“If you know you are on the right track, if you have this inner knowledge, then nobody can turn you off... no matter what they say.”
- Barbara McClintock
My research is dotted with the homing points of leadership, voice empowerment, and sport. I have taken a female-focused, global perspective in my research to better understand the ways of the world.
Here are some of my favorite research projects that I base my talks, trainings, and workshops.
Chelmsford High School, Massachusetts
Collaborating with my high school coaches and teammates, we formed a committee to discover the impact sport has had on fellow alumna and coaches. We piloted and collected a mixed-methods survey whose results will be released in 2022, which just happens to be the 50th anniversary of the passing of Title IX legislation.
Girls Gotta Run Foundation, Soddo and Bekoji, Ethiopia
I have always felt that my voice is empowered because of sport, but I wondered if other females felt the same. In 2019 I traveled to Soddo and Bekoji, Ethiopia to find out whether members of the Girls Gotta Run Foundation perceived greater voice empowerment as a result of their participation in sport. I collected mixed methods data including interviews, questionnaires, and observations via attending school, sports practice, lunches, and Life Skills programming. And yes, those girls also felt they used their voices amongst their friends and family because of their participation in sport and identification as athletes!
Civic Education, Galway and Limerick, Ireland
I used to tell my high school students that if they approached me 10 years after I taught them and told me that they hated me or my class, but that they voted in elections, then I would be happy that I did my job. To be honest, I probably would not be all that happy, but I really wanted to emphasize the importance of participating in the political process. In a quest to understand how other nations that have federal civic education mandates operate, I traveled to the place of my great-grandparents in 2016. There I met with national scholars who spoke on the pros and cons of their curriculum.
Fulbright Roving Scholars Program
When I first heard about this program I thought, I am a state school kid, this is not for me. But my husband told me that I was going to apply, I was going to get it, and that I was going to go. And so I did. As a Roving Scholar, I traveled to ungdomsskoles in all regions of Norway in 2013-14, sharing knowledge of U.S. culture. Among the many opportunities I had that year, I led teacher workshops for Norwegian educators at the secondary and university levels, and presented at several international conferences and for the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. This yearly program is sponsored by the U.S. State Department and the Norwegian National Centre for English and other Foreign Languages in Education.
International Training & Development American Youth Leadership Program in Norway
I am one of those crazy teachers who has taken groups of high school students on trips abroad. While you want to foster cultural curiosity and an appreciation of history, sometimes your main objective is to tire out those boundless teenagers! Students on this tour researched ways that environmentally-conscious Scandinavians are trying to save the planet. My inspired students came home and initiated their new climate-conscious knowledge into their local community. This program was funded by the Youth Programs Division, the Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs, the U.S. Department of State, and by the U.S. Embassy in Oslo.
National Consortium for Teaching about Asia China Study Tour “China’s Cultural Identity and Diversity”
I joined secondary teachers from the Northeast where we collected qualitative data on minority groups living in six Chinese communities. I thought learning about the beginnings of such long-standing cultures would serve as a model for how newer, western cultures evolved. I formed lifelong bonds with teachers, as we got to see China just weeks before it hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics. This tour was funded by the Freeman Foundation and the Five College Center for East Asian Studies.