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After bouncing through North Carolina and Japan (Marine Corps JAG attorney father) I grew up in the DC Metro area, did undergrad at CSU, and was fortunate to linger in New England for nearly 20 years as both a lifeguard in the summers and then a year-round resident after college, where my love of seafood, surfing, and oceans took root. I’ve worked for NSF, WHOI, BU, MIT and now CU Boulder and feel very fortunate to have done so. I am thankful for my southern transplant husband and our native Coloradan 4-year-old son, as well as our two ridiculous but wonderful dogs. My years at CU Boulder have flown by, and I can only attribute that to how wonderful it’s been!

What have been some meaningful ways in which you have felt welcomed to the college?

I was offered the job in December 2017, with a start date for March 1, 2018. My birthday fell in-between. In that time between, I received a birthday message along with a photograph from my future boss (the wonderful Ken Anderson, then associate dean for education) of my nameplate on the door telling me how excited they were for me to get started. I thought that was such a lovely gesture.

What is an ordinary moment in your life that brings you joy?

Every morning after I walk our dogs, I sit in front of our fire with them. Even just five minutes is a great way to start the day. Dogs deserve all the good things, so I like to lean into that.

What is a motto or quote that you hold dear and why?

Toss up between:

• “If two people agree on everything, then one of them is unnecessary” (which reminds me that counterpoints of view are invaluable to making sure the best idea moves things forward, and that compromise is essential in everything)
• “Maybe everyone is just doing the best that they can” (I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and assume good intentions. I think often ego can get tied to work, and ‘there be dragons’ that way. And sometimes folks just have a bad day, or they’re coming from a defensive place because their history has baked that into them – I think there’s always a path forward and that everyone just wants to be heard and respected)

What do you most like to do to unwind?

Swimming laps. Swimming requires you to focus on breathing, and nobody can talk to you then, and you can’t hear anything beyond your own breathing. I never had the patience for meditation (probably means I need it, ha!) but swimming is a meditative practice for me, probably for the same reasons. Also, I can do it until I’m 90.

What’s something most people don’t know about you? 

I completed surf rescue school at the National Seashore in Cape Cod in another life.

One thing you’re willing to spend way too much on . . .

Travel. I don’t care about jewelry or technology/electronics whatsoever. If I didn’t have a husband in IT I’d probably still have a flip phone and a tube TV, but I love a great new experience for the memory bank.

What is your guilty pleasure?

True crime podcasts on the commute, ones where they aren’t casual with the seriousness of the crime (don’t like when they make jokes about tragedy) and there’s a resolution to the case. Hate the violence, but I like the interviews with tough old cops and DAs where hard work, collaboration, and dogged determination, and often scientific evidence equals an arrest. I think it appeals to me from a scientific and organizational perspective, and given my Dad was an attorney I think there must be something genetic to my finding interest in police procedural type stories.