Best Value Edible Perennials

Gardening has been an important hobby of mine for about a dozen years and a newish teaching/service interest (check out Merrimack_Garden on Instagram). Gardening provided a sense of peace, food, and all-ages activities when I was a new mom. I’ve needed gardening more than ever during quarantine to give me something meaningful to sink my…

Growing a Garden

With the world turned upside down right now, people might be thinking about picking up a) a fun, social-distancing friendly hobby that b) helps them provide sustenance in a way that is c) soothing and d) educational. This spring could be a great time to start or expand a fruit/vegetable/herb garden. I’ve done my best…

On the Tenure Track…Again

“Welcome to the Hotel California,” one colleague notoriously said to folks who earned tenure. The foreboding lyric “we are all just prisoners here, of our own device” indeed has some resonance. But some faculty do take that risk and leave tenured positions. I saw friends go through the tenure process a second time. It wasn’t…

Mohawk Hudson River Marathon Race Report

After years of media marathoning and not running a marathon, I can now say I’ve done both. I raced the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon in Albany, NY on October 13, 2019. Running a marathon doesn’t connect to this blog in name only: running has been an influential part of my professional life. Briefly, here’s why.…

19 in 2019

I’ve always enjoyed when numbers line up nicely. My undergraduate PO Box was 6636. The equation and perfect square are the only reason I remember that little fun fact. Our first house number was 25. Another perfect square, and perfectly good luck. Two years ago, when my oldest daughter was 6 and my youngest was…

What Not to Wear

I go through fashion stages. I’m not talking slouch socks, pegged pants, bell bottoms or some of those other notable, parodied fashion trends. I’m talking about two personal fashion stages that cycle more quickly: 1) trying to dress professionally and 2) giving up on dressing professionally. The past summer involved more work meetings than usual. My…

Ideas Bigger Than My Calendar

I have eyes bigger than my stomach. This saying works for buffets but also, increasingly, for research. Perhaps the revised research saying would be this: I have ideas bigger than my calendar. The topic of this post is faculty research. As graduate students preparing for the job market, as faculty looking for better jobs, as professionals…

Cancer Diagnosis Coping Study

October 2018 Update: We finished collecting this round of data in summer 2018 and are currently writing up our findings. Thank you to all who participated in the study or spread the word about our work!  Professors and student researchers at Merrimack College are conducting a study on how people cope during a cancer diagnosis process.…

No Woman is Exempt

Yesterday morning I tweeted about not having a #metoo story, but I was not honest with myself. I have several experiences—a same sex boss touching my butt, a date forcibly putting my hands on his crotch, a stranger slapping his penis on my car window—that I reframed as “not a big deal.” No woman is…

Reflections on a Fulfilling Summer

I’m feeling a bit like Olaf as I reflect on the joys of summer. This is one of the first summers in recent memory when I accomplished the goals I set at the start of the season. I made progress on several research projects in various stages. It felt good–and not like a launchpad for fall…