She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from San Francisco State University, a Master of Arts degree in Latin American Studies (social sciences) from Stanford University, and is nearing the completion of her Ph.D. dissertation in Sociology at the University of Minnesota.
Her past professional experience includes working for 7 years within the United Nations human rights treaty system as a Research Director of a non-governmental human rights organization.
Her teaching and research interests are wide-ranging and include general sociology, institutions, social problems, social psychology, race and ethnicity, ethnic conflict, human rights, Europe, Latin American, and the Middle East. In addition to teaching at APUS, she has taught sociology and political science at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT, Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, MN, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, and the University of Alaska Southeast. She currently lives in Ketchikan, Alaska.