Background (where you live, where you are from, history, education, etc.)
Currently, I live in Towson, MD. I grew up in St. Marys, PA, a very small town in Northwest/Central PA. There’s not much there except deer, elk, and the occasional bear and mountain lion—but I loved it.

I have a B.A. in Psychology from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and my M.Ed. from James Madison University in College Student Personnel Administration.

How did you get involved in financial aid?
While at JMU, I did an assistantship in Financial Aid and really enjoyed it. Apparently, once you get started in this field, you can never leave it!

After graduate school, I took a Financial Aid Counselor job at Goucher College. Later I became the Director at The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law where I stayed for about 5 years. I now work for American Student Assistance (ASA), which is a Guarantee Agency.

What is your current role/duties?
I support the Business Development Team by providing consulting services at no charge for prospective and existing customers. My areas of specialty include debt management/default prevention, retention, business process analysis and redesign. I also present sessions at conferences whenever possible.

What is your favorite aspect of financial aid?
When I was in the Financial Aid Office, I always looked at the whole process as a puzzle which always intrigued me. While my master’s degree is technically in counseling, that was not really the part that I liked the most. I loved running the numbers—figuring out where we were, what had been done, what needed to still be done, and what was the most efficient way to get it done. I loved ‘playing with the system’ to see if there were more automated ways to accomplish tasks in order to get the most money in on time so that the most number or students would be ‘happy’ (meaning they weren’t in my office!).

In my current position, I love working the Financial Aid community—trying to give them the information and tools that will make their offices run as efficiently as possible.

What are your interests and hobbies?
I love to do almost any kind of crafts especially if it has to do with yarn or thread. I love to knit and crochet, cross-stitch and needlepoint. Besides that, I read a lot and, lately, I’ve also been writing children’s stories.

What do you hope to be doing ten years from now?
I would like to have a series of children’s books published and be at the point where I am able to support myself financially with my writing.