If you love something, learn as much as you can about it and teach it to everyone.

I am currently a Professor of Ethnic Studies at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California. I’m originally from White Center, Washington, and earned both my Bachelors and Masters of Education at the University of Washington, Seattle. I have also earned a Masters of Arts and am a doctoral candidate in the Higher Education and Organizational Change Program at UCLA’s School of Education and Information Studies.

I have spent most of my adult life working on college campuses as a lecturer, academic advisor, residential life staff, and student affairs assessment. Needless to say, I have been around schools for a while.

As scholar/practitioner, I center my professional and academic work around students and locating the ways in which we can improve their lives inside and outside of the classroom. I am a product of impactful and compassionate educators and mentors who taught me the power of rigorous research with the goal of implementing transformative change. As a scholar trained in both Ethnic Studies and Education, I work to decode and critique the structures of institutional power and inequality.