Michelle with her husband and two sons."
Michelle with her miniature weiner dog, Dwight."

who am I?

  • I am a community college educator -- and a teacher at heart.
  • I am a mom, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, fur mama, and friend.
  • I want all the weiner dogs.
  • I love pilates, long walks, chocolate, and red wine.
  • I am a survivor of open heart surgery and a stroke.
  • I am a first-generation equity practitioner, striving to become racially literate.
  • I believe equity gaps in higher education are the result of systemic barriers that will only be improved when more educators take a seat at the equity table.
  • I am the daughter of two first-generation Americans, both born to White European immigrants.
  • I believe online courses are key to expanding access to higher education for those who do not have the privilege to be on-campus full-time.
  • I work each day to be cognizant of the privileges granted to me and the unconscious biases I possess.
  • I believe that community colleges are vital to improving the social mobility of Americans, particularly those from minoritized populations.
  • I believe teaching matters.
  • I believe each student brings knowledge and experiences into a class and it is up to educators to design environments that recognize and value this diversity.
  • I believe that instructor-student relationships are the connective tissue between students and academic success and establishing them in asynchronous online courses is even more important.
  • I believe that college professors must be aware of and support the affective aspects of learning.