(BA Hispanic Studies):
Hello, dear professors! I stumbled across this update form a couple weeks ago and wondered if it was too late to share my updates, but decided with Regina’s Facebook reminder today that it’s not! Please feel free to share anything you wish…
I began the University of Pennsylvania’s PhD program in Hispanic Studies in fall 2005 and received a grant to travel to Colombia my first summer, where I spent time exploring the manifestations of violence in the texts of Colombian authors Fernando Vallejo and Jorge Franco. I received my MA in May 2007 and was awarded the outstanding Spanish TA award. I took a break from the PhD program, but stayed at Penn for two semesters teaching intro and intermediate language courses as a full-time lecturer, and made the decision not to return for the PhD in large part due to my diagnosis of indeterminate colitis that year.
My dog and I moved to Redmond, WA, to join my then-fiancé, and several months later I began employment as the Education & Support Manager for the Northwest Chapter of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America (covers WA, OR, ID, MT & AK). That position entails many jobs, including coordinating all patient and professional education (patient conferences, medical talks, chapter medical advisory committee meetings & grant-writing to fund them), support programs (support groups, a one-to-one phone support program & youth activities), and perhaps most importantly, NW Camp Oasis, the weeklong summer camp our chapter funds for local kids with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. I also have the privilege of working with amazing colleagues and dedicated volunteers, on behalf of inspirational folks with whom I share this disease.
I’m thrilled to be working in the non-profit field, able to combine my love of education with my passion for supporting patients and finding a cure, and I just celebrated my anniversary with CCFA this month! (And I got married in Wren Chapel this past May!)
(Updated: 2009)