She received her MSW in Social Work and her Ph.D from the University of Fribourg in her native Switzerland. Prior to coming to Gordon College, she has taught at Spring Arbor University in Michigan. More recently, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame. She is interested in narrative biographical research, in homelessness, poverty, and urban issues, as well as in religious conversion and the role of faith-based social welfare organizations, and is the author of A New Model of Religious Conversion (Brill, 2014). In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, reading novels, biking, and socializing with friends. She lives with her husband Michael and two boys, Lucas and Timothy in Beverly (her oldest son, Nathan, is a college freshman) and attends First Lutheran Church in Boston.