I grew up on a small farm in Connecticut, I loved the old Yankee tradition in my family, the painful stubbornness and resolve to make do with what we had. That aspect of my family has probably influenced me the most in my day to day life. It has made me stubborn, inventive, creative and very resourceful. I tend to attack a problem the same way my father attacks a broken bailer, eliminating different avenues while keeping my eyes and ears open for indications of the root of the problem tweaking and playing in order to try out possible solutions.

As you can see from the picture on the right, I had a cow who lived on my parents Farm. Her name was Beaner and she just recently passed away after 16 years of life. She thought she was human! She knew my vehicle when I drove in the driveway and would come in from the field. Once, when she got out, instead of heading for greener pasture, she walked to the house and was relaxing on the back steps when my parents woke up the next morning!

I moved to Maine in January four years ago and bought an old farmhouse built in 1820. I love the character of the structure and all the legacy gardens that are all over the property. The highlight of the growing season for me is a peach tree (only 5 years old) that has produced over 3 bushels of the most delicious, juicy peaches ever!

Throughout my life, I have done various kinds of work, from window displays in a clothing store and designing store layouts; to spending spring and summers at an organic orchard picking, sorting and packing apples, peaches, pears and various vegetables, and also learning to make homemade apple and pear cider.

I worked with Dr. Vivian Shipley on a Literary Journal called the Connecticut Review for 5 years, and read thousands of manuscripts of poetry. I also write poetry and have published in various literary journals. I worked at Quinnipiac University Library with Terry Ballard who has written a wonderful article: "Zen and the Art of Troubleshooting" as well as some other articles you can find online.

I taught at Southern Connecticut State University for six years and now am enjoying the ins and outs of working at a smaller university here in Maine! UMA is a GREAT place to work. The faculty and staff make the day to day tasks enjoyable and many times even fun! I have been teaching online for more than 8 years now and find it to be fully rewarding and rich experience. It can be rigorous and time-consuming, but the mix of students in the classes from all over the United States and around the world brings varying levels and perspectives into the discussions.

I just finished my my Ph.D. in Information Science at Drexel University. While my research interests vary, I am most interested in Computer-Human Interaction and design issues in Information Systems, especially information retrieval!