In high school, my grandfather's cousin, Cousin Harold, came to visit. My mother suggested I take him to the newly built Broward County Public Library, which I did. I gave him the grand tour; I was very proud of our new, public library. What I didn't know, was that Cousin Harold was the director of the Monroe County Library and the Rochester Public Library Systems.
Years later, when I applied to the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Cousin Harold called to ask if he could write a letter of recommendation for me. He knew long before I did that information and library science would be a major part of my professional future.
As an undergraduate at the University of Florida, I majored in Classical Studies. If you asked my grandfather, he would have told you I was majoring in miscellaneous. I believed, still do, that going to a major state university provided me with the opportunity to study anything and everything I found interesting.
After graduating from UF, I moved to Philadelphia where I earned a Master of Science in Arts Administration from Drexel University. As a graduate intern at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, I focused my master's thesis on collections management strategies. Later, I would take this interest in cultural heritage, preservation, and education one step further as an information and library science graduate student.
My career took me from The Metropolitan Museum of Art to Christie's before determining it was time to return to school for my MLS, where Cousin Herold always knew I was headed. Combining my interests in preservation, cultural heritage, and information science, I conducted a study of cultural institution websites and their accessibility to the visually impaired as the basis for my graduate thesis, Actual Accessibility.
I have modeled my career around my passion for cultural heritage, preservation, and education. My combination of interests and experiences in the humanities and library science is ideally suited for my current position at New York University. As a Senior Faculty Technology Specialist I work with the libraries, faculty, and systems administrators to develop and maintain means for access and dissemination of academic resources.
My role as the service manager for Luna Insight, one of our digital image repositories, incorporates similar skills and interests. As the service manager, I work with the Institute of Fine Art, the Department of Art History, and Tisch School of the Arts. Currently I am managing the upgrade project, which will bring the latest version of this application to its university community. I regularly work closely with these departments to make certain they are able to manage their collections, which includes the ability to upload images from global sites where faculty are conducting research.
Most recently, I was the project manager for NYU's Virtual Computer Lab (VCL), which provides students with access to academically-related applications via an Internet connection. The VCL is available through a web-interface for non-mobile devices and via an app / receiver on their iPhone, iPad or Android phone or tablet.
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EDUCATION
B.A., Classical Studies with concentration in Ancient Greek
University of Florida, 1999
M.S. Arts Administration
Drexel University, 2001
M.L.S.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2007
