My path to higher education was not a traditional one. I am the youngest of seven children from a working-class family. My father, who prized an education, had his own education cut short at 17 when he shipped out on a destroyer headed to the South Pacific in WWII. Upon returning from the war and starting a family, my dad’s dream was to have one of his children go to college. One by one, he watched them take jobs in the paper mill where he worked or get married to someone who worked in the mill. He thought his dream was over when his youngest child (me) got pregnant when unmarried at 17 and went to work in a mobile home factory to support my young son. After a couple of years, I quit and went to a community college, hoping for a better life for my family. During my first year of college, I tutored a middle school student to make some extra money and it was then that I decided to become a math teacher.
Becoming a math teacher
I graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in mathematics from East Carolina University. My graduation was one of the only times my dad got on a plane. He wanted to be there to see one of his children graduate. After getting my bachelor's degree, I went back and got my master's degree in mathematics and then became a successful high school math teacher for over a decade. I loved (and still do love) being a teacher. But even with my success, I knew there were inequities in the K-12 educational system that I couldn’t overcome.
So, I went back to school to get a doctoral degree with the intention of understanding more about how students learn mathematics. I wanted all students to be able to reach their potential and get through the math “gate”, a gate that disproportionally locks out women and underrepresented minorities. I commuted, two hours each way, from my home to North Carolina State University to get a doctoral degree in mathematics education with a minor in statistics. My research was in mathematics and statistics education. My goal was to make a difference in the lives of professional educators and their students.
After graduation, I took a position at my alma mater, East Carolina, as the assistant director of the Center for Science, Mathematics and Technology Education where I worked with K-12 classroom teachers in rural eastern North Carolina. Although I loved working with classroom teachers, eventually I took a tenure track position because I missed teaching my own students. Having been educated at East Carolina and living in the community for over two decades, it was a comfortable place to work and I thrived there.
Possibilites at UW Bothell
In 2007, because of some major life changes, I applied for jobs and accepted a position at UW Bothell. I chose Bothell over seven other job offers at much larger, more prestigious schools because of the possibilities I saw at this university. At Bothell there was the potential to do innovative, interdisciplinary, community-based research and outreach.
Bothell also offered the privilege of working in a place which had a very flat structure, where faculty, staff and administration worked together for the common good of educating students and advancing knowledge without the hierarchical issues that pervade much of higher education. For many of my first years at Bothell, I didn’t even know who was faculty and who was staff, nor did I know what rank or title people had. We were all just in it together, taking educational risks to provide access for all people to a premier institution of higher education.
This ethos of Bothell is part of my identity, I wouldn’t want to teach anywhere else. I get to work with administrators who don’t just hold to the status quo but dare to find better ways to do things. I get to work with amazing, creative, interdisciplinary faculty who will trek over to the other side of Washington with me to work with classroom teachers in the most economically challenged schools in the state. I get to work side-by-side with the best staff who always have great ideas. And most importantly, I get to teach and work with brilliant, compassionate, and thoughtful students every day.
Encouraged to run for a leadership position
It is because of all the people at Bothell that I decided to run for a leadership position in the tri-campus faculty senate. Two years ago, I was nominated for a three-year term in the Faculty Senate. In year one I was the vice-chair, year two the chair, and then in the final year I will be the chair of the senate committee on planning and budget.
There has never been a faculty at Bothell in this position. It is the highest elected position a faculty can obtain. At first, I was going to say no because I had my research, my students, and I was comfortable in my leadership role on the Bothell campus as the Director of the Teaching and Learning Center. And then someone convinced me that I should at least run for the office and give Bothell a good showing, even if the chances of winning were almost none.
I ran on a platform of transparency and authenticity. I was clear on what I believed were the challenges facing higher education and what I thought could be done about them. I was also honest about being a first-generation college student and the only one in my family to graduate from college. I ran on a platform that would make the people of UW Bothell proud of me as a candidate. I showed them my intelligence, heart, and vision.
Much to my shock and surprise, they voted for me. Yes, me, the teenage unwed mother from a working-class family who put herself through college and graduate school. I have no academic pedigree yet, I was now a leader of one of the best public universities in the world. I sailed along for about half of the first year as vice-chair when the pandemic hit and now here I am, the chair of the faculty senate during one of the most challenging times in our history.
Being the voice of faculty
Sometimes, the job can be overwhelming. There is so much information coming at you constantly and you have to synthesize it all. Simultaneously, you worry about every word you say in a meeting which can become a sound bite in the media.
In my role, I am the voice of the faculty for the tri-campus University of Washington. I have regular meetings with the president, provost, and the upper administration of the university. I go to countless meetings on a weekly basis. Through it all, I try to keep everything in perspective and stay centered. I think about my people here at Bothell, people that have my back and among who I can be my authentic self. When I am at my most disheartened, I think about the faculty, staff, and students in the whole tri-campus system that I am here to serve. That focus helps me both power through the challenges and get better at the job every day.
