I’m a Professor of History at Cleveland State University where I’ve spent my entire 28-year academic career. I’ve been a Department Chair and a Dean, and after 14 years of higher ed administration I made the decision to go back to the classroom this past year. While I found administrative work gratifying and illuminating–and challenging, I was ready to be back with students full time.

I was Vice President of the Teaching Division, American Historical Association (2016-2019) and have published on teaching, pedagogy, and higher ed administration in Inside Higher Ed, Times Higher Education, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. I have worked with colleagues at a variety of institutions to help academic departments and programs enhance their cohesiveness, outreach, and enrollments by developing strong curricula and programming.

My scholarship focuses on women, leadership, and community-building through the study of European convents between 1300 and 1700.

Why I’m in MYFest: I am excited to make connections and build communities around the proposition that we can, in fact, create healthy working environments for faculty and staff in higher ed.

MYFest involvement: I’ll be leading a workshop on “Care and Community in the Meetings and Gatherings of Higher Ed,” where we’ll explore ways to make the mundane and required moments of higher ed–meetings, for example!–more meaningful, inclusive, and productive.