Biography

I grew up in Arkadelphia and Ouachita was my first and only choice for my undergraduate degree. I intended to teach junior high and high school students in grades 7-12, but God had other plans for me. Within a few days of my graduation, I received a telephone call encouraging me to apply to be a graduate assistant in English at Henderson State University and begin a master's program. I applied and interviewed on the same day and began taking classes and teaching remediated English courses just a few weeks later, finishing my master's degree in two years. A week after my graduation, Dr. Bill Ellis, who was at the time Chair of the English Department at Ouachita called me with an offer to teach in a full-time, fill-in role for one year. I strongly felt God's calling to come back to Ouachita. The one-year offer extended for another few years, but eventually, I was teaching as an adjunct at both Ouachita and Henderson, which continued until 2000, when I was offered a permanent, fulltime position at Henderson, teaching Technical Writing and Managment Communications. I taught fulltime at Henderson for twenty years. In 2020, my son chose to come to Ouachita as a pre-med major. In 2022, I was led to reach out to friends at Ouachita about the possibility of coming back to teach here. I started work in the summer of 2022 and have worked for Dr. Jeff Root in the Humanities office and taught Composition I and Business Communications classes. When I told my son that I had accepted the position at Ouachita, he sent me a text saying, "Welcome Home." This is more than a motto or slogan to me: it represents the positive, nurturing atmosphere I found at this place as a student and as an employee. Being able to live out my faith every day in every class and in every professional experience seems like a reward my career. My daughter joined us on campus in 2023, so we have truly made Ouachita a home for our family.

My family and I are members of Third Street Baptist Church here in Arkadelphia. We have a dog and a cat who rule our household.