Hometown: Benson, Minnesota. My parents grew up on farms in northwestern Minnesota. I have a cabin on Tulaby Lake close to Itasca State Park.

When did you become a member of UMRA? I believe I joined not long after I retired in 2016.

What was your very first job? My first paid job was as the organist, and de facto choir director, for our church. I held the position through high school. It gave me confidence to perform in front of people. As an undergrad at the U, I worked in food service and, in the summer, as a lifeguard at the Benson Swimming Pool.

What was your occupation when you retired from FT work? I was an associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development.

You were honored with the Morse-Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award in 2001–02. What inspired you to pursue a career in higher education and teaching? I started college in CLA honors. My advisor, Roger Page, encouraged me to aim for graduate school. I had no idea what that was! When I was a junior, he found a young PhD counseling psychologist, Stanley Strong, to be my advisor. He later became my graduate school advisor. I worked for him in a Student Affairs think tank called Student Life Studies and as a pre-health science advisor. In 1976, a friend who worked for General College arranged for me to teach an applied psychology course to fill in for a faculty member on leave. The faculty member died, and I became his replacement. I loved the intellectual challenges of teaching and research. General College was a great match with my PhD training. I became committed to developing courses and curriculum that are challenging yet support student success. My GC colleagues and I called this universal instructional design. Also, the politics of higher education were very salient in GC, which sparked my interest in educational policy.

If you could learn a new skill or sport, what would you like it to be? As a kid I loved gymnastics, but there were no opportunities to pursue it. In my 20s, I liked downhill skiing. I wish I could still do it!

Do you have a favorite place on campus? My favorite place was my office in Appleby Hall. It faced the river, so I could watch the eagles that tend to fly there.

What is a fun fact about you that we may not know? I like to grow flowers. In the 1980s, my husband and I grew roses and belonged to the North Star Rose Society. Leon Snyder (first director of the Landscape Arboretum) was a member, and we toured his private rose garden. I had to switch to other plants when Japanese beetles arrived in Minnesota.