Prior to joining the faculty at Pacific in 2006, I spent my career in the California community colleges. I held a variety of classified and administrative positions in student services. I was fortunate to work in different settings from the Sacramento area, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Napa valley, and the north coast of California. In each setting, I met and worked with wonderful people and had the opportunity to experience the many ways that a community college serves it local residents.

While working on my doctorate at Oregon State University, I began investigating the experiences of part-time faculty in community colleges. This investigation led to my dissertation research about the challenges faced by women who were teaching part-time.Since arriving at Pacific, my research has focused on leadership development of community college presidents. Using the leadership competencies developed by the American Association of Community Colleges, I examine the ways the competencies influence the work of community college presidents. My work on this topic has been published in theCommunity College Review and The Community College Journal of Research and Practice.

• In November 2009 Cathleen Hebert-Swartzer and I won the First Annual Emerging Scholar award sponsored by the  University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA). Our submission was based on Dr. Hebert-Swartzer's dissertation research and was published in the Journal of Research on Leadership Education.
• Delores McNair, Benerd School of Education, co-authored the article "If I knew then what I know now: Using the leadership competencies developed by the American Association of Community Colleges to prepare community college presidents," published in the Community College Review.