I grew up in the historic colonial community (Circa 1697) of Cranbury, NJ near Princeton University. My father, Dutch, was an auto mechanic and my mother, Mary, the postmaster. I attended Cranbury Elementary School and Hightstown High School. I was an only child until after my father passed and my mother remarried. I was in my mid-twenties when I became a sister and aunt to two nephews. Mary Jane and her family lived in New Egypt, NJ. My grown nephews and their grown children are still living in that community with one helping my brother-in-law with the family dairy and his older brother managing the NJ State Dairy.
 |
 |
| My childhood home at 27 North Main Street |
After high school I went to Trenton State College to become an Industrial Arts Teacher Earning a BS and MEd there. I was hired by Hightstown High School to return as an Industrial Technology teacher (drafting, architectural drawing, photography, automotive, and woodworking). From there I taught at the University of Southern Maine in the Industrial Arts Teacher Education program teaching undergraduate graphic arts courses. Wanting to continue teaching in higher education meant I needed to proceed to graduate school. I decided to head to the mid-west to Purdue University where I earned a PhD in Industrial/Vocational Education with an emphasis on industrial/organizational psychology and consultation for organizational effectiveness.
 |
A very fulfilling career ensued from 1983-86 at Oregon State University and 1986-2010 Illinois State University. I taught undergraduate courses in graphic arts/printing management, industrial management, CAD and technology teacher education. And, I also taught graduate courses in Industrial Teacher Education and Industrial Training including instructional development and research methods. During this period I conducted several research projects, national curriculum projects, delivered grant writing workshops, published books and journal articles, and gained exceptional funding for the institution. I retired in 2010 from the State of IL Retirement system as Professor Emeritus from Illinois State University.
During my rewarding career at ISU I was able to travel, work, and live in China. From 1987 thru 2007 I had an extensive work portfolio in several cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Shenzhen). In 1992 I lived and worked at China’s largest publishing and printing company in Beijing conducting upgrades to the computer systems and employee training for the implementation of desktop publishing. At that time I arranged with Apple and Adobe to set up their first training laboratory in China for desktop publishing at the Beijing Institute of Printing. Then in 1998 a proposal was presented to Caterpillar Corporation to develop for them their first corporate training facility in China, develop bilingual training materials, and deliver training to their operations in China which included their own factories and a consortium of dozens of automotive supply manufacturers. That was accepted and I moved in fall of 1998 to Beijing full-time with my daughter to carry out that project. It proceeded for 3 years. Then my contract was bought out by Technical Training Inc. of Michigan, an international automotive technical training provider (to Ford, IVECO, Mazda, and others). We continued industrial management training and consulting to dozens of global companies including firms like RRDonnelly, Nokia, John Deere, Daimler Benz, Chrysler, BP. I conducted training and facilitated corporate meetings throughout China for both the government and foreign joint venture companies. In addition to being noted as a top expat trainer/consultant in China, I was called on to give cross cultural programs to employees and inbound executives. I consulted often in dire corporate situations where the joint venture partners were unable to resolve manufacturing and personnel issues. The challenges were great but the work was fulfilling.
After those contracts were completed, I worked with some independent consultants and e-learning businesses before devoting full-time efforts to the non-profit organization I founded in 1995, Our Chinese Daughters Foundation. We returned to the US to live in 2007 so my daughter could attend high school in the USA.