 I was born in eastern Ohio, right across the river from West Virginia and Pennsylvania. And I went to college at Geneva College near Pittsburgh. And then I moved out to Denver in 1978 to get my first master's degree at DU. And then got married after that. My husband and I lived in Japan for five years. We worked as missionaries. Came back to Denver. He went to seminary. I taught public high school for nine years at Chaffield Senior High and then one year out in Elizabeth. And at the end of that year I was hired at CCU. I was an English major as an undergrad and loved the content. Always loved the content. And then when I got out of undergrad I began teaching English to refugees and discovered that I loved working with people. And then when I made the switch and moved here to Colorado Christian, I loved it even more. Because deeper richer content can connect it to faith in a more direct way and the students are so wonderful. It's hard for me to wrap my head around this, but my husband and I have been married for 40 years this year. We're a good team and we enjoy talking together. We enjoy thinking together. We enjoy Japanese food together. We have two adult daughters. I am a pretty disciplined recreational jogger. Not fast, but get out there. I love to be outside on the trail or the sidewalk. I also love to read for pleasure. I write a lot of poems. I practice yoga when I can. Professor Spears impacted me the most by teaching me the power of words and the power of beautiful things in the world and how they can impact people for the kingdom of God. She did just publish her first book, which we're all very, very proud and pleased with. She's gotten some wonderful reviews. Her poems are there like she is. Really well-crafted, incredibly sincere. They also ultimately have a kind and graceful presence behind them. Something that's really struck me is just how kind and approachable she is with students and how much she's willing to work with them outside of class and even in class. She's a good role model. She's just a great person. I would hope that my students would say that I love the content that I teach, that I'm excited about it, and I hope they would say that I care about them and they know it.