She joined the faculty at MU in 1986 and currently teaches graduate and undergraduate classes in early childhood education and coordinates MU's undergraduate early childhood education program. Her current research interests and teaching responsibilities center around K-3 teaching practices and early childhood teacher education. Before moving to higher education, she taught preschool, kindergarten, and third grade in Illinois, Colorado, and Indiana. She earned her B.S.Ed. in elementary education with a kindergarten teaching endorsement, her M.Ed. in elementary guidance from MU, and her Ph.D. in early childhood education from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.