She has a PhD from the University of Michigan, where she studied teacher education, and a MA from Syracuse University in Art History. While a professor at The City College of New York, CUNY, she participated in the partnership with Lincoln Center Institute and has previously collaborated with Barbara Ellmann on museum visits for her graduate students, as well as in a two-year summer program for teachers and young people interested in the arts based at Hofstra University and funded by the U.S. Department of Education.