Professional Organizations:

Awards:

Personal:

I grew up near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: a city of over one million people which is one of Canada's largest cities. It is also the most northerly major city in North America - about a seven-hour drive from the Montana-Alberta border. It gets very cold in Edmonton compared to Kentucky - there can be snow on the ground as early as October, lasting until as late as April. During the summertime, there can be heat waves that bring the temperature up into the 90s. Since air conditioning is not installed in most buildings, these heat waves can be quite hectic, even more so I'm finding than they are here in Kentucky.

In 2001, when I was a student at the University of Alberta, I made a few friends over the Internet. One girl I met was named Ashley Bratcher, and she was a student at some college I'd never heard of called Madisonville Community College, in Kentucky. I first visited her in December 2001 - the first time I had ever been to Kentucky. I found the people here to be very friendly and easy-going. Ashley and I visited each other over the next few years, and once I finished my undergraduate degree, I applied for Library School at the University of Kentucky so I could be closer to Ashley, and I was awarded a non-resident scholarship that allowed me to pay in-state tuition. Kentucky has been very hospitable to me so far. After graduating in 2006 from Library School at UK, Ashley and I got married in June 2006 and moved to Madisonville. I became a US Permanent Resident in April 2007 and applied for the Library Coordinator position at MCC that same month. I was hired in May 2007 and began working at MCC in July 2007. I am very happy to be here!