I grew up as a bi-cultural (British & American) Air Force brat, living across the U.S., Spain, and England during my formative years. After high school, I served in the 101st Airborne Division before attending the University of Buffalo as a first generation student, where I earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. I studied under poets Robert Creeley and Mac Hammond among others. I then went on to Yale University, earning a Master of Arts in Renaissance Studies and then a PhD in European History under Professor Geoffrey Parker, with a focus on Golden Age Spain and Elizabethan England.

My teaching career has taken me from Yale University, to the University of Utah, Weber State University, and then to Salt Lake Community College for 17 years, where I led one of the college’s largest General Education courses in Humanities and taught Great Books. I’ve authored two books: Philip III and the Pax Hispanica (Yale University Press) and It Begins with Our Questions: The Humanities as a Call to Action (Hayden-McNeil).

For the last sixteen years, I’ve held a variety of leadership roles, including department chair of Humanities and then Division Chair of Humanities, Language, and Culture, then Dean of Humanities and Social Science all at Salt Lake Community College, then Dean of Liberal Arts at Truckee Meadows Community College, and most recently Dean of Instruction the University of New Mexico - Los Alamos campus, overseeing a wide range of academic disciplines and services, including tutoring centers and libraries. Cabrillo College, with its outstanding faculty, staff, and students, is proving a great place to work and grow.

Outside of Cabrillo, I’m a vegetarian who enjoys good lattes, literature and used bookstores, live music, movies, and dark beers. My daughters—a pediatric nurse and an art instructor—live in Salt Lake City.

Please stop by the School of English, Library, and Language Arts (ELLA) offices in 301 if you need any assistance.