Biography

I was born in Central NY and lived within 2 hours of my birthplace until I graduated from high school. I have been a musician since the moment I was allowed to take music in school. I’ve marched in competitive drum and bugle corps, college marching band (University of Houston. Go Coogs!), and community LGBT marching and concert bands. I play percussion, saxophone, and baritone, and have been the drum major for a few groups. I’ve marched in Pride Parades, the Cotton Bowl Parade, and with the first ever LGBT mass band to be invited to march in the presidential inaugural parade (Obama’s 2^nd inauguration). In the more-than-you-asked department, I’ve also appeared in a music video. I’ve lived in NY, NJ, PA, TX, France (Paris), and Japan (Tokyo). This planet is amazing and I’m a strong proponent of world travel.

My undergraduate degree is a BS in Anthropology. Even though I have spent many a minute explaining how that was a good idea, I’ll never regret a minute of it. See above regarding my opinion of the world.  Learning about other people and cultures forces us to look inward and learn more about ourselves and we are all works in progress.

As an undergrad at U of H, I was in the Couger Marching Band; baritone one year, and color guard another year. At that time, U of H had a live mascot (Shasta – a cougar). I spent a semester with the Cougar Guard, taking care of Shasta.

My biggest challenge was focusing on the tasks at hand while experiencing total freedom for the first time. My start was not great, and after a few semesters and a 12.5 year spring break, I returned to finish what I started. I like to share that when students get discouraged. You can come up out of an academic low spot.

Why did you become an academic advisor?

I decided to become an Academic Advisor because I’ve spent many years on the administrative side of higher education and was looking to have a direct connection to the students we serve. I’ve always considered students the number one priority while making and enforcing policies, being able to share time and energy with students has proven to be fulfilling.