My highest earned degree is a Master of Education in Counseling and Guidance with a minor in Psychology from Texas State University (1982). Since earning my Master’s degree, I have completed 45 additional credit hours (approximately 2300 clock hours of study) of Master’s level course work in Education and Counseling to keep myself current with best practices in counseling and teaching.  Prior to graduate study I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of Texas (1977) and an Associate of Arts degree in Sociology from Austin Community College (1974).

I have been formally and informally studying human behavior and influencers of human behavior for nearly 40 years.  Most recently I have been studying in the area of leadership.  In 2011-2012 I completed the Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership and Management offered jointly through the Center for Community-Based & Nonprofit Organizations and the Continuing Education Division of Austin Community College.

I have worked as a Professor and Professional Counselor for Austin Community College for over 20 years providing educational, vocational and personal (psychotherapeutic) counseling and teaching in the academic discipline of Human Development and others.  I retired from full-time work in Texas public higher education after 27 years of employment in that field.

My counseling specialties include: Grief/Loss/Mourning Support & Transitions Counseling, Career Transitions Counseling, Integrative Educational – Vocational – Personal Development Counseling, Couples Empathic Communication Counseling, Career Couples Counseling, Vocational Wellness & Rehabilitation Counseling (including post-treatment support).  I continue to be particularly interested in leadership work in organizations directly or indirectly providing or supporting these kinds of services.

Almost of all of my employment prior to my retirement during and after college has been in the non-profit sector in public higher education and a brief stint in social work.  Employment as a professor and counselor (the majority of my pre-retirement career) included numerous task force and committee leadership opportunities as well as serving as a faculty advisor to extracurricular student groups.  While employed, I also provided pro bono community service though my faith community or faith-based nonprofits affiliated with my faith community.  These included serving on parish councils and committees, parochial school board membership, service as parochial school board president, service as a Stephen Minister and as a Stephen Ministry Leader, as well as between 400 and 500 hours of pro bono grief support group facilitation through ChurchIntitiative.org’s GriefShare.org.

Since retirement in 2013 I continue to maintain a State of Texas registered nonprofit organization, Personal Learning and Development, under which I offer pro bono individual and group counseling services through church and nonprofit organizations.   I helped to form Austin Community College’s Alumni Network Advisory Council and served as Council President for its first year.  I am serving a 3-year term on the Texas State Alumni Association Board of Directors.  Beginning this month I serve on the Catholic Charities Central Texas Board of Directors Development and Public Relations Committee.

Brief statement why you have accepted appointment and what you would consider to have been a successful tenure when your term:

From the beginning of my professional work with Austin Community College in 1991, my ACC Support Center colleagues and I reached out to Austin’s nonprofit sector including Austin offices of Texas state human services agencies and myriad community-based nonprofit organizations, in order to form a network of informal partnerships to help our students at ACC. Additionally, these connections facilitated delivery of ACC admissions services, where appropriate, to clients of those agencies and organizations.

Since that time, my belief in the importance of these kinds of connections between Austin Community College and Austin’s nonprofit sector has continued to be reinforced by the many successful collaborations those kinds of connections have produced, e.g. ACC and Capital IDEA. Since learning of the Center for Community-Based and Nonprofit Organization in 2008, I have witnessed the growth of the Center’s capacity as a permanent and effective linchpin for facilitating, expanding and strengthening those connections.

When my term on the CNS Community Leadership Council ends, I would consider the time spent worthwhile if I contribute in some way to that effectiveness and permanence.

Brief statement on your sense of the Center’s impact for its first 15 years and its potential for future:

Upon learning of the Center for Community-Based and Nonprofit Organizations in 2008, I immediately recognized the Center’s unique capacity as a permanent and effective linchpin for facilitating, expanding and strengthening important connections between Austin Community College and Austin’s nonprofit sector. A key concept in the impact of the Center is access.

To be effective the nonprofit sector needs leadership from all educational levels in the community, from GED completers to PhD completers. By effectively making the comprehensive scope and tested and proved sequence of its curriculum accessible to students from the full range of educational levels present in the community, the Center is meeting the need for full-spectrum leadership in the Austin nonprofit sector in a way that traditional post-secondary degree programs cannot.

Because of the Center’s strategic location within Austin Community College, the Center’s potential for continuing to make this unique impact on Austin’s nonprofit sector is as solid as ACC’s potential as a pivotal player in the overall economic health of Austin. And, ACC’s potential in this regard is widely recognized as extraordinary.