Her first post as Assistant Professor was at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, where she obtained her tenure, but she has also worked at the University of Maryland, College Park, University of Oregon at Eugene, University of Michigan, East Lansing, and Harvard. After her tenure she travelled to Nicaragua after the victory of the Sandinista Revolution and she worked at the Ministry of Culture under the direction of Ernesto Cardenal and taught at the  Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Managua.  She was the National Librarian and she is also affiliated with the "Instituto de Historia de Nicaragua y Centroamérica" (IHNCA).