Assistant Professor of Peace and Social Justice Studies at Berea College, Specializing in Restorative Practices and Critical Reflection with Conflict Resolution Practitioners

Welcome, and thank you for stopping by my website. I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Peace and Social Justice at Berea College. I specialize in Conflict Resolution and Restorative Justice. I received my PhD from The School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University (now the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution). My research has primarily focused on the use of critical reflective practice as a learning method for conflict resolution practitioners. I also conduct research on restorative justice, participatory action research, mediation, and practitioner epistemologies. Before entering academia, I served as the Restorative Justice Coordinator of New York Peace Institute where I managed mediation and restorative justice initiatives with the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, Juvenile Justice Courts, schools, and community agencies in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Before coming to Berea, I was Assistant Professor of Dispute Resolution in the Sociology Department of John Jay College of Criminal Justice-City University of New York.

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I have trained or coached hundreds of individuals in communication skills, mediation, and other facilitative interventions. Since 2000, I have worked in the U.S. and abroad in collaborative processes and restorative justice projects with a variety of groups, including civil society organizations in India, indigenous peoples in Argentina, immigrants and refugees, and homicide offenders and victim-survivors in Kentucky.  I have a B.A. in Religion and Peace Studies from Swarthmore College and an M.A. in International Relations through a Rotary Peace Fellowship at Universidad del Salvador in Argentina. I come from Panama and currently live in Kentucky with multi-generational family.