 14 children in a family of educators going back several generations. I graduated from Northland College of Wisconsin with a Sociology major and a minor in Native American Studies. I completed a doctorate in Sociology at Virginia Tech 6-1/2 years later.

The primary focus in my professional life has been teaching. As a sociology professor, I have worked with students to help them master the major concepts and knowledge of the field and to draw out the importance of what they are learning for their lives as individuals and members of the community. I have taught in a wide variety of learning environments and have demonstrated an ability to work effectively with diverse student populations.

I have a very broad teaching background that includes most areas of sociology and a few related social science areas. I have taught Introductory Sociology, Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups, Social Theory, Research Methods, Sociology of the Family, Medical Sociology, Native American Cultures, Contemporary Cultural Issues, Deviance and Criminology, Social Welfare Issues and Policy, Sociology of Religion, Social Problems, Freshman Seminar and many others.

I recognise the tremendous value in developing writing skills and acquiring a general mastery of the English language. At Virginia Tech, I participated in the first project of its kind nationally to bring essay writing into very large freshman general education classes; in our case, Introductory Sociology. As a professor, I have been involved in Writing Across the Curriculum and have made writing an important component of my sociology classes.