After graduating cum laude from Duke University with a B.A. in Public Policy Studies in 1994, I earned a law degree and a masters degree in curriculum and instruction from Boston College Law School and the Boston College Graduate School of Education in 1997. Then, in May of 2003. I earned a Ph.D. in the Politics of Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Prior to beginning my professorial career, I served as Research Director at Interactive, Inc., an educational research and consulting company. In my capacity at Interactive, Inc., I directed and was involved in a number of research projects focused mostly on the achievement and equity effects of educational technology. Framed largely as mixed-methods evaluation research, these studies ranged from small-scale studies of school-based programs to federally funded statewide evaluations. As a principal investigator in a federally-funded study, I pioneered the use of novel data collection techniques including the use of desktop monitoring software to gauge file activity on classroom-based computers.
From September 2002 to August 2007, I was an assistant professor in the Department of Foundations, Leadership and Policy Studies in the School of Education and Allied Human Services at Hofstra University. Then, in September 2007, I became an assistant professor in the Educational Leadership Department at Virginia Commonwealth University.
In July 2013, I was named the Director of Learning Innovation and Online Academic Programs at VCU. In that role, I helped build and oversaw the Academic Learning Transformation Lab (ALT Lab). I served in that role until August 2017.
Currently, I am an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at VCU. I teach courses in school law, the politics of education, and data visualization. My research is focused on distance education policy in higher education.