About me
Learning and people have been my passions for as long as I can remember— so teaching was a natural fit. After earning a PhD in Linguistics, I spent over 30 years as a college professor. In addition to linguistics, I also taught composition and ESL, and found myself consistently inviting students to write to learn more about themselves. Hmm…
Along with teaching and research (“publish or perish” 🙄), much of my time was spent mentoring. I founded two programs: a faculty Center for Teaching and Learning, that I directed for 20 years and where I mentored junior faculty, and a student mentoring program, that I directed for a decade. I loved teaching and mentoring— researching, not so much!—and truly thought I’d never retire.
Then, unexpectedly, I felt done. I no longer wanted the life of an academic—it just didn’t feel like it was the right fit anymore, and I knew it was time to retire. To be honest, though, while I longed for the freedom that retiring would bring, I was petrified because so much of my time—and so much of my identity— was dominated by work. I felt depression looming, yet I knew that staying wasn’t an option.
So I stepped into the unknown.
I knew I wanted to keep learning and, in a deep way, working with people. Around that time (Jung would probably call it “synchronicity”), I discovered Jungian coaching and experienced its power firsthand. I trained with the Jungian Coaching School International and now work as a certifiedJungian coach helping people navigate midlife transitions and questions of identity and meaning.
I continue ongoing professional development—because I never want to stop learning—about people, about life, about myself. I’m now also certified as an Associate Certified Coach (ACC), through the International Coaching Federation (ICF), and as an Archetypal Family Fields™ Practitioner, through CreativeMind.
