She received her Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico. Her dissertation Reframing Narratives and Reevaluating Bodies: Incorporating Disability into Narratives investigates the meaning assigned to disability in narrative art. Her research interests include disability studies, contemporary American literature with multiethnic emphasis, contemporary world literature, and postcolonial literature. Blossoming from her idea and through her work as Chair and web designer, NYIT-China will host its first international conference, Crossing Borders: Teaching, and Learning in a Global Age. She is also the web designer of a manual to help foreign professors who live in Nanjing, China.