Full Vita

Work Experience

My professional experience includes social work and education in inner-city communities and college and university teaching and research. Although I grew up on a farm in rural Minnesota, most of my work experiences have been with diverse populations including people in prison, gang members, street kids, people from diverse cultures, and low-income populations. I have been at Utah State University for four years and am most interested in providing academic research and knowledge to the population throughout the state of Utah.

Courses taught include: adult education; balancing work and family; HIV/AIDS education; adolescent development; child development; marriage and family; human sexuality; family resource management; cultural diversity; and family life education.

Research Interests and Publications

I am a qualitative researcher who tends to focus on the strengths of individuals and families and my past research interests and publication areas include transcending traumatic childhoods; family crises resulting from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome; grief and loss; diversity; and values in family education.

Current and future research and publication interests include understanding components of strong marriages and families in diverse communities including Latino and Navajo cultures; and surviving and transcending traumatic childhoods.  I am also working on a qualitative, nation-wide study about what makes strong marriages, with couples who have strong marriages telling us what it takes to make a marriage work.

My professional life has been a blend of working in social service organizations and as a professor in academic settings.  It is very important to me that whatever I do in an academic setting must be readily available for public use.  I am part of a multi-cultural family and also am committed to understanding marriage and family strengths within a cultural context.