Having a personal website has always been something I’ve considered, but rarely thought would be possible to put into practice.
I have identities spread across many different places. My academic home is at The University of Texas at Austin, yet I have collaborations across many different academic settings. I am the Director of the National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes, and I’m also actively involved with a broad range of national and international organizations. The purpose of this website is to give those activities and relationships a central hub — a place where the range of what I do is in one place.
Although my CV has often been noted as “eclectic” — which in academic-speak means “unfocused” and “possibly not tenurable” — each of these activities has been part of an amazing fulfilling and rich set of experiences that I would not trade for the world. From accessible assessments to drama-based instruction to systems change initiatives, each of these pursuits has contributed to this larger emphasis on creating opportunities for people to thrive.
After nearly 25 years in the field, it’s helpful to look back and see the accumulation of experiences, people, problems, and paths navigated. There are many stories there, some episodic, some longer narratives. Each of these contributes to the overall themes of meaningful access, equity, and engagement.
Trained as a researcher, I also seek to be a teacher and communicator. Trained as a psychologist and working intensely in people-facing settings, I seek to support decision making that aligns to values, objectives, and mission. I’ve noticed that there are few places where these two elements have a balanced, yin and yang presence. But it is critical in this dialog!
Weak research or biased information that spreads misinformation perpetuates negative and destructive assumptions that does harm to children, families, and schools. Strong research that is not communicated well is a wasted effort, a teaching and learning moment lost and opportunities for growth thwarted. Somewhere in there is the nexus of high standards for both, standards that are inclusive, expansive, and empowering at the same time.
Which brings us to this blog. Like most academics, the majority of my writing has been geared towards peer-reviewed print outlets, either journal articles or books and book chapters. While I still engage in traditional academic writing — especially in collaboration with my students and colleagues — what has been emerging is a desire to engage in a more reflective, connected message than is available in traditional academia. It feels like a mid-life career shift cliche, but there’s a lot of truth underlying that shift to and emphasis on translation, communication, and finding those nuggets of relevance and connection to what we are evolving to be.
Participation in the OpEdProject was a major milestone for me in this journey. I was fortunate enough to be invited to the 2019 cohort at the University of Texas at Austin, a small but feisty group of writers, mostly women from diverse backgrounds. Ye who writes, writes history. This is particularly true with the spread of mass media and search engine optimizations. The personal and social implications of the written word, or in the proclaimed word, or in the shared narrative, can be life changing and life giving. Many thanks to my OpEd cohort for struggling through that year of what Brene Brown calls “shitty first drafts” (or, as Anne Lamott says, SFD).
I look forward to sharing thoughts here that are reflections and places of inquiry along the journey. And there may even be a few SFDs. Thanks for reading!
