Her own research focuses in moral psychology. She is particularly interested in the topic of moral motivation, and, more generally, on the connection between character and actions. Originally from Connecticut, Professor Besser-Jones completed her graduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was a post-doc at Stanford and taught for several years at the University of Waterloo before coming to Middlebury. Professor Besser-Jones lives in Middlebury with her husband Jason, her two sons Kagen and Beck, and dog Luna. They love swimming in the lakes and rivers during the summer, sledding and skiing in the winters, and traveling to warm places where she and Jason can scuba dive.