English Instructor, Chabot College, 2002-Present

Teach all levels of English composition sequence (developmental through transfer), with reading, critical thinking, and writing integrated throughout. Serve in several leadership roles, including co-coordinator of a Hewlett-Carnegie grant to Strengthen Pre-collegiate Education in Community Colleges (SPECC), coordinator of the Springboard to Transfer learning community, and Chair of the Basic Skills Committee.

Dean of Academic Affairs, John F. Kennedy University (JFKU), 2000-2002

Served as university’s chief academic officer. Initiated and led strategic planning and enrollment management initiatives.

Faculty Member and Director, Academic Support Center, JFKU, 1994-2000

Taught upper-division critical thinking, research, and writing courses. Managed campus writing lab, serving more than a quarter of the university’s student body each year. Served as project manager for university’s ten-year accreditation self-study.

 

Key Publications and Presentations

“When Capable Students Fail: The Academic Sustainability Gap.” Website presenting classroom research into why so many students earn passing grades on individual tests/papers but don’t pass their classes. Also featured in article in the National Forum for Teaching and Learning, September 2007.

Conference presentations and workshops on the academic sustainability gap, faculty inquiry, learning communities, and guiding students to become stronger readers.

Reunion: A Year in Letters Between a Birthmother and the Daughter She Couldn’t Keep. Memoir co-written with birthmother, Ellen McGarry Carlson. Seal Press, 1999.

 

EDUCATION

EdD and MA, Educational Leadership, Mills College

MA, American Culture Studies, Bowling Green State University

BA, Journalism with minors in English and Sociology, New York University