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As a young adult growing up in rural West Virginia, I was always interested in other cultures and countries. I can remember writing letters for Green Peace in the late '80s, thinking I was part of something greater. It's somewhat embarrassing when I think back to writing those simple letters, like looking back on a middle school yearbook, but wanting to believe I could make a difference shaped the pathway of my educational career. My parents were blue-collar workers in West Virginia. My dad served over 35 years as a pipefitter in a steel mill, and my mother was a secretary. Both of them did not have the opportunity to go to college; however, they are well-read,  traveled internationally late in life, and possess an entrepreneurial spirit. I share this background to help explain why I am passionate about equity and access for all students.

At 20, I was a college dropout. I had no guidance on navigating a University and found that work was the one thing I could control. So I quit and went to work. At 29, with a four-year-old daughter, I went back to school. I worked full time while going to school and had our son. Those years taught me much about sacrifice and grace. My first plane ride was at 27; I reenrolled in a master's program and completed a doctoral degree graduating simultaneously with our daughter from high school at 43. Though I have not had to experience the hardship of poverty, crime, or unemployment that others have, I know what it feels like to want to go beyond the walls of one's community and carve out something more. And through it all, sometimes the Lord walked beside and sometimes he had to carry me, but I have never doubted his presence.

Through my own experiences in higher education, I believe the first pathway to success for a student is information. Students come to a University with one lens of how education is; it has been my desire over my fourteen years as a professor to change or enhance those experiences. I have seen how an international experience will open the heart and mind of a young adult, build resilience and foster an intrinsic motivation to be a global citizen. In the book The Talent Code, Daniel Coyle offers that it's our responsibility as educators to place multiple experiences in the "windshield" of students. We do not judge or write off a student's success; more importantly, we provide mentoring and exposure to build a skill or contribute to the outcome. This has been my mantra in higher education. Sometimes, students will fall short, not show up or communicate, but they are learning, and as adults, it is our mission to balance accountability with resilience.

The door of access is not only accomplished through programming but by creating a sense of belonging for students. Whether working with international partners, graduate or undergraduate students, I want them to sense that Franciscan University is a hub of hope, cultural exchange, and scholarly engagement with Christ as the center of all they will encounter. One way is to engage as many people on campus. I have tried to cultivate opportunities with departments to facilitate campus outreach in the community to build micro-partnerships and international teaching opportunities in Hong Kong, Austria, Erbil, and now India. In addition, cross-collaboration in scholarly research.

The role of a Catholic  University is to welcome all to participate in both scholarship and academic pursuits while encountering Jesus. I believe listening and communication must come before action. As a professor, I have learned that personal bias, wanting things to be different, or avoiding tough conversations can only prolong pain for others or a feeling of alienation. It is crucial to be a mentor who listens first before making decisions that affect others. That doesn't mean we accommodate all requests but are fair and welcoming to students when needs are not addressed. In any decision, safety and the student's dignity take priority; in addition, times of challenge can also be significant moments of grace. I do not have all the answers, but I can pray with my students and invite them into discernment, modeling how I place my concerns with the Lord.

For the past four years, I have been the faculty lead for a mission serving a small Catholic border town school in Douglas, Arizona. In March of 2020, Father Jonathan St. Andrea and I would return with 12 University students just days before the COVID crisis. Revisiting the people in 2021, seeing the community survive, and the changes that occurred during the past and present presidential administrations affirmed my belief that these experiences foster the opportunity for students to think for themselves and venture into the good and shadows of people's people lives. Not as a "savior" but as a support for building something better together. In 2022 I traveled with students to Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, and Erbil, Iraq, as the Faculty Lead for two new international education missions.

When I began my career in 2002, I was a special education teacher for middle school students. There was no amount of bookwork to prepare me for this. What truly makes an excellent educator is to be able to meet people where they are. Jesus did not stay in the temple; he went out into the crowds to share the Gospel. I believe my students need opportunities that push them to be the minority within the majority, and like St. Francis, they must get their sandals dirty. Early in my career, I developed an after-school tutoring program at the Martin Luther King Center, partnered with the Wheeling Symphony for tickets to invite area churches and at-risk youth to attend the Symphony on Ice Christmas show, and my doctoral research resulted in the ELISA, Gaming program which ran for ten years. All of this has been for my students. Today, we are now building pathways to Erbil and working to establish MOUs in India. I have seen students return from such experiences with a new fire, a desire to make a difference, and the voice to advocate for change.

As for my academic role in the classroom and online as a faculty member and former Director of a graduate program, I believe that assessments for measuring student learning need to be varied. Much of this comes from my studies as a special education teacher before coming to the University. The use of rubrics and learning outcomes is a way to show one cares for the student by establishing the criteria of success. However, success may also be demonstrated in other ways through research and choice that reflect the individual's strengths, charisms, and personal interests. One significant accomplishment I had for the Master of Catholic Leadership was building a degree that brought faculty and subject experts outside the University together to build courses. The program housed 12 cross-discipline, co-built, Catholic, and Philosophy faculty vetted courses. Through my experiences with two CAEP accreditations, the national teacher assessment EdTPA, submitting a program and review to the Higher Learning Commission, the five marks of a Catholic school, and my own personal research, my conceptual framework for teaching has a foundation built on assessment and demonstrating how the process is articulated in both action and deed. I take it seriously and try to be vulnerable, admit when I am wrong, laugh at myself when I ask for grace, and acknowledge that nothing comes without a team and prayer.

I am grateful for all Franciscan University has afforded me. My spiritual formation, my academic interests, and my home are here. I desire that my students feel this way too. I have had so many moments in my teaching career where I thanked God for letting me be right where I was. He is faithful, and I am blessed he chose the vocation of education for me.

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