Sandra was born in Connecticut and grew up in Auburn, a suburb of Worcester, Massachusetts. After graduating from Worcester State College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education and English, she headed south to satisfy her wanderlust – first to rural Georgia to work in a program funded by Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Foundation, and then to southwestern Louisiana to teach in a program funded by the French government dedicated to preserving the French language and Cajun culture predominant in the area. After obtaining her Master’s degree at the University of Pittsburgh, she and her husband moved to Papua New Guinea, the first of many overseas postings arising from her husband’s work with the United Nations.
Subsequent assignments included Tonga, Dominica, Kenya, and South Africa. Although some postings were “only” for three or four years, others were substantially longer which required her to adapt and make her own way career-wise. In Papua New Guinea, Sandra taught English literature to seminarians at a Catholic mission. In Kenya she taught English and language arts at the International School in Nairobi, and in South Africa she taught academic literacies courses at the University of Johannesburg before becoming coordinator of the Writing Center. Each of the places she lived she grew to love and over time called home. Each of the opportunities and experiences that came her way changed her life in important ways and shaped the person she is today, how she views the world, and, no doubt, how she approaches teaching and working with international students here at Clark University.
Sandra has experience in teaching both online and in-person courses here at Clark University.
