Current Position at SMWC: Associate Professor, Psychology Program. I teach Psychology of Women, Abnormal Psychology, Human Sexuality, Crisis Intervention, Adolescent Psychology, Drug and Alcohol Addiction, and the Seminar in Psychology as on-campus classes as well as in the Woods On-Line program. In the SMWC’s graduate program I teach Techniques of Counseling.
Some semesters I teach one evening graduate class as an adjunct professor at Eastern Illinois University.
Past Positions:
•After graduating with my B.A. in Psychology I was a full-time outpatient counselor for clients who were drug dependent (I also worked in drug abuse prevention). During those six years I attended classes part-time, finished my Master’s Degree, and decided to pursue a Ph.D. I remember one of my male professors saying “you shouldn’t do that, you have children!” He never would have said that to a male student. In fact, he had children while he worked on his Ph.D. It made me so mad I was even more determined to get that degree.
Photo by: Colleen Daum/ The Woods
• While I was working on my Ph.D. I was a graduate assistant at the University of Illinois Counseling Center where I ran a group for students who were chemically dependent. Also while I worked on my Ph.D. I was a part-time counselor at a program for chemically dependent women. In that position I lead a sexuality group for the women and a play therapy group for their children.
• At the end of my Ph.D. program I completed a full-time year-long internship at a V.A. Hospital working with combat veterans in the psychiatric ward and with veterans who suffered from PTSD. I had to live away from home while Alan stayed with our children (they were ages 8 and 14), but I came home every weekend.
• After finishing my Ph.D. I was therapist at the University Counseling Center at Eastern Illinois University for 10 years, serving as the Interim Director of the Center for one year. During that time I also taught classes in the Psychology Department and in the Counseling and Student Development Department at EIU and became a tenured faculty member.
Undergraduate and Graduate School(s): Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree: Eastern Illinois University. Ph.D.: University of Illinois.
Interesting Facts About Yourself:
• I was born the middle child of seven children in a Catholic family in Morris, Illinois (not far from Chicago). There was a period of time when my father became ill and my family had to use food stamps. People say bad things about the government, but I am extremely grateful for government programs.
• When I worked in the substance abuse field a colleague and I created a primary prevention program that involved dressing up as clowns. Yes, I was a clown. The program caught on and we trained others to do this program throughout Illinois. We wrote a manual about it that got published and we presented the program at several professional conferences, including the Fifth World Congress on the Prevention of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• In my doctoral dissertation I studied the existence of family roles in children whose parents have alcoholism.
• Alan and I were undergrads when we got married (after my sophomore year), and we have been married for over 30 years. We have two children, both boys. Alan and I own and live on a 34 acre farm. For a few years we raised free-range chickens and gave the eggs away to our friends.
• I have two nieces who were adopted from China.
• I once stopped an attempted rape at a campground bathroom in Sarasota, Florida. After you learn about “the bystander effect” it is hard to just sit there when someone needs help. I was scared, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t try to help her.
Favorite Thing About SMWC: I love the people here. The people in my department are some of the best I have ever worked with – both in talent and in personality. They make me laugh every day. And the students are great—bright, engaged, and fun to be around. I feel so fortunate to be employed here.
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