Talk to me about: Ignatian Pedagogy; Research methods for Social Justice; equity and higher education; and this conference!

After graduating from the University of Notre Dame, I began my career within education as a school teacher at an independent school, the Cornelia Connelly Center (CCC), which serves low-income girls of the Lower East Side, New York City. I received my Ph.D. in Comparative and International Education from Columbia University (2012) and master’s in International Educational Development and Peace Education from Teachers College (2008). My research and teaching are in the fields of peace education and conflict transformation, and my principal interest lies in the transformative potential of educational initiatives in post/conflict societies and for girls living in urban poverty. 

With eight years of expanding management responsibilities as Executive Director of the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching & Service at Georgetown University, I have earned a reputation for my commitment to inclusive leadership, racial equity, and nourishing relationships. I have developed strengths for team creation and building, compelling supervision, and professionally developing peers and subordinates who thrive with resilience and creative problem-solving. As a White cisgendered woman with advanced schooling, I enact my privilege towards a vocation of service. I use my first-hand experience as a hard-of-hearing person to thread disability justice through all aspects of a professional environment, including programming, events, and training. My tenure as a faculty member responsible in part for Georgetown University’s community engagement portfolio translates into a profound comfort working alongside a broad spectrum of people - from renowned scientists to youth in the justice system, from teachers at under-resourced schools to generous donors.

My secondary position as an Associate Teaching Professor of Justice and Peace Studies centers on my commitment to fair trade learning in global service learning including the pedagogy of immersion. I have also been committed (pre-pandemic) to exploring innovative ways to support learning from experience through online reflection and community-building.

I have been a proud resident of Washington, DC since 2008, and live with my husband neuroscientist Bill Rebeck and child Jackson on Capitol Hill. Similar to the leaders of our new presidential administration, I believe strongly that institutions can be changed and be a vehicle for social change.