I'm a Massachusetts native, who attending Union College for undergrad and Ohio State University for graduate school. I was accepted into OSU's PhD program, but left after one year with my MA to work on a presidential campaign in 2004. Although my intention was to return to complete my PhD, after working on the campaign, I continued to work in the political world. After working in the public (as a legislative aid on Capital Hill) and private sector (as a director of government affairs for a non-profit Alzheimer's organization), I decided to follow my passion for teaching. I got my MA in Teaching and Instruction at Stony Brook University, while teaching as an adjunct instructor in the political science department at Stony Brook. I fell in love with teaching at the university-level at that point in time, but with my MAT continued along the traditional path of an educator to a public middle school in Washington, D.C.. I remained teaching there until I took some time off when I had my first child. At that point, I got back to higher-ed, working for the Saylor Foundation organizing free, accessible curriculum material for on-line courses in American politics. From there, I ended up working as an adjunct instructor for the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis for four and a half years until I applied for, and accepted a position at GWU, first as a visiting professor and then as an assistant teaching professor.