​I am native of Kentucky and attended the University of Louisville, where I earned both my Bachelors degree in psychology, and my Masters of Education with a concentration in counseling psychology.  Throughout my undergraduate career, I was a researcher who studied the influence of racial socialization messages on attention skills of early head start preschool students.  During my Masters degree, I completed several internships including working at an outpatient clinic, a counseling office, and a psychiatric hospital.

Five years prior to starting my doctoral classes, I worked as an admissions program coordinator at my alma mater and helped to start and run several campus programs, two of them include the African American Male Initiative and the AVIATOR program (Admission Volunteers In Action TO Recruit).  My experiences gave me great exposure to the issues of persistence and access for all students, and especially students of color.  In 2013, I came to Michigan State University to research motivation and social factors that influence the academic performance of students from underrepresented backgrounds at public college/institutions.

Strengths Quest finder: Top 5 Strengths
1.Context – 2.Achiever – 3.Strategic – 4.Individualization – 5.Learner

I am currently a doctoral student in the college of education at Michigan State University. I study in the Educational Psychology & Educational Technology (EPET) program in the Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education (CEPSE) department. My advisor is Dr. Cary Roseth