My educational background includes bachelor's degrees in both journalism and in studio art (painting) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I studied studio art for one semester at the University in Wuppertal, Germany, as an undergraduate student. I did post-baccalaureate work in printmaking and art history at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

I earned a master's degree in art history from the University of Georgia in Athens, GA. I also worked as a graduate assistant for one summer in the UGA Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy.

I have completed all but my dissertation toward a doctorate degree in art criticism from UGA and have been teaching art history and understanding art at St. Petersburg College since May 1998. Outside the classroom, my interests include reading, swimming, working out at the Y, camping with my family, and going on trips to see as many of the works of art that I teach about that I can!