Can you give a brief timeline of how your career led you to UIS?

I started as a graduate student in the Doctorate of Public Administration (DPA) program here at UIS in 2013, while working full time as the HR director for the Illinois National Guard. As I was working on my DPA dissertation, I was interested in opportunities to use my degree and my public service experience in teaching, and I started as an adjunct instructor here in 2017, teaching Public Human Resource Management. After serving as an adjunct for seven years and going into retirement from my federal position, I had the opportunity to come on board full time this year, starting a new chapter in my career. So, it’s great to be both a professor and an alumnus here at UIS!

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

One of my first commanders in the Army told me that every year, as part of our annual evaluation report, I should be able to list some type of training or education I had completed and something I planned to attend the following year. So, for 35 years, I have been deliberate about being a lifelong learner. I have tried to learn something new each year, whether through formal education, military professional education courses, training seminars from my civilian career, or just taking courses in subjects I am interested in.

Have you traveled to any interesting places? Can you tell me about them?

I was lucky during my National Guard career to get to travel to many places, both across the United States and abroad, including Germany and Poland. The most interesting experience was my deployment to Afghanistan, where I served as an adviser to a Polish Army task force. I got to really experience cultural challenges, not just between American and Afghan culture, but also in how the Polish interacted with Afghans and some of their cultural assumptions.

Is there a book, movie or TV show that you recently watched and liked?

I watched Andor; it’s a Star Wars series but with no lightsabers. It was a really interesting look at how ordinary people get caught up in a resistance movement that eventually builds toward the Rebellion, and also a great look behind the scenes at what life is like for individuals — politicians and bureaucrats — as the Republic gradually morphs into the Empire. It’s much more grounded and explores some philosophical questions for the people caught in the middle. It’s only two seasons, grouped into mini-arcs of three episodes each, so it’s tightly edited as well.