Office Hours:
Most hours available via zoom with an appointment.
Education
- BA, University Of St Thomas
- PHD, University Of Minnesota Twin Cities
Education: majored in biology and chemistry at St. Thomas. Received Ph.D in pharmacology with a minor in neuroscience from the University of Minnesota. My thesis studied the mechanism of chronic pain signaling.
I have been joyfully teaching at NHCC since 2003 in the biology department. Main courses that teach are the two Anatomy & Physiology (Biol 2111 and 2112).
My courses are taught with the flipped-classroom approach. This has students watch the lecture material and fill-out guided notes before class. Then class time is used to practice and engage in the material. Time to get more personal attention and time for students to test their knowledge and understanding.
My goal is three-fold: 1) help students learn the biology material, 2) help students learn how to learn (this is a key step to success), and 3) help get students ready for advanced clinical education. To help you learn, my classes use a variety of teaching approaches. I am eager to talk to students about any concerns, questions, ideas you may have, and I love when students come to my office. I am responsive to feedback on approaches you want different or in addition to what is already provided.
Besides being a biology professor, I am a wife and mom to a wonderful boy, Ben that brings the world so much joy. When have free time, love outside biking and camping, and also like to cook. As a family, we like to go camping and are working on visiting all 66 MN state parks. My favorite TV show is Parks and Rec. My 3 favorite foods or drinks are margaritas, hot and spicy ginger chicken from Trieu Chau, and ice-cream. Fun fact about me is during the pandemic, I picked-up doing balloon art – made everything from simple butterfly, giraffe to complex balloons such as Hulk, spiders, Nemo, Freddy from FNAF video game.