She is the Chair of the Political Science Department and the Director of both the Legal Studies Program and the Peace and Global Studies Program. She received her Bachelor Degree Summa Cum Laude from the Louisiana State University then went on to receive her Masters and PhD in Political Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She recently published an academic article “Suffering in Victim Testimonials,” in Justice, Memory, and Redress: New Insights from Romania in January 2017.