She received her B.S. in Education from Illinois State University, her MA in Teaching and Leadership in Education from St. Xavier University, and her Ph.D in Education from Capella University. She currently teaches literacy courses in the department and supervises the pre-service teaching field experience for students at the Quad Cities Center. Her research interests include reading, teacher education, and online teaching and learning. She has made presentations at the local, state, and national level and currently serves on the Teacher Education Editorial Board for MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching).