About Me

I believe in lifelong learning and feel fortunate to have found myself working in a profession that fulfills my own intellectual curiosity and personal growth!  My primary goal is to support student success in my class as well as at ARC, but my personal goal is to encourage learning for the sake of learning, to compel curiosity, encourage reflection, and promote critical thinking.  These are essential skills in the modern workplace, and also foster new and creative solutions to real world problems, and encourage personal growth and development.  Turning theory into practice guides everything that I do in my classroom, and there are two assumptions that guide me when supporting students:

• Assumption 1: Each student is doing the best that they can and is here at ARC to become a better version of themselves.

• Assumption 2: Each student has the potential to achieve their personal and professional goals. 

I also very strongly believe that earning should not be boring; instead I believe that learning is engaging, interactive, and collaborative.  Learning is reciprocal, the mutual exchange of experiences and ideas and coming to new or refined ideas, beliefs, and values.  My goal is to create opportunities for learning and growth to mentor students through these learning opportunities and to guide them along the way.  Supporting students academically and personally is what drives my passion for teaching and fulfills me personally.

My educational journey begins when I enrolled in St. Mary’s College (SMC), in Moraga, CA.  I was a student-athlete and attended SMC on an athletic scholarship.  My goals were clear - I wanted to play collegiate soccer, but I knew I’d earn a degree while I was there.  However, after my first semester I ended up on academic probation; high school was easy for me and I discovered that I had not acquired the study skills I needed to be successful in college.  This put my athletic scholarship at risk and I couldn’t face the possibility of losing my opportunity to do what I loved, which was playing soccer.  

When I started college I was planning on becoming a physical therapist, but found that my early struggles with chemistry (which began in high school) continued into college.  The only way out, I thought at the time, was to change my major, which I did several times in my early college years.  I enrolled in my first psychology class during freshman year because I had an interest in the topic, but that turned out to be a disaster - the professor spoke with a monotone voice and lectured at us, which made the class boring and left me uninterested in the topic.  Eventually after exploring math, I decided that I truly enjoyed expressing my creativity and ended up earning my B.A. in Art.  

Near the end of my undergraduate degree I had enrolled in a few more psychology courses, which piqued my interest in psychology again.  Those classes, which were cross-cultural and social psychology, stood out to me as memorable and rejuvenated my passion for psychology not only because of the topics themselves, but because the professors created a learning environment that was engaging, but also helped me to want to better understand myself and others.  This compelled me to pursue this field further and where I earned my M.A. in psychology at SMC.  

I worked for many years in the field of mental health, creating and delivering activities programs for at-risk children in group homes, then eventually found myself working for the California Department of Mental Health helping counties to implement their mental health programs.  Although this work was important, it did not fuel my passion.  In 2001 I reached out to Sacramento City College Psychology Department to inquire about getting into teaching, was offered my first class as an adjunct there, and ultimately landed at ARC teaching Psyc 300 as an adjunct for 7 years until I was hired full-time in Fall 2008. I can say that my educational journey was a long one but I feel like I am finally home and where I should be!

You may think that my educational journey ended there, but as an educator I continue to strive to improve myself, my knowledge and understanding of psychology (which is an on-going world of research and new understandings), and refine my teaching skills.  Hence I participate in workshops, trainings, and have even taken individual courses in the areas of psychology, social justice, online and universal instructional designs.  For me, learning is lifelong, which is my favorite part of this career!

You can view my favorite podcasts in My Podcasts Infographic (Canva) or see the list below:

• This American Life 
  Each week we choose a theme and put together different kind of stories on that theme.

• Hidden Brain  
  Explore unconscious patterns that drive human behavior and questions that lie at the heart of our complex and changing world.

• Open to Debate 
  Dedicated to bringing multiple viewpoints together for constructive, balanced, respectful exchange of ideas.

• Invisibilia
  Unseeable forces control human behavior and shape our ideas, beliefs, and assumptions.

• Ted Radio Hour
  Exploring the biggest questions of our time with the help of the world's greatest thinkers.

• Reveal
  Tell stories that hold the powerful accountable and uncover information that would otherwise remain hidden.

Who am I? Visit my Fun Facts About Me Infographic (Canva) or read the list below:

1. One food that I absolutely love is Mexican food, especially salsa - the hotter, the better!

2. A goal in my life is to be proficient in American Sign Language (ASL). I have completed ASL 1 and I can't wait to enroll in more!

3. My favorite super hero is Wonder Woman. If you come by my office, you'd see an homage to her!

4. My favorite season of the year is Fall...it's a combination of the weather and the food that make it my favorite season.

5. I love puzzles, especially 2,000 piece ones! The feeling of placing that last puzzle piece is what drives me!

6. I can't get enough escape rooms! I enjoy the time pressure and out-of-the-box thinking required to solve them!

7. 3 Words that describe me are: creative, helpful, and efficient. (Wow...that was hard to pick 3 words, so many popped into my mind).