In 1976, I took my first sign language course at what was then Saint Petersburg Junior College. That course became the catalyst that launched my journey into the field of interpreting and deaf education.  I graduated from the University of South Florida with a Master of Science degree in Communication Sciences in 1982 and became an itinerant teacher for Pinellas County Schools, around the same time that I became a state certified educational (EIE) and free lance (QA) interpreter.  In 1984, I transferred to a self-contained elementary classroom where I served as department head and taught deaf students while continuing as a free lance interpreter in the community.  Additional teaching between 1982 and 1984 included Home-bound instruction in the 0-3 program for deaf children and adjunct instruction in the interpreter training program at Hillsborough Community College.  In 1992, I left the Pinellas County Schools to become an adjunct instructor at Saint Petersburg College where I taught English and reading to deaf students and American Sign Language.  Additional teaching included graduate courses in language learning and deafness and reading and deafness at the University of South Florida. I became a full time faculty member of SPC in 1998.  In 2004, I received my doctorate in an interdisciplinary program in Second Language Acquisition/Instructional Technology from the University of South Florida.  My dissertation was titled, Computer-Mediated Writing Development in Postsecondary Students who are Deaf and was subsequently nominated for the USF “Dissertation of the Year” award. I have served as a consultant for several organizations, Florida Department for Education, Modern Talking Picture Services, Broward County Schools, National Technical Institute, Gallaudet University, and Postsecondary Educational Programs Network, have written and secured grants, and have presented at over 30 local and national conferences.   My scholarly interests include second language learning, writing, and sign language linguistics.   My personal interests include, spending time with my husband and two children, sailing, kayaking, playing tennis, playing the piano, and tending to our two golden retrievers.
 

A favorite personal quote and one that best describes my approach to learning and life is:

"The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both" ~James Michener