Friday Knight Alumni Spotlight Q&A
Tell us about yourself. Where you live now, career, and/or family news. What have you been up to since you left Geneseo?
After graduating with my undergraduate degree I stayed on at Geneseo and earned a master's degree in speech and hearing science in 1977. I moved to Boulder, Colorado in 1980. My education at SUNY Geneseo prepared me well for the field of speech-language pathology. I was able to be at the forefront of bringing nonverbal communication technology to Colorado and headed up the Augmentative/Alternative Assessment Center at Boulder Memorial Hospital which served the entire state. I've enjoyed a rich career focusing on the communication needs of a diverse population including children with hearing loss, children on the autism spectrum, children experiencing trauma and brain injury and children born with cerebral palsy. A husband and three kids later, I'm still here in Colorado enjoying semi-retirement. Sailboat racing and hiking are huge interests as well as most anything that involves the outdoors.
What is the best thing about your current job?
Being in private practice allows me to develop closer relationships with the children and families I work with. I love it when kids want to Face-time me just for fun, and I really love the bear hugs my legs get when I run into one of my little clients at the supermarket.
If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
I really miss the Finger Lakes. That will always be home.
If you had a warning label, what would yours say?
Once I'm your friend, you're stuck with me.
Do you collect anything?
Words. I love words.
What is your favorite family tradition?
Every year on the last day of summer when our kids were little my husband and I would take them to a place overlooking Boulder on one side and the Continental Divide on the other to watch the sunset and say goodbye to Summer. Our daughter was married at this spot last fall.
What fashion or trend do you hope makes a comeback?
Painters Pants! They were so comfortable.
What is your favorite fast-food chain?
Mad Greens. I love their Ty Cobb salad. I think this may be only a regional thing, so I'll say Chick-Fil-A.
What is your favorite movie and why?
The Wizard of Oz. It has everything - a simple plot, attention to detail, intrigue, deception, lovable protagonists, rainbows and a happy ending.
What is your favorite Geneseo memory?
Allegany Hall! Pontillo's Pizza, my conversation with Steve Martin after his campus performance, and of course the sunsets.