Education
B.S., Indiana University
Ph.D., University of Colorado
Biography
A member of Haverford’s faculty since 1986, I received my Ph.D. from the University of Colorado in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology and did post-doctoral research in tropical parasitology in Boston. I began my career at Haverford in the Biology Department, teaching microscopy, developmental biology, and running a funded research lab working with students on the collagen structure and funxtion in the model system, Caenorhabditis elegans. I transitioned to General Programs (now Independent College Programs) in 1993 to examine issues from a more interdisciplinary perspective. For the remainder of my time at Haverford, I taught courses that explored various facets of social justice, including how they are embodied in the health of communities and how they are informed by Quaker faith and practice. My courses have been cross-listed in Gender and Sexuality Studies (and formerly in Feminism and Gender Studies); in Peace, Justice and Human Rights; and in the Writing Program. I was the founding director of Haverford's new interdisciplinary minor in Health Studies and served as faculty director of Haverford's Quaker Affairs Office. From 2003-2006, I was privileged to serve as the Director of the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship, and in 2002, I founded Haverford House, CPGC’s post-baccalaureate community-action program in Philadelphia. I continued to work with CPGC to embed work with community organizations into our curriculum by teaching a course for returning CPGC summer interns and helping expand the opportunities for students to do community engaged learning. I am a convinced Friend, a member of Radnor Monthly Meeting, and a member of the Corporation of Haverford College. Since moving to Colorado in 2017, I now attend Mountain View Friends Meeting in Denver and have continued my service on the Indigenous Peoples Concerns Committee at Boulder Friends Meeting. In addition, I am a former board member of ProNica, a Quaker organization that worked in solidarity with community groups in Nicaragua and led delegations for North Americans to learn about the country, its history, its land, and its peoples.
Currently, I am facilitating small group discussions with medical students through the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at Colorado University's Anschutz Medical School; completing my training with the Alternatives to Violence Program to facilitate workshops at the Denver Women's Correctional Facility; co-convening the Indigenous Peoples Concerns Committee at Boulder Friends Meeting; supporting local organizations that promote social justice.