I teach a variety of art history and museum studies courses at Radford University. I am also the Chair of the Art Department and Chief Curator of the Radford University Art Museum.

My higher education began at a small private college where I majored in psychology and Spanish. I spent my Junior year abroad in Spain. After taking my first art history course there, I soon realized that I liked art history better than psychology. After graduating, I began graduate studies in art history. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on Spanish catafalques, which were large multistory structures erected in a church to commemorate the death of an important person. I was fortunate to receive a Fulbright Scholarship which allowed me to conduct research on catafalques in Spain. I loved living in Spain, and I ended up staying there for three years. But then I decided it was time to enter the "real world," so I returned to the States and landed a job curating the slide collection and teaching art history at Roanoke College. I remained there for four years, and then I came to Radford University. I like the emphasis on teaching and students here at RU, and I like living in the Blue Ridge Mountain region. It's the perfect place for some of my outside interests.

I think the reason why I like art history so much is because it encompasses virtually all fields of knowledge. Social history, religion, philosophical thought, science, technological developments, mathematics, economics, and politics all come into play when discussing the history of art. This means students need to have a broad base of general knowledge, which is why I give a geography quiz and a two-part cultural literacy quiz in my classes.

In addition to teaching and curating, I serve on numerous university committees. I remain active in my field by researching and presenting scholarly papers at professional conferences, and I have also published articles in dictionaries, journals, and exhibition catalogs. (For more information on all this, refer to my Curriculum Vitae.)