I have worked in the TESOL field for the last thirty years.  I began teaching English Language Learners as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tonga (South Pacific).  After returning to the U.S. and receiving a Master of Arts in Teaching Degree in ESL at The School for International Training (SIT), I studied linguistics at the University of North Carolina.  I, then moved to Japan where I taught English for 2 1/2 years. 

  After taking some time off to raise two baby daughters, I moved to Amherst, MA for a doctoral program at the University of Massachusetts. I then worked at SIT for 13 years, where I was on the faculty of the Department of Language Teacher Education and the Chair of the public school ESL certification program.  My research interests included L2 classroom discourse analysis and explorations of ways that ESL students can be mismatched with U.S. public schools and pedagogical responses to addressing their needs. 

  I taught at the University of Massachusetts for two years in their Language, Literacy & Culture Program.  I am now at the University of Kentucky, directing a new MA TESL program.