Born in the Tidewater area of Virginia, I can't say I ever really called any single place home until adolescence. My family was fond of mid- and southern Atlantic relocation, and our final move when I was eleven and a half was my thirteenth. Thus, my roots were shallow, but they spread far and wide.
I credit this early nomadic existence with giving rise to my first passion: reading. When I was seven, I learned the virtue of solitude. Already a voracious reader, I found constant distractions irritating and would carve out what niches I could in order to read whatever printed matter had found its way into my hands at the time. This included sitting in my mother's car when I could sneak in there without notice, sliding into the gap between the sofa and the wall in the living room, and - yes - even the flashlight in the attic trick. This was the same year I discovered the haunted stables behind the house in which we were living, but that's a tale for another day.
Perhaps I would be more accurate in saying I discovered a passion for words rather than reading, for I also began to write just about this time. I became a carpenter of worlds: within my own mind, among my friends, in my schoolwork. By the time I reached high school, I had begun to suspect there would someday be a marriage between this passion and a rapidly emergent second, the need to understand why.
Why what? Everything.
I began my undergraduate career at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where I managed to major in Spanish Literature, Latin, Political Science/Pre-Law, and Communications/Journalism... all in my first two and a half years. During my time at UNCG, I never forgot my thirst for understanding why, but I allowed it to simmer while I attempted to appease both the social clock and significant others in my life. Needing a break, I took some time away from my studies to regroup, and I later obtained my B.S. (1998) in general psychology from High Point University.
From HPU, I entered my graduate program directly. I was fortunate to spend four years at North Carolina State University, where I studied social psychology and research methodology, earning my M.S. (2000) and Ph.D. (2002). My research focused on the application of attribution theory to jurors' responses to mitigating evidence in capital trials, and I have carried this work forward into my current position. During my time at NCSU, I also honed my professorial skills, teaching courses in social psychology, statistics and research methods, psychology and law, cognition and memory, human sexuality, personality psychology, developmental psychology, and general psychology.
At the present, I am collaborating on original research to culminate in a trade book with clinical psychologist Karyn Hall. The project is entitled The Elephant in the Closet: Understanding Family Violence. For more information, please see the Elephant website.