She holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from Carleton College and Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Ethnomusicology from the University of California at Los Angeles. Prior to teaching at Tech, she taught at UCLA, UC Santa Cruz and California Institute of the Arts. She plays the Mexican harp, violin (mariachi style) and many other Mexican and Southwest musical instruments. She also studied piano, voice, organ, and harpsichord. In addition to the music of Mexico, she has studied the music and instruments of Indonesia and the Arab world. When not teaching she performs with the Grammy award-winning Mariachi Divas de Cindy Shea.