I am a Ph.D. candidate in sociology and my dissertation is on Identity Formation Around Old Time and Traditional Bluegrass Music. Sociology, in general, studies groups and group behaviors, and my research has always focused on popular culture, as well as the influence of gender, sexuality, race and class. I have taught several upper division courses at the University of Colorado at Boulder, including two on Music and Indentity, to which many local musicians (including Uncle Earl, Vince Herman, Pete Wernick, and Hit & Run Bluegrass) visited as guest speakers. In addition, I do freelance writing, publicity and some booking.

I have worked part time for the last nine years for the president of the University of Colorado at Boulder. I have outlasted three presidents thus far. I am in "constituent relations," and in this work I have had to adapt my writing style to fit each president, as well as understand how to respond to vastly different local, state and national constituent groups.

My Master's work was in Communications Research, also at CU-Boulder where I was a teaching assistant for newsgathering for television and for public relations. My undergraduate degree is from Fort Lewis College in Durango where I majored in English/Communications with an emphasis in television production and reporting. I was co-host of the college television program View from the Hill that aired on the local NBC/CBS split-affiliate station. My minors were in Sociology and in Southwest Studies (a department peculiar to that college that focuses on the intersections of culture and race among Native American, Latino and Anglo communities).