I began working with SSS at UAF beginning in the fall semester of 2010 as a peer tutor. I joined the SSS team as a full time staff member in October, 2011.

My undergraduate degree is in English education and I taught middle and high school for four years in Colorado and Montana. I recently completed my master's degree at UAF in professional communication. My master's thesis focused on first generation college students utilizing SSS at UAF.

I LOVE living in Alaska and working at UAF! The best part of my job is providing our students with high quality tutoring so they can be successful in difficult classes. In the two years since I moved to Alaska, I have enjoyed getting to know the Fairbanks community and taking my picture in front of the UAF sign at 50 below!

I am proud to have been born and raised right here in Fairbanks, Alaska. I graduated from UAF with a B.S. in Geography in the spring of 2012. My first experience with Student Support Services was as a student tutor. I had a great experience, so after a summer of fieldwork I am back at SSS this winter to provide advising for the awesome students that are enrolled in this program.

When I’m not working at SSS, you will most likely find me at the hockey rink or on the soccer pitch where I’ll be coaching youth teams or playing. I love to run, ski, and bike all over Alaska and explore the natural wonders this great state has to offer.

See you on the fifth floor!

I’m from the Appalachian mountains of southeastern Ohio and northwestern West Virginia, so I find the low mountains around Fairbanks and the local emphasis on string band music rather familiar and comfortable.   My educational background is in several different areas of English studies.   I completed a B.A. in English with a fiction writing emphasis at Marshall University and an M.F.A. in creative writing with an emphasis on poetry at West Virginia University.   I am currently writing my dissertation in order to complete a Ph.D. in composition and rhetoric from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.    

While I have lots of experience teaching college-level composition, I was hired as an SSS comprehensive advisor fairly recently (in November 2011). I really enjoy the fact that, as an advisor, I get to work with college students throughout their university experiences.    I find that Student Support Services is a great match for me since I was a first generation college student and would have qualified for the program when I was in college.

Folks who spend any time with me soon learn that I am an avid knitter, which gives me plenty to do during the long winter months.   I also love animals, especially cats, and I managed a feral cat colony and participated in a Trap/SpayorNeuter/Release program in Nebraska.

I have been a student in the TRiO programs since middle school. I joined Educational Talent Search early on, and got involved with Upward Bound Math/Science the summer before my Senior year. I spent the summer of 2005 on the UAF campus attending classes that would prepare me for college. I graduated from Pe Ell High School in 2006 and left my small town in southwest Washington to attend the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

I am so excited to be a part of the SSS team! It means so much to me to be able to give back to the program that got me to where I am today.

I began working for SSS in April of 2012 and graduated from UAF with my BA in English in the spring of 2012.  Currently I am considering pursuing my master's degree in Business Administration.

Working for UAF SSS has been a wonderful experience. My favorite part of my job is facilitating communication between students, staff and tutors within the department so that students can effectively use our program in order to be successful in their education.

I grew up in Alaska and love it here!  In the summers I enjoy fishing trips and in the winters I love getting to see the northern lights!