Academic Information

• Ed.D., Human Resource Development. Peabody College at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. Dissertation: Discursive Practices, Knowledge Work and Identity Productions, May 2001
• M.A., Counseling Psychology, Emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy. University of Santa Clara, California. May 1983
• Graduate Studies, Clinical Psychology, University of Bochum, Germany. October 1979- January 1981
• Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies: Social Sciences and Humanities. Stanford University, Palo Alto, California. August 1978- July 1979
• B.A., English and Education. Bonn University, Germany, May 1979

Biographical Information

I was born and raised in Germany and received my undergraduate education at the University of Bonn, majoring in English and Education. In order to expand my cultural experiences and to improve my English language skills I accepted a one- year scholarship for foreign exchange students at Stanford University in California. During that year, I decided to pursue a career as marriage and family counselor and obtained a master’s degree in counseling psychology at Santa Clara University. For the next fifteen years I worked as a counselor/therapist in a variety of non-profit organizational settings with marginalized populations in rural areas of the United States, such as the high desert of the Sierra Nevada and Appalachia, and with undergraduate and graduate students in institutions of higher education. I received my doctorate in human resource development from Vanderbilt University pursuing an interdisciplinary course of study. Before joining the McGregor faculty in 2003, I spent two years as research associate with the Institute for Community Research in Hartford, Connecticut, where I worked with multi-disciplinary teams of researchers on federally funded educational intervention studies.

Specialization

• identity and culture
• individual and organizational development
• gender and power
• critical literacies
• qualitative research 

Special Interests

I would like to expand my ethnographic explorations beyond the United States and Europe and hope to interest my 14 year old son in joining me in some of those endeavors. I enjoy many outdoor activities, such as bicycling, hiking, and canoeing in the summer, and cross-country skiing in the winter. Conversations with friends and family are always important, whether they take place indoors, outdoors, over the phone, or e-mail, and regardless of the seasons.