Education transformed my life, leading me from a childhood in rural Maryland, to an industry career in Baltimore City, to a new profession as a university professor and administrator, and most recently to being a college dean in China. It is not the path that I expected my life to take. After high school, I had no great career plans but was convinced that education would lead me to opportunities. My father completed a two-year technical photography degree at Rochester Institute of Technology and I saw how that education had served him well as an entrepreneur and professional photographer. While photography was not my career interest, I knew that education would provide the knowledge I needed to find purpose.

My early college education led to a part-time job in retail sales, which led to a full-time job, which later became a career in supply chain management. At the completion of my MBA degree, I had the opportunity to teach at a local college while I built my supply chain career. My passion for teaching soon overtook my industry career and the dean I worked for encouraged me to pursue a doctoral degree which would allow me to work full time at a university.

In 2007, I completed my doctorate in supply chain management at the University of Maryland and embarked on a full-time university career, both as a researcher and educator. My new career brought global opportunities to teach in Poland, Panama, and Cuba. Engaging directly with students outside of the United States ignited my passion for leveraging educational opportunities to bring people together as responsible, global community members. 

It is a great honor to serve as the Interim Dean of Wenzhou-Kean University’s College of Business and Public Management. I have worked with the Wenzhou-Kean faculty, students, and staff for several years in my role as Associate Dean at Kean University in the United States and now have expanded my Kean University role to include supporting this college as their Dean.