She holds degrees from the Universidad Latina de Costa Rica and the University of Cincinnati. Prior to coming to UTA, she taught in bilingual and dual language early childhood classrooms both in Costa Rica and Ohio. Her research interests include pre- and in-service teacher preparation for culturally and linguistically diverse environments, equity issues related to the schooling (instruction, learning and assessment) of Latino English language learners, and implementation of technology for content-based second language learning and teaching.