Congratulations on your new role with OPAIR as an Assistant Director of Assessment Research! Introduce yourself; what do you like to do in your free time?
Thanks so much! I’m so excited to be a part of this great team! I just relocated to Rhode Island with my husband after living in New Orleans for six years, so a lot has changed for me in the last few months. After we moved to New England, I joined a rowing class that meets at 6 a.m. (!!) a couple of times a week on the Seekonk River, and I am loving it. I also paint with watercolor and sell some prints at art markets. I love to walk and hike, and my daily walks with my little dog, Ollie, are a really important part of my day.
So far, have you worked on any projects you’re particularly interested in?
I am interested in all of the projects, but so far, the most fun has been learning from the team, making new connections, and applying my skills to new and interesting challenges that benefit the Penn State community.
What does your professional history look like? What led you to work for Penn State?
I am actually an archaeologist by training! I am currently pursuing my Ph. D. in anthropology with a specialization in the archaeology of the ancient Maya. My dissertation examines two decades of data collected by the El Perú-Waka’ Archaeological Project to examine how the city grew and changed over time. For my research, I developed a program in R to extract quantitative data from long-form text reports, and those skills led me to apply for the role at Penn State.
What does a day-to-day look like in your role on the Assessment team?
Every day is a little different! Most of my work has involved accessing and pulling data to facilitate survey implementation and distribution. I will start helping to write up and distribute the results of those surveys. So far, most of the work is just getting up to speed on all the amazing work happening in the Assessment team!