She grew up in northern Wisconsin and earned her PhD at the UW-Madison. In the Department of Liberal Arts and Applied Studies, she works with non-traditional students and lifelong learners in continuing adult classes and online courses, teaching a variety of French language, culture, and literature classes. As a part of her outreach efforts, she is also editor-in-chief of France Synergies, a worldwide educational resource for teachers of French. She is also a faculty affiliate with the Department of French and Italian.