I received my M.A. in TESOL from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1984 and my PhD in Second Languages and Cultures Education from the University of Minnesota in 1995. From 1984–1986, I taught in the English Program for International Students at University of Minnesota and from 1984–1988 in the Commanding English Program, a 1-year transitional program for high school immigrant youth, at General College, University of Minnesota. As Curriculum Coordinator for the Commanding English Program, from 1988–1992, I was responsible for evaluating and revising the curriculum to focus on content-based academic reading and writing.

From 1992–1994, I taught EFL and American Studies at the University of Munich in Germany and from 1994–1996, I was a Senior Fulbright Scholar in the M.A. TEFL Program at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. In 1995, I completed my dissertation on Acculturation, Ethnicity, and Second-Language Acquisition: A Study of Hmong Students at the Post-Secondary Level. From 1996–1997, I was Visiting Assistant Professor in the M.A. ESL program at the University of Minnesota. Since 1997, I have been working at St. Catherine University, as Professor (promoted in 2011) and Director of ESL, English Department. I am also on the graduate faculty at Hamline University as a capstone adviser for students in the M.A. in ESL program.