As Associate Dean of Fuqua’s Career Management Center (CMC), I work with our team and other members of the Fuqua and Duke communities to build and enhance Fuqua’s presence in the global employment marketplace. What that means is I focus on maximizing the school’s efforts and resources toward the career preparation, recruitment, employment, and success of Fuqua students and alumni.

After relocating from the Chicago area, I started working in the Fuqua “CSO” (Career Services Office) as a career counselor in 1998. Our team consisted of seven staff members at the time, and I’ve enjoyed helping to grow the department—now called the CMC—to 30 members while expanding its role within Fuqua.

In honor of the admissions essay, here are 5 random things about myself:

1. I grew up on a farm and had a variety of pets, including dogs, cats, and even a duck. I loved feeding young calves with a baby bottle and was befriended by a particularly patient cow that let me ride on her back like a horse.
2. An only child, I made up an imaginary brother named Alan when I was 5 years old and he was "with me" for several years.
3. I have played "Taps" at over 25 military funerals and veteran memorial services.
4. I almost delayed/skipped college to join a touring children's theatre group.
5. My son, Cole, was born in February 2009. I found out later that students from that year’s graduating class thought he’d been named for Fuqua’s Center on Leadership and Ethics (COLE). Despite the coincidence, the names are unrelated.