She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Northern Illinois University, with major emphasis in Public Administration, Public Policy, and Urban Studies. She has more than ten years of administrative experience in federal and local government and has taught for almost twenty years in both graduate and undergraduate programs in public administration, public services, urban studies and political science. Most recently she was on the faculty of DePaul University’s School of Public Service from 2000 to 2010, where she primarily taught graduate courses in metropolitan planning and research methods, including needs assessment, program evaluation and the graduate level capstone, while serving as the assistant director of DePaul’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development.