Blog

My Word of 2017

Happy New Year all!

At UMD I ran into an old friend who reminded me of my previous blog posts where I would encapsulate my hopes for the coming year in one word. I was able to consistently do this practice in 2010 (Achievement), 2011 (Renewal), and 2012 (Destiny). I suppose after that I fulfilled my destiny of spreading myself too thin in my first years as an assistant professor (if you’re confused you can read more about what I mean here) because I haven’t done that practice since.

Read More

My 30th Birthday Gifts To You

It is now 12:30 a.m. on March 16th.

30 years ago I was born at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philly.

Today is my birthday.

I’ve decided to do something a little different today. After watching the movie Happy (which was recommended to me by one of my students, thanks John!), I realized that it is in the act of giving that we derive much happiness. So, in the spirit of today, I decided to do some giving of my own on a more interesting scale:

Read More

Ballroom at Maryland: The community that kept me sane (and got me a husband!)

As we’ve discussed as part of #CuriousCoLab, community takes a variety of different forms. I’ve been very fortunate to consider myself a member of many different communities, including my academic homes of VCU (as faculty), UMD (as grad student), and TCNJ (as undergrad student). However, something I’ve discovered over the years is that non-academic/non-work-related communities are just as important, and can sometimes teach you more about life than you could have possibly imagined, or even find in the more traditional classroom setting.

Read More