The Team

In 2017, I began working in my community on public school funding issues. I became a leader with the community organizing group BUILD (Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development). I quickly realized that access to education and all the materials connected to it were just as important as the inclusive and diverse curriculum and teaching methods I was trying to employ. Empowering young people and helping them develop their voices as leaders was just as personal for me as a mother as it was for me as a community leader artist and teacher. 

I began my serious dance training  through a Baltimore City Public School- Baltimore School for the Arts, going on to earn a Dance & Anthropology degree from Barnard College. After a decade of teaching and performing dance, I went back to earn an MFA in dance from SUNY Purchase. I became the Assistant director of a the Hartt Community Division at the University of Hartford. Returning to Baltimore in 2009, I became the artistic director of a non-profit regional dance company and have been teaching  in universities and community colleges, and dance studies. I now volunteer with BUILD, Strong Schools Maryland, Girl Scouts of Central MD, and lead the Parent Teacher Organization of my children’s school. I have continued to expand my skills in pedagogy through these years of teaching and developing courses at a range of higher education institutions by attending PIVOT training, Inclusive Pedagogy, Humanities Teaching  Labs. I have presented at local, national and international conferences on decolonizing dance history, mentorship, and open licensing principles in dance.

I first had the opportunity to explore and understand what OERs meant to students’ learning experience in higher education while at Prince George's Community College. Seeing it as a powerful tool to promote equity and social justice for all students, I began to work more closely with faculty who were adopting, adapting, or creating OERs while at PGCC. Even more exciting was when the new provost tasked me and a department chair with co-facilitating an OER Implementation Plan at the college to fulfill one of his goals of offering a zero-dollar degree (i.e., Z Degree) building on what individuals faculty had been able to accomplish. At UMBC I’ve also had the opportunity to work on OER ad hoc groups and help develop an OER strategic plan for the institution. It lays out the next steps, roles for faculty and staff, resources needed, and positions students as the benefactors of all that we can do to promote faculty adoption and creation of OERs. 

I am an Instructional Design Specialist at UMBC. I support UMBC’s learning management system administration and related instructional technologies. As a QM-Certified Master Reviewer, I am committed to quality course design, accessible learning experiences, and Universal Design for Learning principles. With more than 14 years of experience in higher education, I have taught hybrid, online, and in-person courses, including a co-facilitated semester-long “Equitable and Inclusive Courses Workshop” for UMBC faculty. I have also served as an academic advisor for undergraduate students pursuing STEM majors. I earned a Master of Arts in English and graduate certificate in Gender and Women’s Studies from Kansas State University, a Master of Science in Learning Design & Technology from University of Maryland Global Campus, and am pursuing doctoral studies in Educational Leadership with a concentration in Adult and Professional Learning Facilitation at Frostburg State University.

I am chair of the dance department at UMBC and the daughter of a dance teacher. I grew up in New York City where I trained at my mother’s studio. Later, I taught and danced professionally. I had a three-year relationship with Young Audiences of New York, through which I introduced elementary and middle school children to dance. I also worked with the Lincoln Center Touring Program, to bring dance and music to several public New York City schools. In New York, I performed (modern dance) with  Hannah Kahn and Dancers, DANCES/Janet Soares, and others. I performed solo tap concerts in New York and internationally. I have a BA from Barnard College, and an MA in Dance Education from Teachers College Columbia University. I joined the faculty of UMBC in 1982. I have taught courses in dance history, contemporary/modern dance techniques, dance composition, tap dance, teaching methods for dance, and a course in dance and technology. For 10 years, I led a grant-funded outreach program that brought dance performances and workshops to seven elementary and middle schools close to UMBC. I have a long career in performance and choreography. My dance films have been screened at the Maryland Film Festival, Dallas Film Festival, Rosebud Film Festival and others. I have received Individual Artist Awards in Choreography from the Maryland State Council on the Arts. Much of my work for the stage involve projected images and technology. I have choreographed several site-specific dance works. I am very interested in site specific work where dance is performed in environments other than theaters and studios because it makes dance accessible. As a member of a higher education institution, I am acutely aware of the need to decolonize and open the content of the dance curriculum. The UMBC dance department has done much to address historic inequities and privilege in the dance field and there is much more to do. I am very interested to explore open resources and make use of as many as possible in my courses. 

I am a Reference and Instruction Librarian at UMBC, where I serve as the liaison to the Dance, Music, Theatre, English, Language, and History departments. My favorite part about being a librarian is being able to work with students to find resources for their research papers and assignments. My interest in Open Educational Resources began when I was receiving my Masters in Library Science from the University of Maryland. As a librarian, I care about open access and making course materials more freely accessible. My research interests include critical information literacy and critical pedagogy, which focuses on centering students as producers of knowledge, rather than mere consumers. This connects well with open pedagogy, which is related to OER. In addition to receiving my MLIS degree, I have masters degrees in History (M.A.) and Music (M.M.). I teach a few private violin students and gig and perform in the DC metropolitan area. I believe that the performing arts are a powerful way to connect with others and express what is both human and divine.