"I've been teaching and researching at the Busch School for 5 years coming up this summer. Really proud of that--working at the Catholic University of America is a dream-come-true for me! Before teaching here, I was a professor at Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida, which was my first job out of graduate school. I was there for 6 years, so all together 11 years as a teaching faculty member. I routinely thank God for the blessing of having a teaching job, since I love working with students so much.

Before teaching as a faculty member, I earned my Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University, in 2010, under the supervision of one intimidating Nobel-prize winner (Oliver Hart) and two other faculty members who were much less intimidating. I finished the Masters degree earlier in 2002 (also in economics), and had done my undergraduate work at Univ of Pennsylvania as a double-major in Mathematics and Economics magna cum laude.

Personally, I have been married for almost 22 years (in August) and have eight kiddos, one of which is a student here (freshman, CS Eng.). I also helped raise my six step children who had lost their mom to breast cancer before I married my husband. I'm more proud of these personal accomplishments than my professional ones, but they work together in lots of ways. I think of mothering and educating as closely aligned, and I try to make the strengths play off of each other. "

"Oddly enough, I have struggled to find a mentor in my career. Lots of reasons for that. But it's one reason I'm passionate about helping others--because I looked for support and didn't find it."