Finding my way, one compassionate breath at a time
Welcome to my website. It contains information about a variety of personal and professional interests and I hope you will enjoy checking some of the links and information out. I am an Associate Professor and the Coordinator of the Masters of Social Work Program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in the School of Social Work. I have taught both undergraduate and graduate level courses and am most passionate about teaching classes on social justice, diversity, privilege, and oppression. I have also taught classes on policy, research, and working in communities and organizations. I am a rare second generation college professor as my father was an engineering professor for 43 years. I love teaching and am very good at it. My students know I care about them and want them to succeed. I also love to write and do work in the community. I also spend a lot of time meditating and reading about mindfulness, meditation, self-compassion, and loving kindness. I have learned to truly value silence and doing nothing and much to the surprise of those who know how fidgety I am prone to being, I embrace both silence and non doing. If I can meditate, most people can. Meditation and being mindful have changed my life in the last seven years and I’m grateful for the gifts they continue to bring me with each breath. I continue to be the only formally trained Mindful Self-Compassion Trained Teacher Arkansas.
On a personal note, I have been with my wonderful wife for 29 years. We were married on the beach in Maryland in June 2013 on our 19th anniversary, at sunrise just a few days after the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act. She retired from the US Army in 2009 as an LTC after 23 years of distinguished service. We have 3 dogs and 4 cats (all rescues) who rule our lives. When we aren’t working or spending time with our loving animals, you can find us traveling as much as time and money allow and/or enjoying time with family and friends. Pre-pandemic trips have included travel to Costa Rica and Honduras. We traveled to Iceland and Sweden in the summer of 2019 to celebrate our 25th anniversary and will visit Greece for our 30th anniversary this summer.
In May 2016, I experienced a life-altering but not life-threatening health issue when I lost a significant amount of hearing in my right ear and was subsequently diagnosed with Sudden Hearing Loss (SHL). SHL is considered a medical emergency and anyone who experiences it should see a doctor immediately and request to be started on steroids until they can see an ENT. Regrettably, most PCPs are not trained to identify it and early intervention is critical to restoring hearing when doing so is possible. Please share anything you see about it and help me pass the word about this challenging issue. I now wear hearing aids in both ears and despite many challenges, I am grateful I have the resources to afford the hearing aid and good medical care as well as friends and family who have supported me through the unexpected wilderness of my hearing loss.